[Share] Remove a set of tags from selected items

[mjthoraval]

Description

Remove a set of tags from selected items, collection or library.
The current code is designed to be used with this other script: #577.
But it can be adapted for any set of tags.
The script does not modify the "Date Modified" property of the annotations, so that the annotations are not affected.

Caution

This script will completely remove the tags in TAGS_TO_DELETE from the selected items, collection or library.
This cannot be undone. Please use carefully.

This script is preferred over this other one that removes the tags from the whole library (#579) as it is more granular and safer to test on a small number of items. It can still be applied to the whole library by selecting all the items in the library to run the script.

Event

None

Operation

Script

Data

/**
 * Delete multiple tags from selected items only.
 * @author mjthoraval with Claude AI
 * @link https://github.com/windingwind/zotero-actions-tags/discussions/580
 * @version v1.1, 5 March 2026
 * @changes Preserve dateModified when deleting tags
 */
// Actions & Tags runs the script once per item and once for the collection.
// When triggered from the menu, skip per-item calls to avoid duplicate operations.
if (item) {
  if (triggerType === "menu") {
    return;
  }
  items = [item];
}

// List of tags to delete
const TAGS_TO_DELETE = new Set([
  "#A🟨",
  "#A🟥",
  "#A🟩",
  "#A🟦",
  "#A🟪",
  "#A🩷",
  "#A🟧",
  "#A🩶",
  "#Yellow💛",
  "#Red❤️",
  // Add more tags here...
]);

if (items?.length > 0) {
  let removedCount = 0;
  const toSave = [];

  for (const selectedItem of items) {
    let annotations = [];

    // Collect annotations depending on the type of selected item
    if (selectedItem.isAnnotation()) {
      annotations = [selectedItem];
    } else if (selectedItem.isFileAttachment()) {
      annotations = selectedItem.getAnnotations();
    } else if (selectedItem.isAttachment()) {
      continue; // Non-file attachments (e.g. URL links) have no annotations
    } else {
      // Regular item: collect annotations from all its file attachments
      const attachmentIDs = selectedItem.getAttachments();
      const attachments = attachmentIDs.map(id => Zotero.Items.get(id)).filter(a => a.isFileAttachment());
      for (const attachment of attachments) {
        annotations = annotations.concat(attachment.getAnnotations());
      }
    }

    for (const annot of annotations) {
      const currentTags = annot.getTags();
      let needsSave = false;

      // Remove any tags that are in the delete list
      for (const tag of currentTags) {
        if (TAGS_TO_DELETE.has(tag.tag)) {
          annot.removeTag(tag.tag);
          needsSave = true;
          removedCount++;
        }
      }

      if (needsSave) {
        // Capture the original dateModified before saving
        toSave.push({ annot, originalDateModified: annot.dateModified });
      }
    }
  }

  // Save all modified annotations in a single transaction for efficiency
  if (toSave.length > 0) {
    await Zotero.DB.executeTransaction(async () => {
      for (const { annot, originalDateModified } of toSave) {
        await annot.save();
        // Restore the original dateModified directly in the DB
        await Zotero.DB.queryAsync(
          "UPDATE items SET dateModified = ? WHERE itemID = ?",
          [originalDateModified, annot.id]
        );
        // Sync the in-memory object to match the DB
        annot.dateModified = originalDateModified;
      }
    });
  }

  return removedCount > 0
    ? `✅ Done: removed ${removedCount} tag(s).`
    : `⚠️ No matching tags found.`;
}