Sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) are not usable with touch

For users with issues, or feature requests, on touchscreen devices.

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JimmyD
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Sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) are not usable with touch

Post by JimmyD »

PDF-XChange Editor, Version 7.0 (Build 327.1).

Dear developers,

I was very excited to hear about the touch improvements you added last year, but was very disappointed with the eventual implementation. Since I got my Surface Pro, I sadly had to switch away from PDFX as my daily driver.

Here are the main issues I face,

1) Scrolling through the sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) with one finger, will inadvertently move the items around, unless you use two fingers or the scrollbar.

2) The Search pane is not scrollable with any finger, unless you use the scrollbar.

3) Long pressing on the items in the sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) for the context menu, inadvertently activates the first menu item under your finger, after you release it. Why don't they behave like the context menu of the Search pane, where the menu stays open after you release it without activating any command?


Hopefully these issues will be resolved soon, thanks in advance.
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) are not usable with touch

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello JimmyD,

Thank you for the post, I have compiled these into a development ticket:
RT#4575: Touch Improvements

I cannot provide a timeline on these improvements, but I can guarantee that they will be looked at when time allows.
Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
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Re: Sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) are not usable with touch

Post by JimmyD »

Many thanks.
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Re: Sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) are not usable with touch

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

:)
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Re: Sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) are not usable with touch

Post by JimmyD »

Btw, other areas of PDFX, such as the Recent Files screen, also suffer from these touch issues.
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) are not usable with touch

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello JimmyD,

Thank you for pointing that out, I have included this information in the ticket as well.

Best Regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
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Re: Sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) are not usable with touch

Post by JimmyD »

I found another issue.

With the device in portrait mode, during fullscreen, initially, 1 finger scrolling through documents doesn't work, until after you do a 2 finger scroll. And even then, it stops working after a while.
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Re: Sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) are not usable with touch

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello JimmyD,

Thank you for the report, This is an issue we are aware of and are already working to resolve. I do not have a timeline for a fix, and apologize for the inconvenience in the meantime.

Regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
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Re: Sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) are not usable with touch

Post by JimmyD »

Preferences screen, Customize Toolbars screen and probably most other areas of the app also suffer from touch scrolling issues.
I hope didn't sound too negative, since I really appreciate PDFX, your quick responses and the hard work you all do.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the improvements.
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Re: Sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) are not usable with touch

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello JimmyD,

Thank you again for the added information, I have modified the ticket to now reflect that nearly all scrolling menus in the Editor suffer from this issue. Do not worry, we appreciate the error reports, every error report is a building block to improve ourselves with.

Kind regards!
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
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Re: Sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) are not usable with touch

Post by hafeesh »

JimmyD wrote: Tue Dec 04, 2018 3:06 pm PDF-XChange Editor, Version 7.0 (Build 327.1).

Dear developers,

I was very excited to hear about the touch improvements you added last year, but was very disappointed with the eventual implementation. Since I got my Surface Pro, I sadly had to switch away from PDFX as my daily driver.

Here are the main issues I face,

1) Scrolling through the sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) with one finger, will inadvertently move the items around, unless you use two fingers or the scrollbar.

2) The Search pane is not scrollable with any finger, unless you use the scrollbar.

3) Long pressing on the items in the sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) for the context menu, inadvertently activates the first menu item under your finger, after you release it. Why don't they behave like the context menu of the Search pane, where the menu stays open after you release it without activating any command?


Hopefully these issues will be resolved soon, thanks in advance.

I HAVE THE SAME ISSUE and WANT THIS FEATURE...

I have a touch screen monitor and I am a regular user of pdf xchanger.
I need a feature to disable the bookmark “drag and rearrangement” option because I will be reading on my touch screen and when I try to scroll the bookmarks PANE by TOUCH, it is rearranging the bookmarks, rather than scrolling up/down....

please provide an option to turn off bookmark rearrrrangemets by drag and drop so that TOUCH USERS can benefit....
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Tracker Supp-Stefan
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Re: Sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) are not usable with touch

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello Hafeesh,

Welcome to our forums.
Please try the "Touch Optimized" UI - and let us know if that works better for you!

Regards,
Stefan
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Re: Sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) are not usable with touch

Post by hafeesh »

No it does not...
I had enabled the touch UI from the top right corner..

It is still draggin the bookmark, when I try to scroll the bookmark panel by touch...
see the attached screenshot
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26-14-19_2018-12-19.jpg
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Re: Sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) are not usable with touch

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello Hafeesh,

I am posting here so that anyone else reading this is aware, that we also discussed this over e-mails. And as explained there - I've passed this to our UI developers so that they can see how we can improve the experience on touch enabled devices!

Regards,
Stefan
Roy95437467
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Re: Sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) are not usable with touch

Post by Roy95437467 »

Hello,

This post seems to go back many years, but I am experiencing this issue with the latest version (trial) on my Surface Pro 4. When I try to scroll the sidebar, the pages get dragged around.

Am I missing a setting, or is this still an issue with this software?

