Joplin: Custom sorting of notebooks

[adamblank]

Operating system

• [X] Windows
• [X] macOS
• [X] Linux
• [ ] Android
• [ ] iOS

Application

• [X] Desktop
• [ ] Mobile
• [ ] Terminal

Summary

Providing a way to customize how notebooks are sorted (e.g. by created time, recently updated, (etc) in _ascending / descending_ order; ) would be a minor but meaningful UX improvement.

[rammjet]

+1

Lots of notebooks. I need to look at them in alphabetical order.

[foxmask]

+1 on Android

[tessus]

just a thought: maybe a search field above the notebooks with incremental seach functionality would be helpful (if one has lots of notebooks).

Also, I'd like to see this enhancement (original request) on all platforms: desktop, mobile, terminal.

[foxmask]

add the possibility to use drag&drop as requested in #461

[jgreth]

+1
alphabetical ordering is what i miss most

[pointbre]

+1
Manual order by drag and drop works fine on one device. As soon as synced with other device, on other device, notes are displayed in the different order which is what I want a fix.

[TobiasDev]

"alphabetical ordering is what i miss most" - Same for me, this is what I would love. Custom ordering I don't really need. :) But alphabetical would be really nice!

[johnz1]

+1
I put all of my notes in one notebook ("All Notes") because any sorting other than alphabetical is just as good as random to me. Notebook sorting options similar to those for notes would be great

[nemeth-it]

+1
Not ~Nice2Have~, for a note taking application must to have

[ghost]

+1
Need the ability to order notes and notebooks

[sebastienjust]

Created Pull Request #768 where notebooks are sorted alphabetically

[homofortis]

+1 "must have" + display of date and time of creation

[justusthane]

What about the ability to sort both notebooks and (more importantly for me) notes in manual order (drag and drop)? Is this on a feature request somewhere already?

Thanks!

[alexdevero]

Custom sorting can be achieved by adding a unique index to every note in a notebook. Then, this index would change when you drag the note to change its position.

[justusthane]

@alexdevero Thanks for this. How do I add an index to a note though?

[alexdevero]

@justusthane you can't. What I proposed was a solution that needs to be implemented, i.e. coded. You, the user, would not manipulate with the index in any way. You would just drag the notes and Joplin would change the index based on that.

[Vojnuk]

There is a possibility to sort with numbers. Just add a number in front of notebook name and it will sort it. However, you need to restart Joplin for changes to take place.

[jdrox]

I'm confused. Why is this issue closed? The feature isn't implemented yet, is it?

This feature is necessary for a decent notes application. I'm trying Joplin now after OneNote doesn't support dark themes (except in the upcoming version that will not run on Windows 7...), Boostnote doesn't allow reordering of notebooks, Simplenote doesn't support dark themes without paying money, CherryTree is clunky, and Zim... well I'm not sure about that one yet.

My point is this simple feature would set your program apart from the competition. (It would also allow me to use it... This is a literal must for me.)

I frequently create new notebooks. I have about 20 right now, each holding notes of a single subject. When I create new notebooks, I need to be able to sort them.

Please and thank you.

[tessus]

The commit referenced allows you to sort notebooks:

• alphabetically
• by last modified note

The change is already included in the 2 latest pre-releases.

[jdrox]

OK, I found this page: https://github.com/laurent22/joplin/blob/833d4732685206f6f36d7f64039d5417537bf283/CliClient/tests/models_Folder.js

But I can't find any file called "models_Folder.js" in my Windows-based installation... I'm using v1.0.135.

Can I start using this feature now somehow? Or will the feature be included in the Windows build soon?

Thanks.

[laurent22]

It will be part of the next release on desktop.

[tessus]

Can I start using this feature now somehow? Or will the feature be included in the Windows build soon?

Yes, you can. I mentioned before that it is available in the 2 latest pre-releases: https://github.com/laurent22/joplin/releases/tag/v1.0.138

[rafikiphoto]

Thank you so much. It works great!

[jdrox]

Thank you, @laurent22 !

Thank you, @tessus - I scoured these pages for several minutes and would not have found the prerelease download links if it wasn't for you. (I still don't know what I'd click to find them again... :confused: )

One thing I've noticed is that new notebooks aren't sorted alphabetically automatically, even though the menu setting is enabled. Closing and relaunching the program has no effect. Sorting by last updated then going back to sorting alphabetical does properly sort them.

(This is kind of a neat little quirk... you could take advantage of this knowledge; with some planning, you could sort the first notebooks created alphabetically, then add other notebooks which would be sorted manually, based on time of creation.)

Thanks again. I'm getting everything merged into Joplin now and I can't wait to really start using it!

P.S. A manual sorting option would be highly appreciated, too! Personally, I'd like all of my notebooks sorted alphabetically, but I want my "To Do" list always at the top. (P.P.S. Naming my notebook "- To Do -" is an adequate workaround.) Thanks for your consideration! (Should I create a new issue with this specific request, for organization's sake?)

[tessus]

@jdrox

I still don't know what I'd click to find them again...

• In the Joplin configuration General Options in the section Application click: Get pre-releases when checking for updates.

• On the main github page for joplin you can click on Releases or follow this link directly: https://github.com/laurent22/joplin/releases
  The latest releases are always at the top.

[laurent22]

One thing I've noticed is that new notebooks aren't sorted alphabetically automatically, even though the menu setting is enabled.

This should be fixed in the next release