Linking process

I’m wondering what people have been using to create intra-database links in their documents.

If I’m typing along and want to link to another document, I’d expect to be able to drag the document icon from the document list (in notepad view) to the cursor in the document content to get a link to the file. This doesn’t work. It copies the content. If the document to which I’d like to link is a URL, it doesn’t do anything.

So I then type the name of the document, select the text, and click Link. If the document name is too long or complicated for me to type, I try to select the document name’s text, but in order to do so, I have to view that document in the content pane which loses my view of the document in which I’m typing. Regardless, I select the linked document’s name, reselect the document in which I’m typing, re-find the place I was typing previously, paste the document name, select it and click the “link” button. I now have a linked document.

Then I continue typing and all the type after the link is still linked. I then have to select the text I’ve typed since the link, unlink it by clicking the “link” button again, and the text is unlinked but still blue. So then, rather than mess with the color palette, I have to select black text, copy and paste, then select that text and retype.

Also, if I click the link by accident (during text select) or if I click it to test it, there’s no way to go back to where I was typing (no back button) other than to find the document in the document list and re-find the place I was typing (which isn’t always the end of the document).

This is all very frustrating.

Is there something I’m doing wrong or is this how document linking is done? If the latter, I’d like to suggest the following:

dragging document icons should create a link (followed by a non-linked space) to the document icon dragged. This would prevent changing the focus of the document being worked on and allow one to link documents very easily while creating or editing. Should the copy need to be inserted (a la the current behavior), a hotkey (option) should be available which would change the cursor while the icon is being dragged.

If the ability to create links to specific places in documents is ever implemented, there should be a small triangle next to all the documents containing in-document links. This would allow one to create a link to a specific place inside a document using the method described in the paragraph above.

Two other things: the database should store and recall the current position/selection of the text cursor in documents. That way, if another document needs to be viewed in the process of editing/creation (or in my case, if another document is accidentally viewed), reselecting the document being edited will automatically bring the user back to the last view of the document.

Lastly, if the current text selection is a link, the "link" button and its corresponding menu commands should change to "unlink".

These are all eminently good ideas and I’m sure many of them are in the pipeline. In the meantime there’s easy workarounds: using a new browser window to copy a content’s name without losing your place, putting a space in before making a cross-link to stop subsequent typed text being included, apple-clicking a link to test it without losing your place.