Welcome!
This is the community forum for my apps Pythonista and Editorial.
For individual support questions, you can also send an email. If you have a very short question or just want to say hello — I'm @olemoritz on Twitter.
What Features Would you like in Editorial?
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I'll go first:
Issue
My workflow bookmark list is getting long. And tapping the three dots is not ideal when the workflow icon is right next to it.
Feature
Add a drop-down menu option to the bookmark bar that allows us to tap a label and display grouped bookmarked workflows vertically.
Alternative
Or perhaps the UI module can solve this?
Solution
I was able to do this with the UI module!
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You could achieve something similar quite easily, and you don't even need a custom UI, just a Select from List action. Here's a quick demo:
http://www.editorial-workflows.com/workflow/5250502627426304/JCmwgKElKG8
You can change the list of workflows by editing the Select from List action, but note that the workflow names have to match exactly. When you add this to your bookmarks bar, the list popover's arrow will point to the folder bookmark, so it looks similar to what you'd expect if this was a native feature.
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Thanks ole, I think we posted our workflows about the same time. It didn't take that long. I made two. One with a bunch of text editing workflows I made, and another with a collection of file handling workflows from the public workflow directory.
I will be adding more soon.
One thing, if the bookmark is the first on the bookmark list, the popup is centered. Perhaps it can be aligned to the left side of the screen?
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Here is another:
Issue
My documents are getting bigger, and all of the text I am not currently working on is distracting.
Feature
A program named FoldingText for the Mac allows you to collapse a section under a header down by tapping on the hash mark next to the header.
Alternative
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I've just discovered the details tag for html that collapses text, it only in preview mode. Would be nice for the editor.
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I've just created a workflow that helps me focus a little bit better called Text Focus, it doesn't work in the same was as the feature I described, but it helps me focus better.
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Just made my first basic version of Folding Text
Some new Ideas
I have been messing with the UI designer, and it seems I can use delegates to edit text in the editor. So perhaps I can hack it somehow to fake Folding Text. We will see.
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A feature that would greatly help my workflow is the ability to bookmark folders
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Hey all! I'm new to the forum and relatively new to Editorial, having only started using it extensively since the addition of Taskpaper functionality. There's one big feature wish that comes to mind every time I work with a Taskpaper file on my iPhone, so I thought I might as well mention it here and see what comes of it.
Issue
Taskpaper documents include handy checkboxes in the iPad UI but not in the iPhone UI.
Feature
Include the checkbox functionality in the iPhone UI as well. (If screen space is an issue, maybe it could double as the grabby area you tap and hold to move a list item.)
Alternative
1. An alternative already exists (the recently added swipe-the-margin technique), so I'm sure there are more pressing features to add than this. But I've found the swipe technique to be kind of finicky: you have to have good aim, timing and swipe technique in order to avoid selecting text or pulling open the preview screen (both of which really add friction to quickly processing checklists). Whenever I open a Taskpaper file on my iPhone after using it on my iPad, working with it just feels more cumbersome.
2. Might there be a way to use custom UIs to achieve this now? Having not yet explored the custom UI functionality, I don't know if that even fits in the scope of what the tool's designed to do, but it's a wishful-thinking thought that's crossed my mind a few times. Insight, anyone?
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I have seen some stuff in the API that has gesture support. It's Python stuff, so I shy away from it, for now. I have used a bit of Python in 2 of my workflows though.
I would like to work on more Custom Actions, which are better for re-use than just a Python script. I haven't delved into workflows for Taskpaper yet, nor for iPhone-specific workflows (much needed I know).
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Issue
My workflow list is very long. It would be easier to find workflows if I could organize them better.
Feature
A "Sort By" option for the workflow list.
- Sort by Date (old to newest or newest to oldest)
- Sort by Name (alphabetical)
- Sort by Size ( not too necessary)
Alternative
N/A
Solution
N/A
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Issue
When typing with an external keyboard, sometimes a.) the keyboard add-on gets in the way of the text and b.) the text will get far below where, comfortably, I'd like to be looking.
Feature
Some kind of "typewriter scrolling." I'd really like the ability to center the currently being edited line, and have it stay in the same place as I type.
