Default column sorting in Bookends List View

[jeremydouglass]

I add a lot of references, and I usually want to be looking at the ones I just added. (Reverse chronological - I order Mail and iTunes this way as well).

I've noticed that every single time I open Bookends, I sort the Ref# column in Bookends List View so that I can see what I'm doing. Every time, maybe 100 times a month.

- Is there any way I could set the default column sorts? I'm not afraid to go into the App resources and change things if I have detailed instructions.

- More generally, for future releases, is there any way to allow the column sorts to persist as a feature?

As always, thanks for a great product.

[Jon]

Hi,

Column sorts do not, as you know, carry over between launches. I'm not sure it's a great idea to do so, frankly (I can't think of any other app that does this). You know about the smart sql group that shows the last X (defined by you) entered references?

Jon
Sonny Software

[jeremydouglass]

I understand if you don't want to add this feature - it is pretty esoteric, and it might annoy users who always want to start with Ref#1. However, I did give two good examples of related apps that remember column sorts between sessions: One is Mail, one is iTunes. I like to leave both in reverse chronological order, with the Date Recieved / Date Added in down-triangle mode. When I relaunch the app, the newest items are the first thing I see at the top of the screen. However, if I decide to keep my inbox sorted by From or my collection by Album, then close, my work habits are respected when I relaunch the app.

Mail has one quirk on this - on opening it always scrolls the inbox to the latest message, regardless of column order. Whether you order chronologically it begins at the bottom of the screen (Bookends could perhaps do this, moving to the last Ref# by default) and, in reverse it begins at the top of the screen. For Mail this design just makes sense - most Mail users want to see the latest messages because that is the current situation.

In Bookends, on the other hand, I have thousands of references, but when it launches I see ref 1-30. I always see ref 1-30, with the first author I ever added as 1. Bookends has shown me that list of 30 since the first day I used the program. It will always show me that list. I've memorized it. Unlike Mail, which launches and says "Here's the Latest!" Bookends puts up a huge page of very old information that says "I'm Bookends!" I haven't bothered looking at the initial display for months - I just start searching or sorting or clicking to get back to where I was last time.

This isn't a big deal for me - just two clicks every single time I launch without exception. But it might be a useful perspective on people who spend a lot of Bookends time cataloging rather than searching.

[jeremydouglass]

Thanks for the SQL groups tip - but can I set one so that it is the default view when the app launches? Otherwise it is the same for me to just hit the sort columns all the time.

This is not a functionality request - Bookeneds is totally functional. It is a workflow nitpick - I was hoping maybe there was a plist file I could just tweak myself.

[Jon]

No, sorry, you'd have to click on the group on launch to get that as well. Maybe I could make it so that if the ref number were the first column, Bookends would default to a descending sort on open...

Jon
Sonny Software

[jeremydouglass]

I just launched Bookends and it came up with my latest information. As always, thank you so much.