Search by Highlight Properties, Especially Color  SOLVED

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brody-xr3
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Search by Highlight Properties, Especially Color

Post by brody-xr3 »

Hi,

Long, long academic work.

Have created different custom highlight colors to help me identify areas of interest / research / action.

For example: green for Established, Red for Historic, Orange for Theoretical.

Is there any sort of "jump-to-next" action I can assign / design / access such that I could set a keyboard shortcut and then, by pressing those keys, be automatically moved ahead in the document to the next sequential instance of a specific highlight color or underline color / style?

Sincerely,

BXR
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Search by Highlight Properties, Especially Color

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hi, brody-xr3

At the moment, the best that coould be done here is making use of the "Comments" pane, and setting it to "group by > color":
image.png
This will then allow you to use the arrow keys (up/down) to jump through comments in order, one color at a time. You will of course need to ensure that the comment pane is selected when doing this, so it may not be ideal if you are interacting with the page in question directly. Though in that case you would be deselecting the comment anyway when interacting with other content. That would cause any other "next instance of this comment color" function to not work without reselecting the comment anyway.

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
Tracker Software Products (Canada) LTD

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David.P
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Re: Search by Highlight Properties, Especially Color

Post by David.P »

I'd suggest a right click into the comments pane and choose "group by color":

Image

Edit: oh, Daniel was faster :)
David.P
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Search by Highlight Properties, Especially Color

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

:)
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
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brody-xr3
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Re: Search by Highlight Properties, Especially Color

Post by brody-xr3 »

Hello Daniel & David,

Thanks, both!

David, your helpful advice is always spot on. :)

Daniel, as the hand on the forge there where the code is being rendered to life I feel grateful for the insight in your answers. I can always detect how you're looking beyond the horizon, and that's really kind of great. :)

SORTING
Daniel, once the grouping is applied it appears that the sorting is by location, "geographic", if you will.

Such that the comments, once grouped, are then sorted top to bottom, going down the page. With any highlight physically above sorted in the list before those physically below.

Am I right?

Sincerely,

BXR
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Search by Highlight Properties, Especially Color

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hi, brody-xr3

When sorting by color, I do believe that it should be based on the "creation date" (as well as time) so if you created the comments in order through the page from top to bottom, it would work as you say, but if say you started from the bottom, up, for another page, that page would go through them like that instead.
I am not 100% on this being exactly how it is handled however, so I will double check with the dev team and write back to you again shortly if there are any discrepancies with what I have said so far.

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
Tracker Software Products (Canada) LTD

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brody-xr3
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Re: Search by Highlight Properties, Especially Color

Post by brody-xr3 »

Hi Daniel,

I was THINKING it would be by date.

I needed it not to be this.

At FIRST, to my great delight, it seemed to go NOT by date, but rather by straight physical location, down the page! :D

(What the App calls Visual Order.)

Then, testing again, it seems to be a HYBRID, in that it inserts later-made highlights within the list. BUT neither by date NOR by exact vertical sequence down the page:
2020-10-24_16-37-38-205.png

Here's my thinking: for me, most of the things I'm working on are sort of long-form academic treatises or books on business where the arguments are sequentially laid out. So, the actual revelation of any highlight is normally found as it appeared in the whole text. Thus, having the pane listing highlights in the same way they are laid out on the page is more valuable.

Here's an example.

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.
- Aristotle

If for whatever reason I missed the punchline there, and, having plowed through another 300 pages, went back to highlight it AGAIN in the same color that would leave the two pieces separated in the summary.

The roots of education are bitter
another highlight
another highlight
another highlight...
but the fruit is sweet.

For me, I need to use the grouped colors to jump from ideas that are contained on the page as they are written. While it is true that each highlight is CAPTURED in the grouping, the POWER of an application collecting and presenting the highlights is in making them more quickly sensible. Jumping ahead three highlights before jumping backwards to the contextualizing one misses that.

Now, for some users, I can see the value of real-time highlight sorting. But, it seems that even this is missed as later-made highlights are not placed sequentially.

Encourage a way to keep highlights sorted by actual location on the page. Surely the coordinates are known for each one. It seems the most logical system to me and to replicate how we normally use highlights in a book.

For example, if I was flipping through my copy of Aristotle and looking for just the purple highlights I'd made, surely I'd not ONLY go: page 11, page 4, page 29, page 30, page, 31, page 4, page 32...trying to recall the DATES I made each highlight. Especially if that key broken sentence on page 4, only when seen TOGETHER, holds the key to the theory.

Further, it would be unlikely, given the number of highlights in any book, that I'd ever be able to recall WHEN they were actually made. Though I might TRY to follow the sequence by date, in my experience reading books, I normally try first going start to finish looking at highlights.

Currently, the lack of this geographically static highlighting summary feature has me rendering many (if not all) texts OUT of PDF and into Word, where I use a variety of styles and then a macro - jump to next purple highlight. Works, but REALLY cumbersome.