Right now, the only real way to accomplish something like this is to have the software keyboard pulled up as I type. This, of course, isn't preferable. Though it does get the text to stay in one place, the flashing "shift" buttons etc. is sort of distracting in the thick of it.
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Issue:
I tried to put some major stress on Editorial to see where it breaks, so I repeated a three digit number 100,000 times on separate lines. It hung, so I shut it down, and opened it back up. The app hung for a while but eventually it came up (after it loaded the last document, which was 100,000 numbers),
I rebooted the ipad, and opened up Editorial again. It hung, but after it had loaded those 100,000 I was able to edit again.
Feature:
Allow an option in the settings to boot editorial to the last document OR to a new document. It is convenient that editorial picks up where you left off, but perhaps you want to boot to a fresh page.
Alternative
There is a workflow called "Create workflow Shortcut" that allows you to to boot editorial to a file of your choice using a custom homescreen icon."
Solution
Stop trying to break Editorial! Hehe
(No really, the main request is the option to load a new document on start, or the last document.)
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Issue:
Often, when opening Editorial, your place in your folder structure is not preserved, meaning you have to scroll and tap your way back through it to find the folder you want.
Feature:
Either a customizable "frequently used folders" list at the top of the folder list or a separate "Shortcuts" tab in addition to the current "Local" and "Dropbox" tabs.
Alternative:
There's probably a way to create a workflow that would provide this functionality (probably even with a GUI). I'm just not Editorial-savvy enough yet to come up with it.
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Yeah, the folder navigation is getting messy, especially when you have a lot of files. Perhaps a solution similar to the one about organizing workflows is the only way.
Correction: there is a sorting icon for folders at the bottom of the folder list.
Now that I think about it, I don't think there is a way to rename a file from the folder, without having to do it in the editor.
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Issue
I have made several formatting workflows, but they use inline CSS to format text, and the document looks a bit messy.
Feature
I recently discovered something called Python-Markdown, which extends Markdown syntax to your own custom syntax. If this were integrated into Editorial somehow, we could make our own syntax for extending markdown with other html tags.
Alternative
Perhaps there is a way to use the already listed Python-Markdown library, but it seems this would have to happen at the source-code level.
Update:
Saw this in the API:
The list of extensions may contain instances of extensions or strings of extension names. If an extension name is provided as a string, the extension must be importable as a python module either within the markdown.extensions package or on your PYTHONPATH with a name starting with mdx_, followed by the name of the extension. Thus, extensions=[‘extra’] will first look for the module markdown.extensions.extra, then a module named mdx_extra. extension_configs: A dictionary of configuration settings for extensions.``` -
Feature
Critic Markup in Editorial.
Alternative
I don't know of one yet.
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Issue
Markdown tables are tedious for data entry.
Feature
The TableView view should have options for columns as well. This way we could have cells (editable or non-editable)
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#Issue
When opening a Dropbox file in a workflow it retrieves the last synced version; there's no way to force sync before that.
#Feature
Possible solutions:
- 'Force Sync' if the 'In Dropbox' option is selected in the impacted actions
- Create a 'Force Sync' action
#Workaround
None that I know of (if anybody know one please share!)
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Issue
If you have bunches of workflows, it can be tedious to tag each one individually
Feature
Tag multiple workflows at once
Solution
by ole zorn
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@TutorialDoctor I've made a workflow to batch-edit workflow tags a while ago:
http://www.editorial-workflows.com/workflow/5820092734504960/BxTcvdKsGgw
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Cool thanks ole! That workflow is not searchable in the directory, I see it is unlisted. Could you upload it as listed?
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Tutorial Doctor:
re: Markdown Tables
I occasionally import (often via Command-C) csv data tables, paste into an Editorial doc and run the Tidy/create MMD table on and...nicely formatted table complete with headers from the csv file.
Pretty quick and easy. If I wanted, I could automate the task using something like Launch Center Pro to grab the file from Dropbox and send it to a new file in Editorial and call the Tidy/create action on it.
If I was building the table within Editorial, I'd do the same - just enter the data as csv.