Thank you,

Roy
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) are not usable with touch

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hi, Roy95437467

I have just run some rather lengthy tests with this and cannot reproduce the issue, whether "touch optimized UI" is enabled or disabled, if I am grabbing the scrollbar properly, content (pages bookmarks, etc) do not move. The only time that the anything would move is if you have missed tapping the scrollbar entirely and have selected an item in the list instead. Then a press and drag with your finger would be interpreted as a move operation.

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
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Re: Sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) are not usable with touch

Post by Roy95437467 »

Hello TrackerSupp-Daniel,

Perhaps I wasn't clear on my issue. I was specifically speaking about something the very first poster noted,

"1) Scrolling through the sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) with one finger, will inadvertently move the items around, unless you use two fingers or the scrollbar."

The issue I was experiencing wasn't the scroll bar, but when scrolling the bookmark tab with 1 finger. Can I assume this is by design? When I am in the field and using my Surface Go 2, I need to remember to use 2 fingers, or use the scroll bar. When working outdoors in the winter, I spend more time with a touch pen, which of course does not make it possible to scroll with 2 fingers.

Is there an option to scroll the bookmarks with 1 finger without moving them around?

Thank you,
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Re: Sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) are not usable with touch

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hi, Roy95437467
Roy95437467 wrote: Sun Feb 07, 2021 8:41 pm The issue I was experiencing wasn't the scroll bar, but when scrolling the bookmark tab with 1 finger. Can I assume this is by design?
That is correct, sorry for misunderstanding. Yes, it is by design that a single finger and drag will move a thumbnail/bookmark which has been selected. If you wish to avoid this, you can either two finger scroll, or use the scrollbar. We do offer a "touch optimized UI" mode which increases the size of some items, including the scrollbars, so that they are easier to grab.

Touch optimized UI can be enabled via the UI options menu in the upper right corner of the Editor.

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
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Re: Sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) are not usable with touch

Post by Roy95437467 »

Thanks for the reply Daniel.

I had turned on the touch support, this is why i was a little confused on why things were being dragged up and down.

If this is by design, then it is working properly. It lends some challenges to using the app on a windows tablet, especially in the colder months when gloves are needed. its harder to grab the scroll bar on the bookmarks window with touch gloves on, this is why being able to scroll with a single touch would be preferred. My other PDF apps tend to work this way, perhaps this is something you could give thought to as a future option when using touch.

The app is otherwise great on my Surface Go 2, other tough features work fine.

Thank you,
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Re: Sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) are not usable with touch

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hi, Roy95437467

Thank you for getting back to us. You are correct that currently this is the intended handling, but I will be forwarding your feedback to the Dev team for consideration.

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
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Re: Sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) are not usable with touch

Post by JimmyD »

Almost 3 years after I started this thread, I'm disappointed to see that we still can't scroll most basic UI items such as the search pane, with touch.
These touch issues are the only thing that prevents me from using PDFX as my daily driver.

Please put some priority into getting touch support up to modern standards.

Thanks in advance.
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Re: Sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) are not usable with touch

Post by John - Tracker Supp »

Hi Jimmy,

I have been discussing this with the team members responsible and we have agreed this needs to be 'bumped' up in the priority list.

We have just made a release this past week so I am afraid it will still be some weeks away - but it is now receiving attention and Touchscreen support will improve generally over the coming months please b assured.

Your patience is appreciated.
If posting files to this forum - you must archive the files to a ZIP, RAR or 7z file or they will not be uploaded - thank you.

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Re: Sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) are not usable with touch

Post by JimmyD »

John - Tracker Supp wrote: Fri Oct 29, 2021 4:18 pm Hi Jimmy,

I have been discussing this with the team members responsible and we have agreed this needs to be 'bumped' up in the priority list.

We have just made a release this past week so I am afraid it will still be some weeks away - but it is now receiving attention and Touchscreen support will improve generally over the coming months please b assured.

Your patience is appreciated.
Many thanks. I'm looking forward to it. I can wait a few weeks or months, after having waited a few years already :D.
Last edited by JimmyD on Sun Oct 31, 2021 11:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) are not usable with touch

Post by John - Tracker Supp »

Pleasure :)
If posting files to this forum - you must archive the files to a ZIP, RAR or 7z file or they will not be uploaded - thank you.

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Re: Sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) are not usable with touch

Post by JimmyD »

Is there any progress on this issue?
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Re: Sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) are not usable with touch

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello, JimmyD

Aside from the creation of a ticket to track the progress, unfortunately no. #6204: FR: Allow single finger scrolling in panes

I have spoken with the Dev in charge of this feature, and he will be trying to redouble his efforts on this particular feature, but at the moment we have many high-priority tasks, so even among that list, some items are being put off to complete others.

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
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Re: Sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) are not usable with touch

Post by JimmyD »

Thanks, I understand.
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Sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) are not usable with touch

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

:)
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Re: Sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) are not usable with touch

Post by JimmyD »

Many thanks for the latest update that addressed these issues.
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Sidebar panes (such as Bookmarks) are not usable with touch

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

:)
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