From my tests, what do you see in terms of highlight pane > group by color > sort by location on page?

Finally, for what it's worth...exporting comments to Excel...highlights are ALWAYS geographically sorted, by default.
2020-10-24_17-38-28-555.png

This is by way of potential proof of concept: the coordinates of highlights are stored, and able to be applied.

Sincerely,

BXR
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Search by Highlight Properties, Especially Color

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hi, brody-xr3

To be sure that I properly understand, your post could be summarized by saying that you would like a "sorting" function in the Comment pane, which allows you to group by color, and then choose to sort by "visual order, date, author, etc"?

Is that correct? If so, I will go about creating a formal feature request for you on this matter.

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
Tracker Software Products (Canada) LTD

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brody-xr3
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Re: Search by Highlight Properties, Especially Color

Post by brody-xr3 »

Hi Daniel,

You are correct! Thank you! :D

Sincerely,

BXR
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Search by Highlight Properties, Especially Color  SOLVED

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hi, brody-xr3

Thanks for confirming, I have created the ticket for you then:

RT#5371: Comment pane Sorting within groups

As usual, you cannot look this up yourself, but you can ask about it here in the future.

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
Tracker Software Products (Canada) LTD

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brody-xr3
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Re: Search by Highlight Properties, Especially Color

Post by brody-xr3 »

Hello,

Please can you share the status of

RT#5371: Comment pane Sorting within groups

BXR
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Search by Highlight Properties, Especially Color

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello, brody-xr3

The ticket has been assigned a work item number, and a developer. It may be a bit delayed since he has a handful of other tasks to accomplish before this one can begin, but it is now in the que.

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
Tracker Software Products (Canada) LTD

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brody-xr3
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Re: Search by Highlight Properties, Especially Color

Post by brody-xr3 »

Hello,

Please can you share the latest on

RT#5371: Comment pane Sorting within groups

Thanks! :D

BXR
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Dimitar - Tracker Supp
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Re: Search by Highlight Properties, Especially Color

Post by Dimitar - Tracker Supp »

Hello, brody,

The current status is that a developer is added to the case.

This means that is currently being worked on.

Let's hope that it won't be long before it is resolved.

Regards.
brody-xr3
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Re: Search by Highlight Properties, Especially Color

Post by brody-xr3 »

Hi,

That's GREAT NEWS!!! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Thank you!

BXR
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Paul - Tracker Supp
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Search by Highlight Properties, Especially Color

Post by Paul - Tracker Supp »

:)
Best regards

Paul O'Rorke
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brody-xr3
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Re: Search by Highlight Properties, Especially Color

Post by brody-xr3 »

Hello,

Please can you share the status of

RT#5371: Comment pane Sorting within groups

BXR
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Paul - Tracker Supp
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Re: Search by Highlight Properties, Especially Color

Post by Paul - Tracker Supp »

Hi brody-xr3,

the item is "Open" and had a developer assigned to it. So it is still in progress and actively being worked on. I have raised the priority of the ticket, we will have to wait and see what the team do with it.

Whatever they do, it won't be in the next release but some subsequent one.

regards
Best regards

Paul O'Rorke
Tracker Support North America
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brody-xr3
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Re: Search by Highlight Properties, Especially Color

Post by brody-xr3 »

Hi Paul,

Thank you! :D

Sincerely,

BXR
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Dimitar - Tracker Supp
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Search by Highlight Properties, Especially Color

Post by Dimitar - Tracker Supp »

:)
brody-xr3
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Re: Search by Highlight Properties, Especially Color

Post by brody-xr3 »

Hello,

Please can you update the status of

RT#5371: Comment pane Sorting within groups

BXR
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Tracker Supp-Stefan
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Re: Search by Highlight Properties, Especially Color

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello brody-xr3,

This ticket has recently seen it's priority increase, however it is still open and has not been finalized. When it is - we will post here in the topic to let you know!

Kind regards,
Stefan
brody-xr3
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Re: Search by Highlight Properties, Especially Color

Post by brody-xr3 »

Hi!

Did

RT#5371: Comment pane Sorting within groups

make its way into Version 10?

BXR
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Tracker Supp-Stefan
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Re: Search by Highlight Properties, Especially Color

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello brody-xr3,

I am afraid that this ticket has not yet been marked as solved.
I've asked for an update!

Kind regards,
Stefan
brody-xr3
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Re: Search by Highlight Properties, Especially Color

Post by brody-xr3 »

Hi Stefan,

Will be good to find out how they are seeing things. Maybe it's in there! :D :!:

BXR
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Tracker Supp-Stefan
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Re: Search by Highlight Properties, Especially Color

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello brody-xr3,

Still waiting for the ticket to be updated. As soon as we have further info we will post again here!

Kind regards,
Stefan
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