I have a bug comment/question, and a how-to plain question. I will appreciate any insight on them…
I use to have more than one DTP window open simultaneously: the main one (in a 3-pane view), one or two search windows, and a couple of files within DT.
Sometimes by mistake (or other miscellaneous needs) I display the same file I had open (but not upfront) in the main window too. This has frozen my main window, making it non responsive to mouse clicks. The only way to keep working, without leaving DTP, is to kill the main window and re-open it. Is this a bug??? I is it the way DTP prevents bugged users (like me) to display (and perhaps edit) the same file from two open instances?
I am using DTP Office in a G4 (my old warrior iBook), with Tiger 10.4.11…
Now with respect to my how-to question… I am classifying information I had spread over several files, using the search window and just extracting the info I need from those files into a RTF.
Is there a way to save my searches? I mean, to create a kind of “smart-folder” as in Finder, where I can go back later and look again on the files that fit my search-criteria?..
I just found a way how to solve my second question (it was pretty easy ):
I selected the results I wanted from my search window (command-click or shift-click, depending of tastes). Then, opening the contextual menu (control-click), I duplicated my selection into a folder I previously created with the searching criteria as its title (the searching criteria could be in the comments field, if preferred).
There is an AppleScript for “Smart Group” within DTP scripts that does more or less the same (Scripts > Smart Groups > Any Word…), but I don’t find it as useful as using the “Search Window + Save Search” procedure, because:
I can take the advantage of using all the filtering and niceties from the search window, then select only the files I want, before creating the Duplicates into the folder of my choice.
I don’t feel good with Replicates (I agree with Bill DeVille’s comment on duplicates; see topic on organization, #3828 linked before in this thread). Smart Groups scripts create only replicates instead of duplicates, and I prefer the opposite (and the Smart Group scripts don’t give you options).
I guess it shouldn’t be too difficult to add a button on the Search Window that drops options for saving our searches…
There’s nothing wrong with having open two views of a document, e.g. one in the text pane of a view window, and one in an individual document window. I often do that when I’m editing material, as I can easily see the original version if I’ve been making changes in the document window. Sometimes I’ll decide my editing changes were not wise. In this mode, it’s best not to hit the Save command, so that the original remains unchanged until I’ve made up my mind.
I’m comfortable with replicates and use them often, especially when saving search results. A replicant of a long document adds only a few bytes in file size overhead to the database.
But I do use duplicates in cases where I might like to annotate or “chop up” a reference document without changing the original.
I agree that there is nothing wrong with having open two views of a document, but why the main window freezes sometimes when I open a document I had in another window?
The problem is that this freezing behavior does not happen every time under the same conditions. It did happen more than just a couple of times though; that’s what it prompted me to post the issue. As I have no more data yet to narrow down the problem, I guess I will have to wait until it happens again to report to feedback/support…
):