Do you use multiple windows for a single document? I’d like to be able to look at two notes from a document side-by-side, but selecting a note in one window also selects it in the other. It’s as if Tinderbox has a global SelectedNote attribute.
The “tear out” window (view->text window) is helpful for seeing multiple notes, but doesn’t show key attributes or let you link to selected text. Quick links work there though which is pretty cool.
Tear-off windows can show key attributes (but you can’t alter the KA table via that window). I just confirmed this using v7.1.0.
awesome!! thanks for pointing that out
I also noticed that the note selection in one window is duplicated in other windows opened on the same Tinderbox file. I just assumed it was a bug or other limitation, as it gets in the way of satisfying the purpose of multiple windows for me - working with different parts of the document at the same time.
FWIW when TBX 6 first introduced the current window w/ note pane set-up, I was put off by the fact that the note pane showed the same note text in all windows. I quickly realized though that in my case (and obviously your situation may be very different) I wanted to see multiple views (outline, chart, map) and multiple note texts and their key attributes, but that I didn’t care whether the two were linked.
Once that clicked, I settled into a pretty stable practice. I always work with a single window and multiple tabs. These tabs are for the various views I need (the file I have open right now has five stable tabs). Some of these tabs show the note pane, but in several I’ve shrunk it down to nothing so that I only see my map (for example).
But at the same time I’m using the text window hot key (⌥⌘x) like crazy to put multiple notes and their key attributes side by side. These text windows are “lighter” and easier to manage than a full view+note pane window would be and they are also persistent across opening and closing the file, which is pretty cool.
All of which is to say that things didn’t work how I initially expected but with some experimenting, I found a set-up that I think is probably better than what I initially wanted. It took some playing around to find it though…
As I’ve registered here over the years, the TB6 shift to a single-window model was, for me, initially a real step backward in functionality. My working practice involved having a number of small windows open at the same time, for comparison and glancing back-and-forth, much as you can do with the “Quick Reference” feature in Scrivener.
Over the years I’ve come to an approach pretty much like what is described here. For a while I worked with multiple windows. I was put off from that because they were unstable, and the window layout would disappear sometimes when the file was closed (requiring that you recreate it, or retrieve the layout specs from XML.) I believe that the disappearing-window bug is now understood and eliminated. But during the months when it existed I began using an approach like what is laid out here: single window, multiple tabs, very numerous text windows. It allows you to work with the current design concept rather than against it.
Dear all, as a complete newbie to tbx I jsut stumbled upon this issue. I have a container of notes imported from other programs and a container of notes with reference. I would like to copy my notes to the references by having two parts of the outlines open in two windows. I did this by creating a new window and in there new tabs by right clicking on the corresponding sections in the outline. But unfortunately the text-pane always changes to the last used one in all windows simultaniously, so working with two sights in parallel simply dowsn’t work.
Is there a way to achieve working on two sections of a document in parallel? I am more than willed to adapt my strategy, but in the moment I have the impression that with TBX I found the piece of software which works 100% opposite to every intuitive expectation from my usability point of view. Pretty frustrating 
Thanks a lot
Mitch
The logic controlling tab & window focus isn’t documented and I’ve been unable to define via experimentation. I can see cases where one might want different views to select the same item - whether in tabs of the same window or different windows. However, more usually I want as you do to have different selections per tab that are only changed by the user and not by focusing on a different tab/window.
The best I can suggest is to hoist the container of interest in each window. It seems that if an item selected in window A view is not present in window B’s view, changing A’s selection may not change the selection in B.
Note that the new frameworks used to v6+ mean that drag/drop of notes between windows (or dragging links between windows) is no longer possible. To transfer notes use copy/paste then delete the source note.
Hi Mark, thanks for your prompt response. I am sorry to hear that the deterministic way of achieving what we want to do is missing. But the advantages dominate and are hopefully worth the steep learning curve and the adaption of workflow. I copied now everything step by step from the originating program because doing that between two containers was too painful. When in future my workflow is more tinderbox centered and less mixed those topics might become neglectable.
When working in two sections of the document in parallel, consider working with two (or more) separate tabs, each focused on one section of the document. That will let you move smoothly, for example, between CHAPTER SIX and your BIBLIOGRAPHY within the same window.
