Adding Columns to Items

beautiful but it seems to be very complex. maybe the authors couldnt have time to create such a project. I dont know :sweat_smile:
It could be great though. I would love it. :hearts:

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It seems to me, similar to the MindMap, this would be a great candidate for alternative views of a document. @Erica I know you had mentioned in the past that one of your goals was alternative views for documents, like the mindmap. I can see a ā€œtableā€ view of a document being an option as well with Each main bullet on a document being a row, and each sub-bullet being the column for that row, all without the need for special mark-up syntax. Or alternatively each column (including header) being a main bullet with each item under it being a rowā€™s cell.

Even the Card view of Trello or Airtable could be accomplished in the same way by applying ā€˜viewsā€™ to data. So the idea of Viewā€™s is still an exciting option to me. Now making them ā€˜customizableā€™ might be more difficult beyond having a few standard views like mind map etc. But I certainly hope you keep with that early idea you had mentioned in the past and take it beyond just mind maps :slight_smile:

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Thanks for that, @butlermatt, especially about reminding us about our early vision.

I like the idea, itā€™s definitely more work if we set out to make the tables editable (writing an online Excel is no joke), but it solves most of the problem Iā€™ve seen in other proposals. Markdown/WYSIWYG tables lacks structure from the Dynalist perspective, whereas adding columns like OmniOutliner seems to complicate the outline too much.

Thanks again!

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This is a fun challenge to noodle on. Dynalist already gets so much of the basics right that @Erica can afford to take the time to think it through properlyā€¦

For me, I think the problem weā€™re trying to solve just visualizing structured data. Outlines (and Dynalist especially) are great for visualizing hierarchies, less so for attributes.

Just like adding a note to a bullet solving a layout problem (you could just type the note in-between parentheses, etc.) maybe adding a column to a bullet is worth exploring. And then new bullets are rows, not sub-bullets. Iā€™d have to design the workflows to make sure Iā€™m not missing something but I think it could work.

I just had another instance where a table would have been handy, but I had another twist on it.

I was trying to make a list of the light fixtures in my house, so when I get to Home Depot Iā€™m not overwhelmed by the world-o-bulbs aisle!

I donā€™t really need a table. What I really want is a way to column align the parts of each bullet line (row). Like being able to put tabs into the string so things line up vertically.

I know Iā€™ve complained about Dynalistā€™s non-standard Markdown implementation, and Tables or Tabs would be another deviation point. But there is a reference, both Markdown Here and GFM support them.

So I would suggest using the vertical bar, or a double vertical bar (if Dynalist insists), to indicate a tab that should be inserted when the line is formatted.

Thanks,

Similar to Table functionality

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Yes, the Markdown extension would seem to be simplest.

  • A | B | C
  • 1 | 2 | 3

could make a 2x3 table.

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This is definitely a feature which would warrant itā€™s own View rather than being an inline item. Thereā€™s just so much you could do with a table whilst keeping it Dynalist-speedy and not bulking it down.

When I look at some of the data I wish I could sort into a table like health supplements and travel reviews what Iā€™m really looking at is how I can interact with the table, not just it being in a table format.

I donā€™t see a feature like defining a column field type (e.g. text, number, image, due date) working well with a small inline table - it needs a full page view to have some ways to interact with the data.

One thing Iā€™m going to do this year is reconsider my Dynalist subscription.

Iā€™m not sure thereā€™s anything better out there, but two things Iā€™m looking for in a light-weight out-liner/to-do list/brain-stormer like Dynalist is

  1. Column alignment between rows so I can make information more readable (like a table, but I donā€™t need to sort and filter); and
  2. Some kind of Gmail add-on (also GCalendar and GDocs ideally).

Of course this makes me think I should just give up and use GTasks, GKeep, and GDocs/Sheets but theyā€™re either totally lame compared to Dynalist or way overkill (I have a few GSheets that are ideal for Dynalist but I need the info column aligned).

So what Iā€™m saying is I really hope to see movement from Dynalist on the subject of columns/alignment with in items.

Thanks,

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I just discovered I can insert tab characters into a line by holding down the Alt key and then pressing zero and then nine on my number pad.

Copy and pasting that sequence doesnā€™t work, each tab becomes a space. Even when copy-pasting a whole line the tabs are converted to spaces.

So this is not the solution, but I guess itā€™s a work-around until there is a solution.

Maybe in the item menu, add an option to Make table in the Make checklist section? Or just go with double-bar (||) markdown to indicate column alignment?
image

Thanks.

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I agree.

I tried to replicate this on my Pixelbook Chromebook, but it kept opening Google Photos in a new tab. So strange.

Iā€™m doing this using Comodo Dragon browser (chromium based) on Windows 8. Iā€™ll try my HP Chromebook at home tonight.

I so wish Dynalist would implement tables like this.

Iā€™m using GSheets for a few notes where what I really need is a table in Dynalist. Itā€™s just a few rows of tabular information and I have several tables on the same sheet/page (under different headings and with different dimensions). Iā€™m not interested in sorting, or filtering, or calculations, pivot tables, graphs, or anything like that - just the tabular presentation.

GDocs would be way overkill too. And if it takes so long to open a document then I put it off, and it becomes out of date, and eventually totally useless.

So @Erica a lightweight table in a lightweight app like Dynalist would be ideal!!! Please talk to your developers about it!

Thanks

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Thanks! Iā€™ve been wanting tables and some other Powerpack 3 functionality such as the ability to embed videos, websites and documents as well as panels and popups to be built-in. Powerpack 3, built by the genius @Piotr, tremedously expanded how I see Dynalist and has enabled me to turn it into a digital scrapbook.

Iā€™d love for the ability to sort data in tables alphabetically or by highest and lowest number, if possible.

sorting is a nice to have, but is it necessary, if they are other table like apps for that?
However a horizontal view would still be useful. Ive suggested this a few time ways to to better use the horizontal space but seems according to the roadmap they are other priorities. I will consider notion because it seems to have both outline view and a horizontal trello view in one.

Even though I donā€™t want to leave Dynalist I have been poking around at a few alternatives last week so I hope someone here provides some insight into their roadmap.

The closest thing Iā€™ve found is Checkvist. It has tables and a kind of Gmail awareness, and also better Markdown support, hardcore keyboard navigation, and an active community. Other aspects Iā€™m not crazy about though.

Iā€™m also checking out GTDNext, since Iā€™m using Dynalist for GTD, but itā€™s hardly a drop-in replacement, and the community isnā€™t very active so Iā€™m not sure the project is going any where. BUT it is designed for GTD so I donā€™t have to figure out how to use a generic tool for that specific purpose and it ensures Iā€™m not cheating.

I would love to give Moo.do more consideration but I feel like I would have to give up using Gmail and GCal directly and Iā€™m not sure Iā€™m ready to do that! Plus, they donā€™t have tables :disappointed:

Also, Coda.io and Notion.so are awesome, but wouldnā€™t consider them to replace Dynalist. And, they donā€™t have simple tables like Iā€™m looking for - only fancy spreadsheet/database tables. Honestly, Google should buy them both, put all their employees on the GDrive team, and finally come up with a worthy successor to Google Notebook (and competitor to OneNote, Evernote, etc).

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Any update on when we will get this feature?