Zim-desktop-wiki: Rearrange pages manually

[UralZima]

Hello. I am using zim about 2 years, all is great, but I can't understand, it is missing feature or a bug.
When I try to move a page, holding mouse button it shows a line like it is going to move, but it is not moving/rearranging in right order.

I already adding numbers to order somehow, but I have 30 pages with max 70 subpages each, and I can't rearrange them in needed order with numbers only.

Please help me with this issue

[jaap-karssenberg]

This is a missing feature, at the moment you can only drag pages to another sub-section of the notebook, but they remain sorted alphabetically per section.

[fdt-dev]

Hi Jaap, I can see the utility of a random reordering of the pages in the tree view. But would it please be possible to keep the default automatic alphabetical ordering? I think it makes sense for the default tree view to have everything sorted alphabetical. Maybe have a different tree view then which allows for reordering or make it a selectable option. Remember please: The beauty of Zim is that it is simple. Don't overload it with functions.
The default alphabetical oder is simple and it makes it easy to find the page you're looking for. Reordering is (probably) fine if you have only a couple of pages, but I for example maintain a little knowledge base in Zim which consists of 1500 pages. I need alphabetical ordering.
Thank you

[romantist]

please let me know, when it will be deployed?

[UralZima]

Yes. Please let us know. I am currently seeking for another solution, only because missing this feature. But other solutions are not so cool as zim. I see only tomboy (ugly), basket (buggy), wikidpad (for win), etc. Don't know what to do. Please implement this feature, on a 100+ pages notebook it is required...
Thank you so much for doing great product!

[yhancik]

I'm in the same boat as @UralZima here. I really appreciate Zim but I need to be able to sort manually the different pages!

[cryptoluks]

same here, would be great to see this implemented.

[cmatthewbrooks]

+1 - I just installed tonight and like it so far, but would love it (and prefer it) if an "order by" (Alphabetical or Manual) option existed.

[vivasteve]

Funny, I have been very happily using zim for quite a few years now. Until today I did not notice that re-ordering of pages is not possible. But today I decided that zim provided the simplest, quickest way to build a genealogy website. Now I need page re-ordering - because children should be listed in order of their age, not their names! So this new functionality will be very useful in this case.

In the meantime I have found a workaround (which may prove to be tedious) - the list items which form the index can be manually rearranged inside the html file after building the site with zim.

[arigit]

+1 on this. I just installed Zim 0.69.1 on Mac OS (after using it for years on Linux and Windows) and just noticed that in MacOS the alphabetical order is no longer maintained for some reason, it actually seems random:

Trying to workaround this problem I tried manual re-ordering only to find it's not supported

[DocSalvager]

Been using Zim for many many years. I don't need this often, but when I do I just start the name with a fixed-length number. I've found that it's always best to have 1 leading zero more than you think you'll ever need in order to both insure correct sorting, as well as avoiding lots renumbering and re-linking in the future.

[arigit]

Thanks @DocSalvager
I resolved this oddity (the random order as shown in the screenshot snippet above) by creating an ad-hoc sub-folder, moving all the notes there (moving them using drag/drop in Zim's GUI), and moving them back to where they belong. After moving them, they got ordered properly (all notes follow the same number pattern, YYYYMMDD, these are meeting notes). This is on 0.69.1 / MacOS (mojave). I had never seen this before after some years of Zim use in Linux and Windows. I notice that older folders full of notes are ordered. The problem only manifested itself in folders that had old notes (pre-move to Mac) and new notes (created on the Mac)

[panhartstuff]

Any progress on this feature?
We could have a text file for each Notebook that maintains the order of the pages.

[UralZima]

Still waiting for this feature a lot. I tried CherryTree, which allows that, but it is working ugly, not so cool as Zim. Please implement this feature, much people need it! it is so easy to implement. Even if code will be dirty, let it work.

[vivasteve]

+1 +1 :)

[vivasteve]

ps - cherrytree is pretty cool! - long time user

[aNDy-Squirrel]

+1 for this feature request. I really miss this feature because I have pages with many sub-pages, of which not all are equally frequently used. I would like the more frequently used ones at the top of the list.

I imagine this as:

1. A user preference setting where the newly created sub-pages are added: (a) where they alphabetically belong, (b) after the existing sub-pages, (c) ...
2. A manual trigger (click in a context menu) to re-order the sub-pages of a page alphabetically (or otherwise).
3. The possibility to manually re-order the sub-pages by drag-and-drop.

