When opening database, take me to. . .
–Inbox
–Root directory level
–The following folder:
Anybody else think this might be a useful preference setting? I’m getting so tired of having to manually open every database’s Inbox upon opening the file. And when opening 4 databases at a time, and closing and opening others, this capability might be a real time and effort saver.
Please add:
–folder/document that where open in any viewer window that was open
Johannes
Thanks for the suggestions! An upcoming release will simply restore the last selection (and tabs), that will be hopefully sufficient for most people.
I just want to cast my vote on this feature.
Thanks in advance
Comment: Not exactly what was requested, but perhaps related.
There can be multiple open views of a database, and these are restored each time the database is opened (with the appropriate Preferences setting).
I try to use a database Inbox as a temporary holding place for unclassified content, which means that I intend to empty it out when I’ve got time. But sometimes I don’t have the time, or simply procrastinate doing a chore that’s not terribly enjoyable.
When I’ve let the Inbox of a database get terribly cluttered, I’ll open that Inbox in a separate view window as a reminder, hoping that I’ll feel shamed and motivated to clean it up when it pops into view. 
Seems flakey to me, as described with an example: here
Yeah, I’ve seen that thread.
But things like that don’t happen in my databases, with the exception that when I’m running two monitors (24-inch and 13.4-inch) and moving some windows between them I will have to resize and reposition those windows later.
Right now I’ve got 12 windows open in DTPO2, several with sizes and positions that they have reliably maintained for months, through a number of quits and relaunches. For example, I keep a narrow Babelfish Web page open, positioned on the right side of my 13.4-inch screen, available always for quick and dirty translations. It’s always where I expect to find it.
So I’m puzzled that my databases maintain stable window sizes and positions, while others see size/position changes.
Have you tried step-by-step reproduction of the issue I described?
To summarize, managing the sizes/locations of different windows currently isn’t optimal for me with multiple databases. A couple things would help improve it:
• A method of opening a database that’ll force it to use a new window in a previous, predictable size/location instead of reusing the current window.
• When switching databases in the current window, that window’s size/location won’t accidentally become the new default size/location.
No, and perhaps if I did I would be complaining. But I don’t do it that way. 
I’ve usually got 4 open databases. Some of them are ‘normal’ view windows, set to take up my full 13.4-inch screen. Others include specific group view or document windows that I’ve sized and placed, and that remain in use for long periods of time.
So I know what to expect, and get what I expected, whether I’m following a link or tab in an existing view or document window, or choosing a new window.
Bill, I always respect your comments, opinions, suggestions, etc. but this is a case of where describing your method of using DTPO that doesn’t trigger certain issues isn’t helping resolve my specific usage issues with it.
When I’ve tried to accurately describe a problem, possibly with ideas for improvements, a response like “well, I do it this way without any trouble” makes it easy to get an impression, which I’m sure isn’t intended, that you’re flaunting your methods as superior to others. And that’s more frustrating than helpful to me.
Probably best (for everyone’s sake ) if I open official support tickets about specific issues I encounter in different usage scenarios.
Hi, Scott. No argument with you (or with Tod).
This thread started with the topic, When opening a database, take me to…
–Inbox
–Root directory level
–The following folder
I often find it useful to have not just one but all three of those views plus some open documents, as I have done for some time with my main database.
I spend most of my time in my main database. Right now I’ve got 8 windows open in that database, and those 8 windows have been in use through repeated closings and openings of that database, each window retaining the size and position that I had assigned it.
There are three Three Panes views for that database: Root, Inbox and a group. The left sidebar is shown in the first two, but not in the third. All three Three Panes view windows occupy the full screen of my 13.4-inch screen.
There are 5 document windows open. Two of them are full-screen and the other three have different sizes and positions.
Perhaps just because I find it a convenient size on my computer’s screen, all the Three Panes or List view windows in all of my databases take up the entire screen. Whenever I open a database in which I’ve previously been working, that’s the size shown for such view windows.
If I open a new document window, it will open taking up the full screen area (except for PDFs, which I usually read in Full Screen view, anyway). But I usually reduce the size of open document windows and often place them side-by-side, and they remember their size and position if left there during a database close/reopen event.
If I close a document window that I had sized and placed, it will resume that position and size when next reopened. I like that. When I’m reading a document in its own window, I can place alongside of it a document in which I take notes. Now that pair of documents will ‘remember’ the sizes and positions and I can resume my reading and notetaking tomorrow or next month. Although I will have lost the scroll position in the source document by closing and reopening it, I can remind myself about that position in the notes document, so that I can go back to where I left off last.
So that’s the basis of my remark that I know what to expect, and I get what I expect.
Perhaps if I used different sizes for different Three Panes database views I would encounter the behavior you mentioned. I haven’t tried that. Maybe my finding that windows and views are stable in size and position is just a result of the way I set them up and use them. I’m certainly not claiming any superiority of my workflows over other possibilities.
How/when/where did Tod get involved? 
Bingo!
Like mine used to be in v1, while other folks had issues.
There are plenty of times when describing successful workflows can offer someone viable alternatives they hadn’t considered. And there are also cases when those descriptions can distract from or contradict someone’s effort to focus on resolving specific problems with their workflows. I think a simple “sorry, I can’t help you with that” (or, “I haven’t tried that”, like above) acknowledgement can often be a more desirable, direct response in those latter situations; succinctly sufficient when nothing else really needs to be offered.
All granted.
But I suspect that if the behavior you want modified were changed, it would mess up my workflow.
Oh, oh. Then I’d have to accept responsibility and start evangelizing mine.
Seriously, adding an “Open Database in New Window” command (originally suggested in the post I linked to earlier) would help me a lot without disrupting anyone else’s workflows. I’m convincing that reusing the current window when opening/switching databases is one source of my struggles with windows not consistently retaining desired sizes/locations.
In Finder, I have the choice of browsing folders in the current window or opening them in new windows with previously retained sizes/locations (sans bugs). Similar functionality was possible in DTP v1 when only a single database was supported. But I haven’t found a reliable way to achieve it with multiple databases in v2, partly because of the current window reuse behavior when opening/switching databases at times I want a new window.
I’m trying to say is DTP seems to be missing “Open in New Window” functionality that allows groups from either the current (like in v1) or other (new in v2) database to be opened in new windows with previously retained sizes/locations (if known).