# Can I have mutually exclusive groups?

**URL:** <https://discourse.jabref.org/t/can-i-have-mutually-exclusive-groups/3015>\
**Category:** Help\
**Tags:** groups\
**Created:** [October 25, 2021, 10:52pm UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/can-i-have-mutually-exclusive-groups/3015 "2021-10-25T22:52:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 3

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**Author:** ![ThiloteE](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discourse.jabref.org/thilotee/32/1008_2.png) [@ThiloteE](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/ThiloteE)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2022, 12:34am UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/can-i-have-mutually-exclusive-groups/3015/3 "2022-02-11T00:34:00Z")

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Heureka 😀, I found a solution for JabRef 5.6 January 2022:

It makes use of including additional conditions into the regular expression, to be exact other **labels or keywords**. The example uses readstatus=read and readstatus=skimmed to achieve this, but in theory other fields are possible too.

- **Configuration for the three groups `included`, `excluded` and `to do`:**  
 ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/uploads/jabref/original/2X/a/a699343ded2728806877cf456b3c06310cc5092b.png)  
 ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/uploads/jabref/original/2X/9/952e55851b825d5cbd9fbef2ddaa4f9b12ad8351.png)  
 ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/uploads/jabref/original/2X/e/ef9db4a530149bedb991d8e73279c4ca81a72c21.png)

- **Known problems:**  
Using this specific solution, entries cannot be manually moved from `included` to `excluded` group anymore using the `add selected entries to this group` button.  
 ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/uploads/jabref/original/2X/3/3f76f89eb918c83b45dd98388b746b19c60e7648.png)

Thanks again to @aexel and his [post](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/how-to-create-a-group-based-on-readstatus-to-be-read/3074/3) that describes how to create a group based on readstatus.

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_[View the full topic](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/can-i-have-mutually-exclusive-groups/3015)._