Going back and forth to a single link in a document full of links

DuncanMKZ

Another newbie question.

I'm moving thousands of existing text documents into TheArchive.

I've used NameMangler to add unique IDs (based on file creation time) to the start of all the files, so a group of files that looks like this...

Adobe Audition.txt
Sketch.txt
Calculation of CO2 and earth biomass.txt
Photographing cine film.txt

... gets turned into this...

2020-02-15 083059 Adobe Audition.txt
2020-02-16 191346 Sketch.txt
2020-02-20 144250 Calculation of CO2 and earth biomass.txt
2020-02-21 090231 Photographing cine film.txt

I then drop this list – thousands of files – into a text document called "UNSORTED FILES.txt" . Then with a grep-based search and replace in BBEdit, the list gets transformed into this...

[[2020-02-15 083059]] Adobe Audition.txt
[[2020-02-16 191346]] Sketch.txt
[[2020-02-20 144250]] Calculation of CO2 and earth biomass.txt
[[2020-02-21 090231]] Photographing cine film.txt

Now I've got a document I can open and edit in TheArchive, and everything is nicely linked.

But I don't know what's inside Sketch.txt and I'd like to add more details. If I click on the link, the file opens up and I can see it's a comedy sketch I was writing about an inept iPad user. I'd like to add that information to the description in the UNSORTED FILES document, but how do I get back to where I came from? I can see UNSORTED FILES in the search results list, but if I click on it, I have to hunt for the filename I was editing, because there's no cursor.

• After clicking a bracketed link, is there a way to return to the originating document, with an active cursor in its previous position?

• OR, is it possible to click on a bracketed link inside a document and open it in a new window or external editor?

• OR is there another solution for quickly viewing the content of a bracketed link?

Duncan

Will

If this is the format you use for the UIDs, in Keyboard Maestro you can duplicate this with the token [[%ICUDateTime%yyyy-MM-dd HHmmss%]] turns into [[2022-02-05 150231]]

Reference
Dates and Times [Keyboard Maestro Wiki]

Will

@DuncanMKZ said:

• After clicking a bracketed link, is there a way to return to the originating document, with an active cursor in its previous position?

No, I don't think so. I'd love to be proven wrong.

Will

@DuncanMKZ said:

• OR, is it possible to click on a bracketed link inside a document and open it in a new window or external editor?

Yes! Keyboard Maestro to the rescue. I developed a simple Keyboard Maestro set of tools that foster A Two Window Workflow. Using these, you get two windows, one in which you can keep the zettel you are working on in focus. The second window will accept highlighted searches and note links from the first window. Exactly what you asked for.

Here is an older forum post with a video showing it in action. Warning, I have a speech impediment making the video choppy. I've refined the macros and added Open Note in 2nd window ⌃F1.

Two window workflow keeps the target in focus — Zettelkasten Forum

Here is the Macro Group.
Change triggers if you want. Those should be good to go as built, but you're free to extend them.

ctietze

@DuncanMKZ said:
I'm moving thousands of existing text documents into TheArchive.

Then welcome on board

• After clicking a bracketed link, is there a way to return to the originating document, with an active cursor in its previous position?

There are browser-like navigation options in The Archive: Cmd-Ctrl-Leftarrow and -Rightarrow trigger these, too. If you don't see them, you can enable the buttons in the main menu: View ▶ Show Navigation Controls.

The old cursor position is saved and should be restored. There are exceptions, like if you have an active search and enabled "Highlight search terms in the editor" in the "Editing" preferences of the app, because that will put the cursor in the position of a match in the note.

Will

@ctietze said:
The old cursor position is saved and should be restored. There are exceptions, like if you have an active search and enabled "Highlight search terms in the editor" in the "Editing" preferences of the app, because that will put the cursor in the position of a match in the note.

Another argument for exposing this setting in the editor rather than burning it in preferences.

DuncanMKZ

@Will said:
If this is the format you use for the UIDs, in Keyboard Maestro you can duplicate this with the token [[%ICUDateTime%yyyy-MM-dd HHmmss%]] turns into [[2022-02-05 150231]]

Yes! That is precisely how I have my Keyboard Maestro set up, and is what I use KM for 98% of the time. I use the trigger sequence ;;d for a datestamp. Most of my files start with a datestamp, and I also put it at the top of most notes in a "journal" document (which integrates very nicely with TheArchive, as it turns out!)

DuncanMKZ

@ctietze said:

@DuncanMKZ said:
I'm moving thousands of existing text documents into TheArchive.

Then welcome on board

• After clicking a bracketed link, is there a way to return to the originating document, with an active cursor in its previous position?

There are browser-like navigation options in The Archive: Cmd-Ctrl-Leftarrow and -Rightarrow trigger these, too. If you don't see them, you can enable the buttons in the main menu: View ▶ Show Navigation Controls.

The old cursor position is saved and should be restored. There are exceptions, like if you have an active search and enabled "Highlight search terms in the editor" in the "Editing" preferences of the app, because that will put the cursor in the position of a match in the note.

Yes, I noticed that. Sometimes the Command-Control-LeftArrow takes me back to where I was, and sometimes it doesn't.

I've discovered that, on returning to a document, focus is on the Omnibar, and hitting Tab to be able to type in the same cursor position. (It took me a while to realize this.)

I'm still trying to understand how the search terms work, and what exactly is being highlighted. My "top" document is named "0 0INDEX" (so it also appears at the top of my file list in finder), but I often (though not always) seem to end up with a document where all the zeroes are highlighted. They are present in every UUID, and it was so distracting to look at that I turned the highlighting off in Preferences But that (I now realize) makes it much harder to go back and forth in two documents.

However, I don't want to present a litany of complaints. I'm sure everyone has their own ideas of what they think should be changed. The fact is, I am really enjoying working with TheArchive, and it has already transformed the way I work. The way it links to the UUID and not the entire filename is a huge improvement over similar programs, because finally I can improve poor filenames from the Finder without breaking their links.

DuncanMKZ

A followup to my own question

As @ctietze said, TheArchive DOES remember cursor position, but taking advantage of this feature requires a certain way of working.

Let's say there's an index document called SNAKES with a links to child documents such as COBRA, KRAIT, RATTLESNAKE.

If I click on the UID to RATTLESNAKE, that document opens. The originating SNAKES document is still visible in the left column, and I can return to it either by clicking on it, or by clicking Control-Command-LeftArrow. But when I do so, the focus is on the Omnibar and it looks as if the cursor position is forgotten. (Which it isn't.)

My mistake has been that I then mouse-click inside the SNAKES document, which sets the cursor to wherever I've now clicked. The correct process would be NOT to click, but to press Tab, which moves the focus to the document, with the cursor in its original position.

The other mistake I've made is to assume that clicking on a link first shifts the cursor position to that link. It doesn't. Say SNAKES is open and the cursor is on the link to "Rattlesnake". If I click on "Cobra", then COBRA will open, but when I return to SNAKES, and hit Tab the cursor will still be on RATTLESNAKE.

So, when investigating the links in a big document, it's best to put the cursor near the link you want, then click the link. Return with the Control-Command-LeftArrow shortcut, and then press Tab to move the focus back to the document, and its previous cursor position.

(If it matters, I have search highlighting turned OFF.)

ctietze

@DuncanMKZ Thanks for taking the time to point this out! I nowadays use the mouse so seldomly in The Archive (and was used to the same tab behavior from Notational Velocity, in fact) that it's easy for me to forget about this. -- Took note to make this more discoverable and teach the inclined user about the use of tab here.

@Will Soon