This is how I would like the groups and categories pane to look like by default:
RWcollapsed.png
In lieu of being able to customize default collapse/expand states, I would like to be able to get to the above state quickly.
The issue is that groups and categories are handled differently, a paradigm I'm still trying to get used to. To me, they are both still part of a the same navigation GUI. For me, "collapse entire hierarchy" is not collapsing the entire hierarchy, because the groups are part of that hierarchy for all practical purposes (from an end-user, maybe not a developer, perspective).
I've made a macro in a third-party program (PhraseExpress) to accomplish this for me, but it is a little wonky because there is no hot-key for "Collapse All Groups" and I'm unable to collapse all categories in my preference navigation view. Moreover, there is no hotkey to bring up the Group Tools.
Regarding grouping by categories, in the group by simple topics and categories they act as a third, intermediate level.
Lets look at everything fully expanded:
RWexpanded.png
Now, after using the "collapse entire hierarchy (ctrl+-)" option, I get this:
RWpartlycollapsed.png
Sorry guys, but that is not what I expect nor what I want.
At this point, I usually go onto "collapse all groups" (no keyboard shortcut). Yet, if I then expand the events group, I still see the categories it contains expanded. What is frustrating is that there is no "collapse all categories" option, like there is with groups. If I click on the Category Tools button, I see a "collapse category" option, which I would never use because it an extra click and mouse movement to use it than to just collapse it using the carrot button on the category muntin. That's an inconsistency in the interface. I would expect to have a collapse-all-categories option in category tools, just as there is a collapse-all-groups option in the group tools.
Because of this, there is no easy way, short of LOTS of clicks, to really collapse everything.