Feature request: Ignoring clicks on blank area in a view

DEVONthink Feedback
1

Hi DEVONotees,

A little behavioural change I think would make a much smoother experience in DEVONthink - though I appreciate some people may have got used to this in constructive ways, it still surprised me as counterintuitive.

When I click the blank area in a DEVONthink window, I don’t expect that to count as a selection, I’d expect that click to be ignored.

For example, I have a three-pane view open right now. There’s three items in the main panel on the left, a couple of items in the folder listing, and a document selected in the main viewer.

If I click the blank space below the three items in the left-hand panel, which is 80% of the area, it shouldn’t change the selection or document view. I’d expect that to only happen if I select the parent item explicitly - however, it’s easy to click this blank area by accident, particularly if you have lots of windows open or are switching between applications.

I can understand if there’s something subtle I’m missing about the document selection process, but I find it quite easy to lose my place in DEVONthink from time to time. The whole saved-view/move-to-parent/preserve-view think seems to be able to end up in contradictory situations; should it preserve a view on a folder if you’re navigating upwards with a different view setting? (I appreciate, also, these are very complex issues wrapped up in simple phrasing! :slight_smile:

  • Dave
2

In a group listing – such as three pane view – the area outside the group listing is not “blank” or “empty”, it is the root of that database. Documents can be stored in the root, and the Inbox and all the top-level groups are stored in the root. So if DEVONthink were to ignore clicks in the database root you’d never be able to see and use documents stored there.

(You might not store documents in the root – but lots of folks do. What you see in the Global Inbox is all in the root of that database. DEVONthink sometimes calls the root the “Top Group” – so when you press the Top Group icon in the toolbar or use Go > Top Group, then you’ll get navigated to the root.)

3

Yep. All the time. :smiley: