What should a double click do?

[Jon]

Double clicking on a reference has always opened the edit pane (pressing Return or Enter does the same thing). A user has requested that it instead open the lower panel, showing the PDF. What do other users (i.e. you) think?

Jon
Sonny Software

[taja]

I always have the edit pane visible, and seeing as Return and Enter do the same thing, I think that opening the lower panel (good for a quick preview of a PDF) would be more useful.

[iandol]

I also always have the edit panel visible, so would be happy if it toggled the attachment preview (I normally use ⌘⌥E to toggle it)...

[NilsMS]

I have the edit pane always visible, too, but I store my pdfs in Devonthink Pro Office. The pdfs are linked via a custom field. So, for me it would be ideal if a double-click would open the linked document (perhaps the field of choice customizable as drop-down menu in the preferences?).

[nicka]

Here's one vote at least for leaving it as it currently is.

I keep the edit pane open, but double-clicking the reference is still useful because it sets the edit pane back to the 'Main' tab if it was on 'Additional fields', 'Notes' or 'Attachments' (as Jon pointed out to me in these forums a couple of years ago). I use that a lot and I'd miss it if it went away.

I always leave the bottom pane open and set to display the current reference formatted, so the proposed new behaviour would be no use to me at all. (I read and annotate pdfs in external viewers.)

[ealvarezqc]

I realize that I never use double-click on a reference. The reason is that my Edit and Bottom panes are always open, so I can see what I wish every time I click on a reference.

For me, double-click means “something that opens with a pop-up”. Not sure it should be the PDF, but it won’t be a bad idea.

[Nhaps]

I have two suggestions:

(1) When one stops to think about it, double clicking a reference must do something useful besides selecting the reference, which a single click already does.

(2) Double click should be customized in Preferences, which ideally could open a menu for your choice. In turn, the menu could provide these options:

A. Open attachment in your default PDF reader
B. Open attachment in the preview pane
C. Open the reference in a second floating window
D. Other ideas welcome

[benjaminpelissie]

It would be great if it allowed to open a new edit tab directly in the attachments view. That would copy the (very relevant) behavior of most other reference managers (in which double clicking opens the PDF in a new tab)
Ben

[Johan_A_M]

I have two suggestions:

(1) When one stops to think about it, double clicking a reference must do something useful besides selecting the reference, which a single click already does.

(2) Double click should be customized in Preferences, which ideally could open a menu for your choice. In turn, the menu could provide these options:

A. Open attachment in your default PDF reader
B. Open attachment in the preview pane
C. Open the reference in a second floating window
D. Other ideas welcome

I agree with this. It doesn't make any sense to either open the edit pane or the bottom pane, since this would then only be a one-shot. Once the pane is opened, double-clicking another reference would lose its entire purpose. Personally I'd prefer it to open the pdf in my own default pdf reader (as per alt. A above).

[Jon]

Did you know that you can open the PDF in an external PDF reader now with a single click on the the small paper clip icon next to the reference?

Jon
Sonny Software

[Johan_A_M]

No, I didn't, but that'll be really useful so thanks for letting me know!

[JohnAtl]

Good to know!
I was about to post asking for a button to open PDFs in the external viewer. While a bit small from a usability perspective, this is still helpful.

Regards,
John

[mathefff]

It should open the attached PDF.

[Jon]

No, it shouldn't. :-) But a single click on the paper click will do that (or various other things, like keyboard shortcuts or right-click options).

Jon
Sonny Softwaer

[mathefff]

Oh right, it should just open the PDF attachment pane as it does now. I expressed myself incorrectly.