I’ve tried searching for this in the forum, but nothing turned up.
If I do a document specific search using the inspector and it turns up several hits, and then I click from the inspector search tab to any other inspector tab (like the tab to go to annotations) and then I click back on the search tab - my search has disappeared.
For example - I am in a PDF and do a search for a common word like “lab.” It shows me a list of 20 places where the word appears in the PDF. I can click on any of them and be taken to that place in the PDF. Then I go to the annotations tab and write a note. And I click back on the search tab to see where the next search result will take me and all the search results are gone! I have to hit enter again (the search term is still there), and the PDF resets to the first place where the search term was spotted.
This feels like unexpected behavior - you expect a new tab to simply “hide” the other tab, but not wipe out what is there. This happens in both the three-pane main window, or if I’ve opened the PDF in its own window.
Have I missed a setting that makes this work more like I expect it - where the search results are still there when I switch back to the search tab?
Thank you for the feedback! Technically it’s not really a tab currently, meaning that only the selected inspector is loaded into memory to avoid unnecessary overhead and memory usage.
Instead of switching tabs one possibility might be to use the Tools > Info popover in addition to the inspectors pane of main/document windows.
Since version 4 it’s also possible to detach this popover.
I’m sorry that I don’t have version 4 at hand (it is on a computer at work and I’m at home). When you say you can detach the popover, does that mean it is no longer sort of a modal box that you can’t move, blocking the PDF? That would be handy! Can it/does it also stay available, even as I read/scroll/highlight/copy from the PDF? So I could use the info pane for searching, then copy text from the PDF, and paste it into the annotations part of the popover? That would be great! (I’m starting to feel sorry that I won’t be back at work until Monday)
Yes, that’s all possible, e.g. to move it. Workspaces will reopen it and changing the selection will update it so that you can use the embedded inspectors of the main/document window and the detached Tools > Info popover next to each other.
I went in to work last night just to try this out on my computer there, and it works great!! I can put the pdf in its own window, with its inspector pane set to search, and have the detached popup info pane off to the side, set to annotations. I can search, read, and then annotate all without having to open/close/re-search/move things. It is lovely! Thanks for making those improvements!
Now just waiting to make the update to DT4 here on my laptop (which is really where I use DT - the work thing was just to test out DT4). I need to decide when I’ll be comfortable switching here. Do I wait until it isn’t in beta? Do I switch now? I just need to decide…
That is your choice. The beta is table, but it’s also in flux, so things can (and in some cases, will) change before the gold master release. We recommend the most data-safe options with the least amount of friction. And backups, always backups.
