Changing attributes of multiple notes at once – without action-code, prototypes, agents; just in a simple way

[ShawnMichaels]

Is that even possible?

I — and probably you too — often need to change the colors of multiple notes at once. But it’s super tedious because I can’t just select them all and apply a new color that gets applied to every one. Instead, I have to edit each note individually, which gets really annoying when there are, say, 10 notes.

But maybe I’m just doing it inefficiently. Maybe you all have a better way?

Here’s how I currently change a note’s color (hopefully there’s a smarter method):

1. Select the note
2. Right-click
3. Choose “Get Info”
4. Move the pop-up window out of the way, because otherwise it won’t close properly later (this is especially annoying)
5. Click on “Appearance”
6. Click on “Color”
7. Choose the color I want
8. Then I have to close the color picker window — otherwise the color only applies to the note it was originally opened for. Unfortunately, you can’t leave the color picker open and just click on other notes.
9. Finally, I close the “Get Info” window.

Then I repeat the whole thing for the next note.

I do appreciate that it’s possible to change a note’s color and appearance. But does it really have to take 9 clicks? Isn’t there a quicker way? I feel like I must be missing something.

And is there any way to change multiple notes at once (besides using prototypes — I’d rather not create a prototype for every small style tweak; that gets messy fast)?

Best regards

[mwra (Mark Anderson)]

As you’re using the inspector, remember the inspector works on the selection - so select all the notes you wish to re-colour. Here I selected notes A and C, then used theAppearance Inspector to change $Color to red. Note B is not selected so is not changes.

Note that for the Inspector main tabs indicated below …

… the label (here ‘2 notes’) shows either the title ($Name) of a single selected note or the number of notes selected.

[mwra (Mark Anderson)]

For attributes that, unlike $Color, don’t have inspector controls, don’t overlook the Quickstamp of the Properties Inspector—see the linked article for how the controls there work.

The Inspector’s various controls work 1-to-N: 1 attribute value change for N note(s)^†. If you want to change multiple attributes for a selection of notes (i.e. N-to-N) then action code via a stamp is something to look at.

†. For the Tinderbox and Document Inspectors, these change/report things at document scope.

[satikusala (Dr. Michael Becker)]

@ShawnMichaels

often need to change the colors of multiple notes at once

Per Mark’s note, the quickstamp is awesome, an unsung hero of the TBX experience. I use it all the time. It works for both system and user generated attributes.

[ShawnMichaels]

Awesome tip! Yeah, that works way better. Thanks a lot!