Ability to have multiple nvalt windows open

[studgeek]

As described in https://github.com/scrod/nv/issues/132, it would be really handy if a user could have more than one nvalt window open.

[tmjbradley]

A use case for this is when I am taking notes in one meeting but wanting to cross-reference to various other notes. I could open a preview, but the problem is the window that stays static (i.e. on the same note) is the one where I want to type and the window where I just want to read is the one where I want search. Having the option to open multiple windows would be awesome.

[maclm]

If you keep your notes as separate text files, then you could hit cmd-shift-E to open the notes you need in an external editor (FoldingText, Byword and the like that have minimalist UI are great for that). Not sure you can do that with notes stored as database though.

Otherwise, you can get great use of bookmarks to quickly toggle between notes. Not as convenient as having them side by side, but effective and readily available.

[tmjbradley]

Thanks maclm, I already end up having one note open in an external editor and nvalt for the rest but it's a really poor substitute. It does solve the use case above but there are plenty of other scenarios where it doesn't, what if you want three windows for example? Plus I'm all about increasing productivity and having to use two or more apps for note taking and search seems wrong!

[maclm]

I'm totally with you on gaining productivity by removing as much friction as possible.
In some cases, I've ended up using nvALT more like a file browser since it's by far the fastest way I've found to get my hands on any specific file or to create one on a rush. Using something like Slate, it's quite easy to get three vertical windows or four corner windows from FoldingText (it could even be TextEdit). I can cycle trough windows by hitting cmd-`` and get back to my "browser" (nvALT) usingcmd-tab` (or your preferred systemwide shortcut for nvALT). When seeking for productivity, I tend to consider a mouse, by its nature, as a "friction" device and avoid it as much as possible.
I know I'm not working here to implement the feature you'd like to see, but it's the solution I happily use every day, so I thought it was worth sharing.
As a side note, you could achieve what you mentioned above using Atom. It has a folder navigator, a Fuzzy Finder to quickly open files and can open multiple windows, but it's not as frictionless as nvALT (the Fuzzy Finder searches only in file names, you can't create a file while searching, you have to manually save a new file, no inter-note linkage, no tagging system, and so on.).

Best regards.

[elasticthreads]

Great discussion guys. I'm definitely thinking about the possibility of having multiple windows open.

Question: Would every window need the notes list? Or would it be ok if there's just 1 "main" window (the current one with both a notes list and a text editor), and however many text editing windows that just have a single note text in them?

You cmd-L from any window takes you back to the main window, you can type to search or create and if you hit cmd-return, instead of return, the app will open or create the appropriate note in a new window instead of the main one.

Closing a text editing window will automatically bring the main window back up.

Something like that.

OR every window is the same. search field, notes list, text editor. (Which becomes a lot more complicated to manage. The app would have to track which window has a collapsed notes list, which windows have them expanded. Which windows are in horizontal layout, which ones have vertical. What search terms and notes are visible in which windows, etc etc etc.... might be too complicated to do)

[ArmchairQuarterback]

Great to hear that you are considering this feature.

Personally, I've always been OK with opening up other windows in BBEdit, but I have to admit that it is a little clunky, and it would be a lot more pleasant (not to mention productive) to stay in one app. The only benefit for me in using BBEdit for my daily work is that BBEdit shows invisibles (BBEdit has lots of other great features, but sometimes I open up a note in BBEdit just to see these). That'd be a nice feature to have in nvALT as well!

As for how it ought to be done, I wouldn't need the full note list, preview option, or anything like that. Just the note would be just fine with me. Perhaps, if a full-featured window becomes a feature folks really want, the behavior could be modified in the future.

[juranta]

I'm not requesting it and I understand it is hard to implement, but in general (and maybe as an idea for some future application someone creates), having several windows with notes list would be useful in some workflows. For instance, I often have one Mission Control desktop for general browsing and other stuff and another for some project I'm working on. I use nvALT in both desktops, but of course the nvALT window is often in the other desktop. And at the same time, single window nvALT notes, as in native Apple Notes application, would also be very nice. As in, in some ideal application I'd like to have them both.

[tmjbradley]

When I think about this problem I envisage multiple windows identical to the main window with the full notes list. This would allow the user to have two (or more) searches visible at any given time as well as the currently selected notes in those searches.

Given that having the identical windows would be complex, having multiple editing windows and only one search window is certainly better than nothing - the advantage over external editors is the availability of the Cmd-L shortcut. The part I don't like is that pressing Cmd-Ret would open a new window and not change the note in the existing window.

[juranta]

Maybe at least for me, it might get confusing if I had several nvALT windows open, each with notes list and search field. For instance, I may want to keep some notes open for a long time for editing, and at the same time search from other notes, it perhaps would be confusing to do things such as search for "that" nvALT window where I can search and not lose the note I want to keep open. In some ultimate application, for me it would be enough if a new window with search and notes list opened from menu bar, since I'd use it perhaps mainly for different virtual desktops.

[kevinmtrowbridge]

I have used email as a note taking tool for years.

I keep multiple emails open on my computer and I am always tabbing between them, comparing them, copying from one to another. If I need to archive it, I email it to myself.

The problem is, email is kind of heavy, and it's really about communicating, not just about writing notes to myself. I would love to find a lightweight tool that, I could leave constantly open, to replace email for these notes. And yet, I don't seem to be able to. Evernote is way too heavy.

I tried nvALT tonight and, I love it. I love the plain text, I love the lightweight, bulletproof. I just have a problem with it being only one window, this seems like a big handicap.

---

I do see how you can open in Sublime Text 2 via Cmd-Shift-E -- that is pretty nice, and I see how it quickly updates between the two whenever you save.

[sdrygalski]

So what's up with this?

[maclm]

@sdrygalski just so you know, nvALT has seen its last compatibility update in September 2017 and is now feature freeze.

BUT (and this is a BIG BUT), Brett is working with Fletcher Penny on a new solution. And now is probably a good time to make feature request.

In the meantime, you might also want to take a look at The Archive, even though it doesn't offer multi-window support.