Unmirror a Node
Completed
I would love to be able to delete a mirrored node from its location without it deleting the parent/original mode. So perhaps an unmirror function?
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I've been using mirrors quite a lot to clean up and improve my knowledge management structure.
And as the current state of the mirror feature, I detected there are two different behaviours that might be confusing if not clearly explained:
1. If you delete a whole node by accessing the "delete" option under the "…" (3 dots menu) (or by its shortcut Cmd+Shift+Delete), it will only delete that single node, treating it as a unit; being:
1a. If it is a mirror, it will only delete the mirror leaving the original untouched.1b. If it is an original node, it will delete only that original, leaving all mirrors where they are, replacing its content with a text saying: "The original item was deleted or you don't have access to it".
2. If you progressively delete a node by deleting each character with the delete key, all that deleting action (or any other change) will be reflected in all instances of mirrors and originals (as editing the node content). It is particularly important to regard here that the key shortcut "Command+Delete) will be treated as this behaviour of editing the text content inside the node, but not deleting the node! That, as opposed to "Command+Shift+Delete", which will be treated as case 1 (deleting the whole node instance but not deleting the content inside it.
Hope I explained it in an understandable fashion, as it is a little tricky (adding the shift key or not adding it, makes the whole difference). Unfortunately, I learned it the hard way, by try and error, after losing mirrored content :(
So, in conclusion, maybe there is no need for an "unmirror feature" I guess, the need maybe is to clearly explain these current behaviours.
I will try to make a video to explain this and some other mirror tricks and superpowers.
Cheers,
Max.
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Yes I am.
To go back to the "unmirror."
I recently ran into a situation. I mirrored a node but then realized that I wanted to slightly different version of that node and it's contents.
Sketch has a concept of symbols - reusable components basically. And you can detach a symbol if you want to make a substantial change to a symbol but not big enough to start ALL over.
Something like this might be handy for a mirrored node.
Make sense?
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Yes, of course, it makes sense, I also use that feature in Sketch for the same reasons you mention!
I think that could be indeed a possible nice enhancement for the mirrors feature.
Also, I did like what Alfred suggested in this other request called: "A sign that a node has been mirrored".
Take a look here:
Maybe it would be easier and more useful not to have different instance between an original node and its mirrors, all of them could be mirrors and originals at the same time. (In other words: there won't be an original node).
And if you ever need to detach a node or a whole branch from their mirrors, then it would be handy to have this "unmirror" feature.
Otherwise, you could get the same process by copying all the branch data (node and its children while still being a mirror), deleting it, and then pasting that same content as a new independent node (or branch if it has many children).
Anyway, just thinking about it while I type, so maybe there are even better solutions, or even a completely different paradigms to enhance this feature and make it more straightforward.
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Hi folk, we're working on disambiguating/ clarifying what happens with Mirrors and the originals... we're definitely not finished with mirrors... not by any stretch... so we're going to find an elegant way for people to intuitively know what they're dealing with at any point in time.
~ Frank
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Hi William, so, as seen on just another WorkFlowy forum, if you go now to https://beta.workflowy.com/ and in the settings menu toggle on the switch to enable the function "Equal Mirrors", it will make the original look and behave the same as mirrors! Hopefully, this behaviour should be coming soon as a standard in the non-beta app and the Mac OS desktop, too. Cheers!
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@HarryPotter It seems like all nodes are equal now. Deleting the orginal node will not delete the others.
Btw. A nice way to unmirror a node is to just copy and past the bullets underneath it. In contrast to if you would copy the mirrored node, the nodes underneath will be copy and pasted without being tied (mirrored) to other nodes!
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To make this entirely clear - in the context of mirrors the menu should say "remove mirror" instead of delete. Probably the easiest way is to have these two options:
- "delete all mirrors including original"
- "remove this mirror"
@Frank
Hi folk, we're working on disambiguating/ clarifying what happens with Mirrors and the originals... we're definitely not finished with mirrors... not by any stretch... so we're going to find an elegant way for people to intuitively know what they're dealing with at any point in time.
~ Frank
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