Left Pane Remembers/ Saves state of collapsed / open hierarchies

[JustinThomason]

I also agree with MNBlockHead. I would much rather drill into collapsed topics than scroll through a bunch of expanded topics. An option to default to all expanded or all collapsed would go a long way to fixing this issue for me.

[Joe]

Hi everyone,

I know this isn't the complete solution everyone is looking for, but there are some features you can take advantage of that will be helpful.

A few patches ago, we added a hotkey to the "Collapse All" command in the navigation pane options menu (the tools button next to the magnifying glass icon for search/filter). You hold the Ctrl key and then hit the "-" key. This will fully collapse all the containing topics in the panel.

There is also a new command to show the current topic in the navigation pane. It is available from the content pane options menu (the large tools button to the upper right of the main topic pane). It also has a hotkey of Ctrl and the = key. This will automatically expand the topic tree to show whatever topic is currently in the content pane. Importantly, it only expands the topics necessary to show the topic in question, so the rest of the topics remain expanded/collapsed as you left them. If all topics started collapsed, this will perform the minimum number of expand operations needed to show the topic within the nav pane.

TL;DR
So to sum up, Ctrl - will auto collapse all topics. Ctrl = will automatically open as many levels of depth as needed to show the current topic.

Again, this isn't the complete solution, but these changes were simple and effective enough that we were able to deliver them quickly.

[gloranphile]

Holy crap Joe, this is great!

Is there a shortcut to collapse all Categories?

[talsharien]

All hail Joe, how could I have missed this

[Joe]

Originally Posted by gloranphile

Holy crap Joe, this is great!

Is there a shortcut to collapse all Categories?

There will be soon! I just added one, so you can look forward to using it in the next patch. In the meantime, you can still click the "Collapse All Groups" command in the category or group tools menus.

If you're finding all the category headings to be too cluttering, might I suggest that you switch to using the simple grouping headers instead (sometimes we call them "category families"). Instead of having ~45 different story category headings, you just get a simple list of headings like "Events, People, Groups, Places, Things". I personally find it much easier to use this option than the many category headings, although everyone has their own preferred way of doing things.

You can find it by going to the Manage tab in the ribbon, clicking Preferences, then choosing Navigation View in the left panel, then picking "By Simple Grouping" (the first option). Or more simply:

Manage > Preferences > Navigation View > By Simple Grouping

Hope this helps!

Originally Posted by talsharien

All hail Joe, how could I have missed this

It was probably buried in the patch notes, so it's not surprising that people didn't see it. I do appreciate finally being paid the reverence and homage I deserve, however.

[AEIOU]

Hey Liz! Hot keys and hidden gems for a spotlight video!

I hadn't noticed CTRL = either. Can't wait to try it out this weekend. Thank you, Joe!!!

[adzling]

Nice one Joe, thanks for this.

Remembering folder states is far preferable imho but this should help those who know the secret hand-shake to make it work.

It's nice to see some effort on the interface, as realms get more complex the interface and ways to manage the reams of data entered is only going to get more important.

I hope you are able to spend more time on it this year.

Originally Posted by Joe

There will be soon! I just added one, so you can look forward to using it in the next patch. In the meantime, you can still click the "Collapse All Groups" command in the category or group tools menus.

If you're finding all the category headings to be too cluttering, might I suggest that you switch to using the simple grouping headers instead (sometimes we call them "category families"). Instead of having ~45 different story category headings, you just get a simple list of headings like "Events, People, Groups, Places, Things". I personally find it much easier to use this option than the many category headings, although everyone has their own preferred way of doing things.

You can find it by going to the Manage tab in the ribbon, clicking Preferences, then choosing Navigation View in the left panel, then picking "By Simple Grouping" (the first option). Or more simply:

Manage > Preferences > Navigation View > By Simple Grouping

Hope this helps!



It was probably buried in the patch notes, so it's not surprising that people didn't see it. I do appreciate finally being paid the reverence and homage I deserve, however.

[adzling]

Just tried this out and it does work as advertised and it does help manage my ever expanding realm.

thanks for listening to your users ;-)

Originally Posted by Joe

Hi everyone,

I know this isn't the complete solution everyone is looking for, but there are some features you can take advantage of that will be helpful.

A few patches ago, we added a hotkey to the "Collapse All" command in the navigation pane options menu (the tools button next to the magnifying glass icon for search/filter). You hold the Ctrl key and then hit the "-" key. This will fully collapse all the containing topics in the panel.

There is also a new command to show the current topic in the navigation pane. It is available from the content pane options menu (the large tools button to the upper right of the main topic pane). It also has a hotkey of Ctrl and the = key. This will automatically expand the topic tree to show whatever topic is currently in the content pane. Importantly, it only expands the topics necessary to show the topic in question, so the rest of the topics remain expanded/collapsed as you left them. If all topics started collapsed, this will perform the minimum number of expand operations needed to show the topic within the nav pane.

TL;DR
So to sum up, Ctrl - will auto collapse all topics. Ctrl = will automatically open as many levels of depth as needed to show the current topic.

Again, this isn't the complete solution, but these changes were simple and effective enough that we were able to deliver them quickly.

[MNBlockHead]

Originally Posted by Joe

There will be soon! I just added one, so you can look forward to using it in the next patch. In the meantime, you can still click the "Collapse All Groups" command in the category or group tools menus.

This is GREAT news. But will it be a two step process? (1) Collapse all categories, (2) Collapse all groups? Or will there be a true collapse everything at once option?

Also, I've never been able to get CTRL = to work for me. Regardless of whether I have everything collapsed, everything expanded, or something in between, the Ctrl = hotkey does nothing for me.

[talsharien]

Originally Posted by MNBlockHead

Also, I've never been able to get CTRL = to work for me. Regardless of whether I have everything collapsed, everything expanded, or something in between, the Ctrl = hotkey does nothing for me.

I cannot get the CTRL = to work either. The other commands do however work just fine.