Multiple panes
Could we have the possibility to open multiple panes and drag and drop nodes between panes. The ability to organise panes, i.e place them next to or above each other, and save/restore this layout would also be great.
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I believe you can do what you want using Board view and Mirrors.
If the lists already exist elsewhere and you don't want to move them, create a new list as a board and mirror the lists you want to see together to that new board view. Then you can easily see them all together and drag items between them. That's how I do it.
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Hi,
I was looking for a multiple panes feature just these days, as I have started to use workflowy heavily again. It had been suggested by Frank if the function couldnt be filled by using multiple browser windows. I tried that exact thing, my usecase is having a reference list open, while working on a different list. I have to say it worked splendidly on MacOS, you basically couldn't even tell the windows apart (tiled scren with app / website). Of course multi pane within the app would reduce click overhead but as a workaround I can wholeheartedly recommend it.
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Do multiple panes/instances of Workflowy seem to be any closer today? Not a day goes by when I don't have to move things between the top and bottom of outlines and find myself hoping for a new release with panes or multiple instances on the desktop. Does it seem like something that will happen within the next month, six months, or is just on the 'someday' scale of time?
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I would love this feature since I am constantly linking/mirroring nodes, comparing versions, or referencing other areas of my workflowy while I write in another node.
I spent some time mocking up how I would like multiple panes in a single browser tab/window to work (but I realize that the Workflowy team might have different priorities or principles).
First, here is the standard Workflowy outline in the browser. The only addition is that the currently visible outline appears in a new Open section in the Sidebar.
Opening a 2nd outline in the same tab/window is done by clicking any node while holding down a set of modifier keys like Control + Option + Command + N (it would be great if this could be configurable by the individual user).
The newly opened outline can be closed by clicking the X in the upper right corner (the original outline can never be closed, there is always one outline visible).
I should mention that each outline can be navigated, hoisted, modified, etc. by using standard controls or actions.
A 3rd outline could be opened by clicking any node while holding down the Control + Option + Command + N key set.
In this example below the original outline, v1.7, is automatically moved off to the left and the two new outlines, v1.2 and v1.0, are displayed onscreen.
Note: All three outlines appear in the Open section in the Sidebar. To navigate back to the v1.7 outline I assume you would click on that node in the Sidebar (the outlines would slide to the right automatically).
Another 2+ option could be to display all outlines onscreen, subject to monitor size and resolution. Note: The breadcrumb trail would probably have to be modified slightly to accommodate the beginning and end of the trail, but other than that the control should work as normal.
Just my 2¢. I leave implementation specifics up to the Workflowy team (and hope to see this soon in some future release).
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I like your mockup, William. Check out Legend (previously known as moo.do) for a really nice Panes/Views implementation. It's pretty flawless on iOS devices as well, and doesn't jump about the screen every time the keyboard appears/disappears or you scroll another view. A similiar thing for Workflowy would be wonderful.
The only thing that would be better would be if Workflowy allowed separate instances open on the desktop, and you could drag item(s) between those instances at will. Of course, this wouldn't be applicable to iOS devices unless Apple make some changes to the way the OS limits one app on screen at a time, but this type of 'power functionality seems more of a desktop-type tool.
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Excellent mockups, Williams!
I do also agree that Legend (https://legendapp.com) has achieved that possibility in a super elegant and functional way.
I wish this was implemented in WorkFlowy ASAP, too! :)
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I've found that there are currently several threads asking for almost the same features with different names. If all of these messages were merged in only one thread it would be the number one request by far! See some of these in the links below:
Multiple tabs and windows in Mac/Windows App → https://workflowy.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360047791331-Multiple-tabs-and-windows-in-Mac-Windows-App
Split-screen → https://workflowy.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360072135752-Split-screen
Workflowy Tabs on Desktop → https://workflowy.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360002842186-Workflowy-Tabs-on-Desktop
Two-column view → https://workflowy.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360000657306-Two-column-view
Side-by-side view → https://workflowy.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360077242352-Side-by-side-view
Multiple-panes → https://workflowy.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/4567356459028-Multiple-panes
etc.
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Hello Max,
If you're going to take on the goal of combining all the long-standing threads related to this (an admirable goal to be sure, stressing the importance of the requests), you'll probably want to include these other links as well (below). There are others, but all of them encompass the same general request: The ability to visualize multiple instances of your outline at once and quickly and intuitively drag & drop items between them. Whether this is by multiple instances of the app, multiple browsers or multiple panes is almost irrelevant as all give the same core functionality that is being requested.
To your point about so many threads about the same topic......It isn't easy on forums/boards such as these to visualize when something was first requested, or when and how often it is repeated. That's one of the problems with forums as a method for feature requests. It can take a lot of moderation to sum them up and make sure different wording is asking for the same things. It would be nice if Workflowy's web site had something listing requested features and the dates people vote for them. Perhaps this is something the Workflowy team will add in the future.
Here are the similiar links I promised earlier....I tried not to duplicate any of yours.....
https://workflowy.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/8209715683732-Archive-Feature
https://workflowy.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360070029392-Two-instances-of-desktop-app
https://workflowy.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/9002065883412-Tabbed-View
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I've been playing with Workflowy Boards, and although they don't work for me (since I've been a long-standing proponent of adding true Panes), I feel as though they are so close to actually BEING panes that it wouldn't be that difficult to transition to them.
- Boards seem 'locked' in width. This needs to change and be persistent so that the widths are remembered once set.
- Boards seem to only be able to show 'child/same level items' to the right of a lane. This should change so that each Lane can show any item in the document.
- Boards already have the ability to drag and drop between them, which is the single most important feature of panes/lanes--the ability to move items between items that are very distant in the hierarchy of the document.
- Maybe Panes would be a slightly different version of Boards, in that you can decide exactly what each 'lane' shows.
It seems like Boards are so close to true panes, we can taste it, but still doesn't help with managing lots of items on large outlines.
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