[milangfx]

Is there any update on this? :)

[Jesus-Rosendo]

Are we still not able to rearrange pages manually?

[dgloriaweb]

+1

[vkbo]

Just wanted to add to this request.

The usefulness of this very much depends on how you organise your content I guess. I use a fairly detailed tree structure to break down my notes, and have relatively few files in each folder. I use Zim a lot for outlining and researching writing projects, and ideas for novels. I have written my own application for the actual writing, where you definitely need to be able to sort scene files manually, but Zim is still my main research and note tool. It would still be useful to be able to sort my notes following the structure of my projects without having to prefix each folder with numbers.

In any case, in terms of functionality, I proposal something similar to how Firefox and Chrome handles bookmarks. I.e. you can have them unordered as (an optional) default, and right click a folder to have Zim order them alphabetically.

Edit: Basically the same proposal as @aNDy-Squirrel

[dummyaccnt80]

I am numbering pages to sort it manually for now and maybe a workaround you can use too

[smalltimer]

+1 from me too! I think this is a basic requirement for many work-flows, and adding numbers to page titles is as inelegant as it gets. I have a lot of pages and sub-page and sub-sub-pages. Adding numbers would make things very messy. Could something not be injected into the metadata/frontmatter of the files?

Cheers

[martinkirk]

Another +1 for this feature.

Like others, I use numeric prefixes to force my desired order but I'd prefer not to have to. The ability to drag'n'drop in the tree to change order or parent of a node would be great. CherryTree seems to get this right (though I'm sticking with Zim!)

[Nick222]

May be use hidden sort-number in Zim-notes file-name for this?

Note: "My Note"
File: 023_My_note.txt

[martinkirk]

May be use hidden sort-number in Zim-notes file-name for this?

Note: "My Note"
File: 023_My_note.txt

It seems like you're suggesting that I can rename the file on disk using the numeric prefix and get the desired order without the prefixes displaying in the tree, please let me know if I have misunderstood?

1) If I change the filename on disk to add the number prefix then that number will show up in the tree.
2) I feel like I shouldn't have to manipulate files outside of Zim to achieve this.

Whilst it's not a show-stopping issue I think my Zim experience would be improved by the addition of this feature.

[Nick222]

You are confusing capability and interface, it seems to me.
If the author of the program adds such a possibility, then the numbers of the notes can be hidden in the note-tree, and they can change automatically when dragging the notes along the tree, for example.

[martinkirk]

You are confusing capability and interface, it seems to me.
If the author of the program adds such a possibility, then the numbers of the notes can be hidden in the note-tree, and they can change automatically when dragging the notes along the tree, for example.

Ah, thanks for the clarification. Your suggestion was for the developer, not the end-user?

[quesada]

+1 for this. I get why this is not so easy to implement: trees are folders, and file managers usually do folders that can sort files in some order (alphabetical, edit date) NOT manual. I have yet to find a file manager that allows manual ordering.

For a beautiful implementation of this infinite tree, see quire.io.

I agree this is a fantastic feature to have

[martinkirk]

+1 for this. I get why this is not so easy to implement: trees are folders, and file managers usually do folders that can sort files in some order (alphabetical, edit date) NOT manual. I have yet to find a file manager that allows manual ordering.

Whilst, in principle, I like the idea of tree nodes mapping directly to folders on disk, the reality is I've never accessed my Zim notes from outside of Zim in > 10 years usage so I would happily forego that mapping in favour of a manually sortable tree.

For a beautiful implementation of this infinite tree, see quire.io.

see also checkvist.com

[yareckon]

Reordering ++

[quesada]

The filesystem mapping is fantastic to have version controlled notes. This
trumps everything else for me

On Fri, Feb 19, 2021 at 12:09 PM martinkirk @.*>
wrote:

+1 for this. I get why this is not so easy to implement: trees are
folders, and file managers usually do folders that can sort files in some
order (alphabetical, edit date) NOT manual. I have yet to find a file
manager that allows manual ordering.

Whilst, in principle, I like the idea of tree nodes mapping directly to
folders on disk, the reality is I've never accessed my Zim notes from
outside of Zim in > 10 years usage so I would happily forego that mapping
in favour of a manually sortable tree.

For a beautiful implementation of this infinite tree, see quire.io.

see also checkvist.com

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