Hints for NoteBook 3.0

Hints for NoteBook 3.0

by ptram - 03:21AM, Feb 08, 2008

Hi,

I see several users have asked for a revised Super-Find function. I, too, while very new to NoteBook, am finding more and more the need of this 'flat' list saved into a dynamic page.

How would I like it work? First of all, I would like the current 'flat' view is preserved. After the demise of iGTD, NoteBook is the only app, as of my knowledge, to let one see a 'flat' to-do list, i.e, with no parent folders shown. Other apps only group next actions in project/contexts folders, as NB does in the To Do Items Index page. I find the true spirit of Allen's GTD is to only focus on one activity at a time while working, letting everything else to the Processing phase.

Then, I would like the Super-Find search could be saved into a new, dynamic page, i.e., constantly updating with the saved search criteria always active (not with the results of a specific search, but with lively search results).

Also, I would like a new search function was added. Instead of just entering a specified absolute date, I would like to do my search for relative dates, i.e., Today, Tomorrow, Within Two Days... It would be great if this allowed holidays to be optionally specified, and not always counted. So, in your office to-do list you could always see what is happening in the next two work days; in your home to-do list you could see your activities including week-ends.

Finally, I was informed the forthcoming version 3.0 will show Super-Find results sorted with the nearest date on top, so I will not add this to my wish list. In the meantime, Eric suggested me a smart trick, consisting in saving a custom auto-sorting template with the right order.

Some other things I would like to see are the ability of entering keywords right in their column (instead of having to create them in thei sheet, then drag them in place), and more keywords/stickers seen at the same time.

This would seem to me the perfect organizer.

Best regards,
Paolo

Eric

Member

11:10PM, Apr 12, 2008

Hello Paolo,

quote:
Some other things I would like to see are the ability of entering keywords right in their column (instead of having to create them in thei sheet, then drag them in place), and more keywords/stickers seen at the same time.


If you already have keywords defined for a given NoteBook (i.e. in the Keywords inspector under the category for the NoteBook's name), then if you have the Keywords column visible, you can Control-click next to a cell and choose one of those keywords from a contextual menu.

quote:
Also, I would like a new search function was added. Instead of just entering a specified absolute date, I would like to do my search for relative dates, i.e., Today, Tomorrow, Within Two Days... It would be great if this allowed holidays to be optionally specified, and not always counted. So, in your office to-do list you could always see what is happening in the next two work days; in your home to-do list you could see your activities including week-ends.


In NoteBook's online help, in the "Whats New in 2.1" section there are a bunch of date shortcuts you can use similar to what you are asking:

In NoteBook 2.1, the due date field now accepts the words “day,” “week,” “month,” “year,” “tomorrow,” “yesterday,” “next week,” and “last week,” allowing you to enter dates like “1 week” (one week from today), “7 weeks” (seven weeks from today), “-4 weeks” (four weeks ago), “-5 days”, “3 months”, “2 years”, “tomorrow + 4 days”, “yesterday - 1 week” (eight days ago), “last week + 3 days” (10 days ago), etc. You can also type just “t” for “today.”

Additionally, if you enter a date like 3/5 (i.e. with slashes but without a year), if the date is earlier than the current date, is not within the current month and is more than 30 days before the current day, NoteBook assumes you mean the date 3/5 in the following year.
---

Regards,

__Eric
Circus Ponies Software, Inc.

ptram

Member

03:16AM, Apr 13, 2008

Eric, thank you for your answer.

quote:
If you already have keywords defined ... you can Control-click next to a cell and choose one of those keywords from a contextual menu.[QUOTE]

I use this function all the time. But I was thinking to entering a new keyword right in the page, with no need for an advance creation in the Inspector. Maybe the current method is 'cleaner', forcing ne to reuse existing keywords; but if you like to use keywords as tags, this might become a bit cumbersome.

[QUOTE]... the due date field now accepts the words “day,” “week,” ... You can also type just “t” for “today.”


While I'm using the very handy shortcuts to enter text (I admit I ignored the 't' shorcut), what I miss is not a shortcut for entering an absolute date (for example, type "today" for "April 13"), but one for entering a relative date (for example, type "today"; it will be "April 13" today, but will automatically become "April 14" tomorrow).

Best,
Paolo

Eric

Member

09:50AM, Apr 13, 2008

There are date and time stamps (with keyboard short cuts) available in the Insert submenu of the Edit menu. Maybe that will be useful for absolute dates?

Also, if you select a word or phrase and Control-click it, you can create and assign a keyword on the fly by choosing Assign as Keyword.
---

Regards,

__Eric
Circus Ponies Software, Inc.

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