Quick Dynalist - The native Android app for Dynalist

New feature is out: Quick inspection of elements in a #inbox

There have been quite a few changes – if you wanna try it out join the beta program
https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.louiskirsch.quickdynalist

@pottster The #inbox bug is also fixed with the beta version.

My plans on the new quick item list are as follow:

  • Swipe item to delete
  • Checkmark for checking off things
  • Click item to go into a new activity (view) which shows the children of that item and allows to insert items there
  • Drag and drop items to change order and drag items into others to make them a child of that item
  • Alternative I’ve been thinking about: Have one flat list, but use indentations to display depth

Let me know what you think and give me your ideas :wink:

Also: Implementing this is still a bit cumbersome with the current API. I would like to have these API features:

  1. API for inserting items into document should return new item ids
  2. "Streaming" (or webhook) API

Fixing this would also be useful

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Thanks for taking the time to fix this :slightly_smiling_face:

It’s looking good and the #inbox locations is working well in the new beta.

What would it take to use markdown when sharing a link to the app? I’m thinking of Title. As it is, when I share a link now, I still need to open it again on the desktop and re-link it with the title so I know what it is.

I’m not sure what you are referring to Kevin. When I share a link from chrome it correctly includes the title of the link in the markdown. Maybe in your specific case it doesn’t work with other apps? Can you give me more details?

You’re right Louis, my mistake. I’d been sending links from Facebook and Instagram as copy and paste. Duh!

I have fine-tuned the new feature to see the contents of your different #inboxes.
The new version is now released to the play store!

There is now also a feature to open a #inbox in Dynalist. Unfortunately, the Android Dynalist App does not support URL linking yet, and thus it opens in the browser.
Bump this up to fix it: Handle Dynalist link in android app

Also, I want to add the ability to click on an item to add new items as children.
We need this API change: API for inserting items into document should return new item ids

There is also an improved version of the share to Quick Dynalist option (selected text & URLs etc)

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Coming along nicely Louis.

The inevitable question. Any plans for an IOS version?
(My wife is an iphone diehard. :man_shrugging:)

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Sorry, I don’t think so. I only use an iPad but don’t really need it on there, so not a good investment of time.

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This app has worked wonders for my ability to quickly capture thoughts and ideas as well as storing information from other Android apps. Great work!

One enhancement I’d love to see, but one that I can understand if its not implemented: I used to run MyLifeOrganized (MLO) as a task manager. The quick add widget for MLO on Android defaulted to disappearing after you had entered something and tapped the send button, but you can long tap the send button to keep the widget visible and add another item. Most of the time I only added one thing at a time and this set up made the process really smooth.

Translated to Quick Dynalist the two workflows would be:

  1. Open Quick Dynalist
  2. Enter text
  3. Tap ADD ITEM
  4. Quick Dynalist adds to Dynalist and then disappears

and

  1. Open Quick Dynalist
  2. Enter text
  3. Long tap ADD ITEM
  4. Quick Dynalist adds to Dynalist and then clears + focuses the text field
  5. GOTO 2

UI wise MLO handles it like this:

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Hi Berdan,
Thanks for your kind words and suggestions. I’m not a big fan of the long tap because that diminishes the use-case of rapid entering of multiple items.
Usually, if I only want to add one item, I tap ‘Add item’ and then outside of the dialog which makes it close. This is also quite rapid.

Nevertheless, multiple people have voiced their need for a fast add & close option now. I guess we can have the best from both worlds with two buttons. I’ll make sure to add one in the next release.

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I love this! My one rec is to add a widget that would allow you to type directly on the home screen and have it be added right to the inbox

Thanks! Input fields are not permitted in widgets on Android. I’m also not sure how this would be faster compared to the dialog. Can you describe more precisely what you think is missing?

Hi, the dialog is fast. I was just hoping (but it sounds like a pipe dream) that i could just see a blank box on the home screen and start writing directly from there. I think it would help with brainstorming and such. Oh well, one can always dream…

You would still have to touch the blank box to get the keyboard up. But instead you can touch the quick dynalist icon and you can immediately start typing. I don’t see a difference.

Better still, tap the Quick Dynalist icon and tap the mic icon. Google’s voice typing is SO good now.

@pottster Yes, a voice feature might be something I should include. You can already invoke it through the voice assistant, but that is obviously a bit slower.

I have a bunch of new features (and probably not too many more coming in the near future).

  • Markdown formatting
  • Navigation through the item hierarchy (press items / press up / press back)
  • Sharing current list

  • List of your documents in the navigation pane

  • Shortcuts to specific inboxes. Either shows the dialog or the list.

I don’t think we can make entering new items and checking specific lists much faster than this :wink:

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Wow Louis this is all amazing, well done and thank you!! - do you think it would be possibe to see these inbox lists as a widget? My use case is that my ‘focused’ list would be right there on my desktop :slight_smile:

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Edit: sorry, fixed now - oddly enough it needed me to log onto dynalist on something other than the android app - once it all updated on the web on my laptop, quickdynalist kicked into action … but the info must have been there on the dynalist servers for the version of dynalist on the laptop to update … so why couldn’t quickdynalist access it … hmmm, weird.

Hmmm @Louis_Kirsch having a problem with the new version - after half an hour it’s not picking up any of my lists despite using a mix of #inbox #quickdynalist and setting one as #primary #inbox - it all worked fine before the update - I tried generating a new API key ( and reinstalling etc) but nada … I don’t expect you to troubleshoot but is there a known problem atm? Thanks!

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Hey Stephen,

Thank you, I sent you a private message. Would still be good to investigate this.

I might create a widget, it’s a bit of work though, don’t expect it too soon.

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Re widget that’s cool, please don’t feel pressured at all :slight_smile: