Reorganizing the Outline

Creating Notes or Notebooks in the Outline is just the beginning. One of the most popular uses for TexNotes Pro is organizing ideas.

One approach is to just create Notes, one after another, without worrying about organization at all. Get the ideas written down, and then see what kind of arrangement makes the most sense.

Demonstration File

This section, which explains Outline reorganization, has three parts:

    1. Creating a Demonstration file.
    2. Dragging Notes around.
    3. Reorganizing with the keyboard.

If this section seems long, it's because illustrations are provided for each operation so you can see exactly what's going on, step by step. To actually do these things, just takes a quick click and drag, or a keystroke or two.

1. Create a Demonstration File


First, create a new TexNotes file. To do this, choose one of the following:

TexNotes Pro will create a new untitled file containing one Notebook (called Notebook 1) which contains a single Note (called Note 1).

Instant Demo File: 
Double-click Note 1 in the right-hand window. Press [F10] and then [Enter].
Do this nine times. Hey presto! Instant demo file.

Step by Step Demo File:

Initially, Notebook 1 is highlighted, and in the Notebook canvas (in the right-hand window) you'll see the table of contents cell for Note 1.

Double-click the cell for Note 1 and TexNotes opens Notebook 1 and places the cursor inside the Note canvas, ready for editing.

Type some text into Note 1.

Press [F10]. TexNotes creates a new Note under Note 1 (calling it Note 2), and places the cursor in the Note title so you can rename it immediately.

Type whatever you like for a new Note name, or leave it alone.

Press [Enter]. TexNotes accepts the new name, and places the cursor inside the Note canvas, ready for editing.

Type some more text in Note 2.

Press [F10]. Another new Note is created.

Press [Enter]. Type more text for Note 3.

Continue, until you have created 8-10 notes.

Now you can play around with the Outline organization.

2. Dragging Notes Up and Down


Your screen should look like this now.
(It's not important that it matches exactly, since this is just to experiment with the Outline. Some of the Menus and Toolbars are omitted to keep the illustrations simple.)

Most of these Notes are blank. The next illustrations omit the Note canvas (the right-hand window) for clarity.

First, drag Notes around using the mouse. There are two ways you can do this:

1. Dragging into another item.

When you drag into an item, keep the mouse just to the right of the destination Note's icon. When you do this, the Note names are highlighted as the mouse passes over them, showing which Note will become the new parent of the Note. Drag Note 10 into Note 1, for example:

In the example above, Note 10 is being dragged into Note 1. The result is that Note 1 has a child Note (indicated by the + sign).

When you click on the + sign at Note 1, it expands to show all its children, and you can see Note 10 in its new position.

2. Dragging between items.

When you drag a Note between items, keep the mouse just to the left of the destination Note. When you do this, a horizontal line appears showing where the Note will be inserted.

If you look closely at the gray line in the picture above, you can see it has a small downward-pointing arrow at the left-hand end. This indicates that Note 9 will be dropped at the same level as Note 2. If the arrow points up, Note 9 is dropped at the same level as Note 10, as show below:

The drop illustrated above produces the result shown below:

With these three simple, graphical moves, you can move Notes anywhere in the Outline.

3. Reorganizing with the Keyboard

Items in the Outline can be reorganized in two directions -- up/down and left/right. Moving an item left or right is called promoting or demoting the item.

TexNotes Pro lets you reorganize with buttons on the Outline toolbar, or with keystrokes. The toolbar buttons for moving Notes around look like this:

The buttons may be hidden if the Navigator window is too narrow.

In this case, click the chevron >>  marker at the right end of the toolbar.

This drops down another section of toolbar with the hidden buttons.

Instead of toolbar buttons, you can use the arrow keys to rearrange your Outline. Just hold down the Alt key while pressing the arrows, and the highlighted Note is moved accordingly:

[Alt+UpArrow]        Move item up.

[Alt+DownArrow]        Move item down.

[Alt+LeftArrow]        Move item left (promote).

[Alt+RightArrow]        Move item right (demote).

The buttons and keys are a quick way to move individual Notes, but they can't be used to move groups of Notes. This is because groups may include Notes at different levels, and the idea of just up or down doesn't always make sense with groups. (Use drag and drop to move groups of Notes, as shown below.)

To promote or demote an item, select the item (by clicking on it), and then use the buttons or keys to change its level.

The next pictures illustrate this:

In the above picture, Note 7 is several levels down in the outline. It's the child of Note 6, which is the child of Note 5, and so on. Try promoting Note 7 to see what happens
[Alt+LeftArrow].

See the difference? Note 7 is now at the same level as Note 5. It's no longer a child of Note 6, but has become a child of Note 4.

Promote Note 7 twice more by pressing [Alt+LeftArrow] twice).

Note 7 is now a child of Note 1.
Move it up the Outline so it comes immediately after Note 2 [Alt+UpArrow].

Note 7 was at the same level as Note 2, and it only took one press to move it above Note 3 (the only other Note above it at that level).

Moving a Group of Notes

Now, try moving a group. As an example, move Notes 3, 4, 5, and 6 inside Note 10. Use drag-and-drop, because the toolbar buttons and Alt+Arrow keys can't move more than one Note at a time.

First, click on Note 3. Then hold [Shift] and click Note 6. (This selects all four Notes at once).

Now click any of the selected Notes and drag into Note 10. (Drag the pointer on top of the destination Note.)

Let go of the mouse button, and you'll see this:

When you click the + on Note 10, it expands, and Notes 3, 4, 5, and 6 have been moved inside:

More complicated groups can be moved, but the results can be hard to predict, so it's usually best to move Notes in small groups.

The final example moves Notes 2, 9, and 4 into Note 7. Several Notes are then promoted and demoted in various ways. If you are going to try this with your own work, it is always good practice to save your file before making the move. You may also find the Undo facility very useful.

This shows the group before the move. (Select Note 2, then hold down [Ctrl] while clicking Notes 9 and 4).

Drag the group on top of Note 7:

This is the result:

Click the + on Note 7 to expand it:

TexNotes Pro has moved Note 2 into Note 7. It also moved Note 9 into Note 7. When it moved Note 4 into Note 7, it brought along the children of Note 4.