I want to navigate to an item in my file quicklyāwithout my mouse. Right now, I have to:
Hit Cmd-F and enter my query
Tab to focus on search results, then move my cursor down to what I want
Hit Cmd-] to zoom in
Hit Cmd-F and clear query because Iām still filtering by it
Tab to focus on my list
The solution?
Iām not entirely sure. Maybe an item finder with the same UI as the file finder but with a different shortcut? Maybe this item finder should only match items that are marked as a Heading 3 or above?
This is something Iād wanted in Workflowy for years, but Iām excited because thereās finally a chance to fix it!
To find everything, you can use shift+enter after using ctrl+F.
You can use your arrow keys if you do not want to use your mouse.
Iām sure thereās probably more to what youāre asking for, could you give an example of something else that youād like to find on top of whatās already provided?
So something like say an extension of autocomplete, but the same UI, with results instead of suggestions, that are fully loaded, and can be navigated through by using your arrow keys (or mouse)?
Weāve thought about this before and came to the following conclusion:
The Ctrl+O finder now searches for both bookmarks and files, which is already a lot. Imagine you want to go to a file but three bookmarks also match your query. You now have press Down three times in order to open that file (or use your mouse).
Alternatives to this:
Use different shortcuts for different types. For example, Ctrl+O is for finding files, and there are a special shortcut for finding bookmarks and yet another for finding items. Pro: if you know what type youāre looking for, itās going to be faster. Con: more shortcuts to remember; sometimes you donāt really remember which type youāre looking for.
Mix all results together and use symbols to distinguish them. The ordering is only based on how much the name of the item/document/bookmark matches the query and nothing else. Pro: you only need to remember one shortcut for everything. Con: compared to alternative 1, you may need to type a more accurate query in order to bring up the right item; the mixed result layout may look messy.
Also from the perspective of running a business, honestly if you can navigate to any item that easily, bookmarks kind of loses its meaning, and so is the 5 bookmarks limit in free accounts. As you probably know, thereās already a lot of things (maybe already too much) in Dynalist thatās free.
Is there a different shortcut for just bookmarks as opposed to Ctrl-O for files and bookmarks? I donāt see one in help.
This sounds really cool! Itās Sublime Text-esque. That said, Iām not sure I can envision it being useful enough to justify the confusion that might come with it for unfamiliar users.
I do understand! Glad Iām able to support you all!
Not yet, I was talking about a possible alternative in order to accommodate items.
Thatās our concern as well. In addition, in Sublime Text there are symbols that developers already know: : for line number and @ for symbol. Itās hard to say which symbol we should use to represent a document or item or bookmark.
But maybe we donāt need the prefix symbol at allā¦ by āsymbolā I meant the icon before each item. In the Ctrl+O menu right now, you can see bookmarks and documents have different icons. Items would have something different (a bullet point, maybe), this way you can know which are which when they get mixed up. Because there are just too many items, I think weāre going to discount their match score. Meaning your query will match bookmarks first, and then documents, and then items.
Iām still thinking about the two different shortcuts option because they represent different contexts: all across Dynalist and just in the current document.
Butā¦ I donāt know. Some people (me somewhat) donāt even use multiple documents.
Thatās an interesting point. Sorry I didnāt catch this point from your earlier replies.
Itās like āsearchā vs āsearch everywhereā, now we have āgotoā (Ctrl+O) and āgoto everywhereā (Ctrl+Shift+O maybe). (Or should the shortcuts be the other way around to avoid too big of a change?)
Personally I would find instantly jumping to an item in another document valuable as well. For now my workaround is to bookmark all the places I visit often enough.
I like this idea. Basically, having something that did Ctrl + F + Shift + Enter and worked like Ctrl + O (with the ability to search for bookmarks) would be super useful to me. In total weād end up with three (main) shortcuts (ctrl O and ctrl f), with the third one being something like ctrl+shift+f/o, as Yatharth suggested.
And it could be restricted (donāt know about how on a technical users) to users on pro plans. It would be like Everything by Voidtools for Windows. Super fast and comprehensive. From there, we can use filters like is:document (would exclude the first line or title of each document from results) is:bookmark, is:completed (not implemented yet), etc.
I think that maybe both ctrl+shift+f/o should work for the comprehensive search feature, since it a mix of the two.
On some more reflection, the conclusion Iāve come to is that a Cmd-O like shortcut that worked with headings as well would be awesome.
This also neatly solves the document/item divide, sidestepping āsuperman modeā and all that with a simple modification. Those so inclined could keep everything in a single/fewer documents, yet still be able to jump between different contexts easily.
I think if the same shortcut indexed headings, then that would be enough and influence peopleās behavior in a positive way, resulting in more organized the fewer documents (as youāve pointed out). And if granular sharing options for bullet points come out, then a change in UI could make documents mostly moot.
(Since Iām not affiliated with Dynalist, this is solely my opinion:) The only concern here would be making Dynalist too free as it could make bookmarks useless, since the switcher is faster (although it doesnāt index everything). So to meet both needs (as Dynalist needs to be worth the time and effort to build and maintain, even if itās sustainable), I guess indexing or a separate section just for searching super powers (I guess sort of like slack) could be pro-exclusive.
Let me know if you think this would be fair or if you have a better idea.
