Feature Request: Projects

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lawrencegoodman
Posts: 30
Joined: 2007-07-30 12:06:49

Feature Request: Projects

Post by lawrencegoodman »

Forgive me if this not where feature requests go, but I couldn't find anywhere else.

I would love to see Document Manager give way to something more akin to Projects in Textmate or Scrivener. This is basically a group of files you associate within the program together. I know there are plenty of other ways to do this, but I find it easier if it's within the word processor itself. It sort of makes file management much easier.

Thanks.
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greenmorpher
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Location: Melbourne, Australia
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Post by greenmorpher »

Well, I don't want to see Document Manager give way to any such feature.

However, I have no objection to such a feature being ADDED.

Cheers, Geoff

Geoffrey Heard, Business Writer & Publisher

"Type & Layout: Are you communicating or just making pretty shapes" -- Revealed! The secrets of how you can use type and layout to turbocharge your messages in print. See the book at http://www.worsleypress.com
Ryan
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Joined: 2005-01-31 14:36:45
Location: Portland, OR
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Post by Ryan »

TextMate does do a nice job of doing just a minimal project collection thingy.

On the other hand, the way I'd use this is just to keep a collection of versions of the same piece. So, for me, some versioning feature would be more useful.

Currently I make a folder for each piece, then create new files at various milestones with version numbers appended to the filenames.

But I suppose everyone has his or her pet workflow desires.
samuelas
Posts: 41
Joined: 2007-09-02 09:32:02
Location: Hartford, CT

Post by samuelas »

I already use the document manager for something like this, so a full-fledged project manager would be a wonderful addition, in my opinion.
marc
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Joined: 2004-07-06 08:45:15
Location: Australia
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Leverage Finder features and Spotlight

Post by marc »

I generally agree with requests to improve the Document Manager, and at the simplest levels I'd like to see a live-filter/search box added (a la iTunes' immediate filtering.) Searching would be a big start (my DM is already unwieldy) esp. if Spotlight-based so that it searched the document contents.

If NWP added Document Properties (you know, like um TextEdit :( ) these should also be visible/accessible from the DM window, along with a contextual/gear button with commands to open the Finder Info window, locate the file in the Finder, and apply Finder labels.

The addition of custom Spotlight attributes might enable complex project management that would work with wider OS workflows (find files in Spotlight and other apps, work in with Automator Spotlight actions etc.)

These are all basic features which don't quite constitute the original poster's vision, but they leverage existing accessible Finder features, enhancing NW's integration with the OS rather than re-inventing the wheel.

Just my 2c... tho I'd love to see it implemented. :)
ptram
Posts: 280
Joined: 2007-10-21 14:59:09

Post by ptram »

What I would like to see (but probably not in the Document Manager, that is a collection of most used documents) is a Master document, or a Book document in FrameMaker's terminology, or a Project as other call it. Something that helps working on separate documents for chapters, and execute numbering, searching, indexing, on all the documents of the book at the same time.

Paolo
wb
Posts: 11
Joined: 2008-02-02 13:31:49

Post by wb »

Here's a second for the Book feature from FrameMaker. This was one of the strongest features that FrameMaker had. A book document would list the sections or chapters in order and allow the user to open them for editing by double clicking the filename in a list. But the main thing that a book document would do, in addition to allowing global control of styles, would be to extend list numbering (say, for section or chapter numbers) over the entire book. In addition, it would permit search and replace to work over the entire range of files in a book.
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