Sidebars: Groups

Video tutorial available.

Use the Groups panel on the right sidebar to define a collection of documents (a group) within your dataset. Once a group has been created you can view and search documents in the group. Grouping also provides an easy way to select the same set of documents in later sessions.

Groups enables you to:

Parts of the Groups Panel

Groups panel in the right sidebar

The following numbers correspond to those on the Groups image.

  1. Selection History folder. If you have selected any documents, your last three selections will be represented by (locked) groups in the Selection History folder. Notice the folder icon has a small lock on it, and each of the groups themselves have a lock icon. These groups are locked and can be neither edited nor deleted. Neither the group membership (which documents are in the group) nor the group color can be changed. Locked groups can be highlighted and documents in them can be selected.

    The green outline to the group color swatches shows that three of the four selection groups contain documents that are selected. The number selected of the total number of documents in the group is shown by the numbers following the group name, e.g., (1/46).

  2. Closed folder. The Selection History folder is open (the groups it contains are visible) but the Litvinenko folder is closed. A folder can be opened and closed with the small toggle located to its left. Some of the documents contained in this folder are selected (the folder icon is half green). This folder and all of the groups within it are locked, just like the Selection History folder, because they have been created in the Search Networks tool. Such groups can be edited within Search Networks but not elsewhere.

    Selection History and Search Networks folders are both locked. Groups and folders that you create will always be unlocked.

  3. Categorical Fields. A folder that was created automatically from the KEYWORDS categorical field.

  4. A highlighted group. Click on any group or groups in the list to highlight it. The documents in a highlighted group will appear in the group's color in the Galaxy.

  5. Select buttons. Select the documents in highlighted groups with the select buttons.

Creating a Group

There are many ways to create a group:

Using the Groups Panel

  1. Select one or more documents. There are many ways to select documents (see Ways to Select Documents). One of them is to use the S+ cursor to click and drag a rectangle around documents in the Galaxy.
  2. In Groups, click the New Group from SelectionNew Group from Selection buttonbutton. A group is created that includes the selected documents, and the Edit Group window opens, allowing you to change the default name and color assignment. The Edit Group window option is on by default but can be turned off by choosing SettingsSettings button> Prompt for New Group Options.

    Edit Group Window
  3. Enter a name in the Group Name field. and select a color for the group from the color swatches, if desired.
  4. Click OK. The Groups list will display the group name and the number of documents in the new group.

If Prompt for New Group Options is off, when you create a new group it is given a default title and assigned a group color. You can change the title and color later if you wish by highlighting the group in the list and clicking the Edit button.

Using the Search Tool

  1. In the Search Tool, run a Term Search to select a set of documents, or run a Search By Example and use the slider to select a collection of documents that are similar to your example text.
  2. Click Group Results. If Prompt for New Group Options is on, the Edit Group window opens and you can name the group. If it is off, a default name will be assigned that will have a letter prefix to indicate the type of search that was run, and then all or part of the search. You can change the default name at any time.

Using the Document Viewer

You can create a group from documents that are visible in the Document Viewer, i.e., either selected or, if groups are visible, members of highlighted groups. See the Document Viewer for how to do this.

Using Search Networks

Any nodes you create in Search Networks will automatically be propagated to the Groups Tool as locked groups, where they can be highlighted and their members selected. Such groups can be modified in Search Networks only.

From the Values in a Categorical Field

When a dataset is created, IN-SPIRE can create groups for each of the values found in categorical fields in the source documents. This can be a real time-saver if, for example, your fields include "Region," "Country," or other parameters important to your analysis. Instead of your having to define the fields at dataset creation time and then later having to search for the values in them so you can create groups manually, IN-SPIRE can do it for you, automatically. See Formatting Datatset Fields.

When a dataset is created, IN-SPIRE also automatically makes groups from the Themes it finds in it. Themes are terms which frequently occur together. Themes are also locked groups.

Showing Group Membership in the Galaxy

Groups Highlighted in GalaxyIn the Groups tool, highlight one or more groups in the list. Documents belonging to the highlighted groups will be represented in the Galaxy in one of three ways:

Number of Documents in a Group and Number Selected

The number of selected documents within a group is found next to the group title. For example, (0/66) indicates that of the 66 documents in the group, none are selected. By default, this information is visible; to turn it off, deselect SettingsSettings button> Show Selected in Group Titles.

"Total Docs" (#5 on the Groups panel image, above) is the total number of unique documents in all highlighted groups.

Finding the Overlap Between Groups

Overlap includes documents that occur in more than one highlighted group; in the Galaxy they are colored cyan by default. Refine this collection by selecting one of the radio buttons In > 1 Group or In All Groups. "In All Groups" means "all highlighted groups" (not all groups there are). In the diagram at left, if Group1, Group2 and Group 3 are highlighted, then "In > 1 Group" would be represented by the darker cyan areas, and "In All Groups" would be represented by the lighter cyan area in the center.

Using the Select Buttons

Viewing Evidence in Grouped Documents

To view a summary of the evidence in highlighted groups, open the Ratings tool. The groups that are represented are those highlighted in the Groups list. You can view the documents in these groups in the Document Viewer (from the Document Viewer's menus, choose SettingsSettings button> Groups and Evidence Ratings).

Managing Groups

Changing the Name or Color Assigned to a Group

  1. Highlight the group in the Groups list, and click the Edit Edit group button.
  2. The Edit Group window opens. You can now change the Group Name or use the color chooser to select a different color to represent the group. Click OK.

Deleting a Group

Highlight the group in the Groups list and click the Delete Delete group button button.

Saving Groups

Groups are automatically saved when you close the dataset or exit IN-SPIRE. You can also save them manually by choosing File >Save Session from the IN-SPIRE main toolbar. Searches, viewed documents, and outliers will also be saved.

Organizing the List of Groups

You can:

Changing the Order of Groups in the List

Click on the group or folder you want to move, and drag it to the new location, or
Click the up or down arrow Arrow up buttonArrow down button buttons to move it up or down in the list.

Creating a New Folder

  1. Click the New Folder Groups new folder button button.
  2. Enter the name of the new folder.
    Or, to rename an existing folder, highlight the folder, and click the Edit Edit group button button. You can change the name on the Edit Group window.

Moving an Existing Group into a Folder

There are two ways to move a group into a folder. You can click on the name of the group and drag it to the folder, or
Highlight the name of the group and click the Move Move Button button. From the drop-down list, select the name of the folder to which you want to move it.

Hiding A Group or Folder from View

If you have a large number of groups, not all of which you are using at the current time, you may find it useful to hide some of the clutter. Categorical fields, for example, can sometimes contain a very large number of values, not all of which are useful to the analysis. Hiding a group merely makes it invisible in the Groups tool list. You can hide both locked and unlocked groups and folders.

Hide/Unhide options on the Groups panel right-click menu

To hide a group or folder: Click on the group or on the folder and choose SettingsSettings button> Hide. Or right-click on a group and choose Hide from the right-click menu shown in the example here..

Unhide options on the Groups panel Settings menu

To unhide all hidden groups and folders: Select SettingsSettings button> Unhide All. All hidden items will become visible and available for interactions as before. You can also right-click on the Groups window and select Unhide from the right-click menu to unhide all hidden groups and folders.

Focusing on a Group

You can set the focus on a group by dragging the group to Set Focus. You have the option of Setting Focus on groups of interest or removing those that are less interesting. To focus on a group, see Adding Groups to Focus for more details. To remove less interesting groups, see Removing Less Interesting Groups of Documents for more details.