Unindent behavior in the middle of a list

Steps to reproduce

(1) Create a list like this:

  • One
  • Two
    • Alpha
    • Bravo
    • Charlie
    • Delta
    • Echo
    • Foxtrot
  • Three
  • Four

(2) Put your cursor in the item ā€œCharlieā€
(3) Press shift-tab to unindent

Expected result

  • One
  • Two
    • Alpha
    • Bravo
  • Charlie
    • Delta
    • Echo
    • Foxtrot
  • Three
  • Four

This is the behavior you see in MS Wordā€™s outliner, in Google Tasks, and in any text editor.

Actual result

  • One
  • Two
    • Alpha
    • Bravo
    • Delta
    • Echo
    • Foxtrot
  • Charlie
  • Three
  • Four

Comments

See screencast here.

I can understand the logic behind the existing behavior - weā€™re putting Charlie in the next higher level of the hierarchy, but weā€™re not turning its former siblings Delta, Echo, and Foxtrot into its children.

But the proposed behavior feels much more natural - partly because itā€™s an existing UI pattern. It also preserves the symmetry between tab and shift-tab in that I can indent and unindent a single item without changing its sequential position.

Sorry, but I disagree. This isnā€™t a bug. Current behaviour is what I would expect. Looking at a few true outliners e.g. Checkvist, Noteliner, and most importantly Workflowy, they operate in the same way as Dynalist. Word and text editors may have outline views but they arenā€™t outliners. For word processors, the text sequence tends to take priority rather than the logical hierarchy. I can see a use case for what youā€™re asking e.g. if youā€™re importing a flat list which is in the right hierarchical sequence but without the hierarchy, but I think that is a niche requirement. Operating in the same way as Workflowy is particularly important as a lot of current and future users will come to Dynalist via that route. Iā€™d suggest you submit a feature request instead.

Thanks, @pottster, yes thatā€™s our initial design.

As requested by many users like you (@Herb_Caudill) though, weā€™ve added a setting called ā€œUnindent items in-placeā€ in Settings - Preferences - Control. Check that and you should get the behavior you want.

I hope that helps!

2 Likes

Excellent, thanks Erica!

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