Having two outlines in two tabs it works like a charm, the text panes do not change. If I create “new window” by rightclicking on the tab the text-pane changes it behaviour. From that moment on the text-panes are synchronized and change in window 2 to the textpane of the note of window 1 as soon as I refocus window 2 again.
I can accept that it is that way, but I would like to understand: Is this simply a sideeffect or some deeper mechanism which I for sure didn’t get until now? Looking forward to learn something here.
A Tinderbox 7 document has one selection, which applies to the document.
Tabs have a selection that is saved with the tab and restored when the tab is selected. But – at least for the time being – all windows share the same selection.
Thanks a lot for explaining that. I know I have a strong academic approach when learning (I think James called id “systemic”?) but it really helps me 
And I love the supportive mood in this forum, that alone convinces me that my choice with tinderbox was a good one.
Since mine is the OP, I’ve decided to chime in.
While I love Tinderbox, the inability to see multiple parts of a document at the same time has forced me to stop using it. Clicking on a tab to switch focus is too disruptive and forces me to memorize what I’m looking at before I switch.
Sorry to learn that it’s netted out this way for you!
As is evident from previous thread, my preferences are the same as yours. Being able to see several windows at once is central to the way I work with info-rich programs.
For me the net is still clearly in the other direction, but I share your wish that this particular aspect were otherwise – or, more positively and hopefully, that workarounds will continue to evolve.
I learned today another great application of TB where having two outlines in view would be great: I tried to review and correct a letter, exploded it into single arguments and tried to rearrange it. To have both views in parallel I then used a texteditor and TB in parallel, something which would be so much nicer if I could do it in TB alone.
Question for me as a newbie, any chance we can file that as a feature request at some dedicated space or is this done in this community here where eastgate is aware about the topics and taking part in the discussions?
I’m reading.
You can do this in Tinderbox; I do it every day.
Divide your letter into topical segments if it’s not already divided. You’ll soon get used to doing this as a matter of course.
Want to see how they look overall? Select all the notes in the letter; Tinderbox will display them as a continuous text.
Want to try moving section 6 to the front? Do it – and then select the neighboring notes to see how they flow together.
Of course, if you want to use Tinderbox with other tools, you should! That’s the whole point of WinterFest http://www.artisanalSoftwareFestival.com/! For example, just now I was selecting notes about the important Congressional race in Minnesota’s second district for a Swing Left newsletter. The notes are in Tinderbox, but the newsletter isn’t, and I wanted to make sure the extracts looked right in their target format. So, I fired up BBEdit alongside Tinderbox, and then fired up the newsletter’s content management system alongside BBEdit.
Hi, (in my moderator’s ‘hat’) the general convention here is this is a user-to-user forum so suggestions made here aren’t being made to Eastgate but rather to fellow users. However, Eastgate does post here and sometimes suggestions are taken forward from user posts. However, that shouldn’t be assumed to always be the case. If you genuinely wish to see a new feature it is worthwhile writing to Tinderbox support (info@eastgate.com) making your case - with an explanatory use case if needed. So, if a fellow user here suggests you mail in a request, they aren’t being unfriendly but simply pointing you at the right channel.
In the same context it is worth noting that this forum is not Tinderbox support. For real problems, show-stoppers, etc. email support at info@eastgate.com as that will generally get you faster response. Your fellow users are a better resource for the ‘how to’ aspect of things or where to find features, as we’ve no visibility under the hood of the app (thus sometimes you may get suggested to write to support instead).
I think the issue of shared window focus can now be regarded as a known issue. Quite, how/if it may change I can’t say but I likely doesn’t need raising as a new issue. Note: the v6+ app re-write uses a single window UI metaphor, in no small part because there was vocal demand for that (not least, it seems to be the current style of Mac apps). Multiple window support was added later though they currently share a single selection, courtesy of the original design. I suspect making (2 or more) windows ‘stand-alone’ in selection terms may have unseen complications so whilst desirable, it may not be sitting at the top of the to do stack. HTH.
I should have been more vocal (the other way) back at the time! 
But I am devising various work-arounds.