Multiple checklist states, one-button sorting, link-printing options, moving items

[ericMB 16]

I live and die by the checklist! These feature requests are aimed at making Evernote into a
really powerful checklist system, like the ones I use manually, but with greater convenience.

1. One-Button Sorting
   There has been some discussion of automatically sorting checklists by complete/non-complete status.
   On the plus side, that would be useful. On the minus side, there are times when it wouldn't be desirable,
   and it could be confusing, when things drop out of sight unexpectedly.
   
   The solution to that problem is add a "sort" button, or a keystroke-combination that sorts the
   checklist the cursor is in. (Or possibly, all checklists on the current page.) That way, the behavior
   is easily accessed, but never unexpected.
    
2. Printing options for Linked Notes
   When printing a note that has pointers to other notes, there are several useful ways to do it:
   • Print the note by itself (the current behavior, and therefore the default)
   • Embed linked notes in the printout, so you get the overview plus all the details.
   • Optionally print linked notes in separate pages, so get a compilation of everything,
     all in order.
      
3. Multiple checklist status marks.
   Since checklists are such a big part of my working life, I came up with a number of additional marks
   to keep track of things. Ideally it would be possible to specify the characters, their meaning, and their
   sort order, for users who have different ideas on how things should work.
   • > - In progress. I'm working on it.
   • z - Pending. I've done what I can do, and am waiting on someone else.
   • ? - Questionable. Is it worth doing? Is it possible?
      
   • ~ - Undecided. Maybe. To be determined. "Yes and no". "Both good and bad".
   • + - A positive.
   • - (minus) - A negative. 
     Note that the last three are particularly useful in an evaluation-list, where you are
     compiling arguments-for and arguments-against a particular option.
      
4. Move Items with keystroke combinations
   • A keystroke-combination like Alt+^ and Alt+v should work to move an item or up down in a list.
   • Any nested bullet items, checklist items, or indented text under it should naturally travel with it.
   • That feature would make it unnecessary to cut, reposition the cursor, and paste--something that
     is harder as the list of nested material gets longer. (I've implemented such features in outliner
     programs. They're really nice for lists that haven't been broken into linked segments.)
      

[DTLow 5,736]

2 minutes ago, eric_treelight said:

Links to Other Notes.

I would have thought this addressed by the classic link feature in Evernote.

My notes are heavily cross linked.

[ericMB 16]

Oops. Thanks! I missed the feature.
Scratch one off my request-list!

Ah. Lovely! Editing is supported. Will edit the original request now, to remove the red herring.

[jefito 5,589]

A suggestion: add feature requests as individual items. That way they can be individually discussed and voted on. Note that some of these have already been requested; sorting, automatic and otherwise of todo items, and additions to the checkmark vocabulary come to mind.

For the checkbox request, you may be able to accomplish this using UniCode characters, for example: 

☐ Item

☐ Subitem

☑ Completed item

☒ Postponed item

ot this from: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/28947/use-a-unicode-text-trick-to-make-lists-with-checkboxes/; there may be more tricks like that around. You could probably implement this using something like AutoHotKey shortcuts to insert them where you want them, but the whole bit around specifying rules as to how they interoperate seems a bit much for the Evernote vision, which has kept checkboxes simple. In addition, those rules would need to filter into the search grammar (https://dev.evernote.com/doc/articles/search_grammar.php), which Evernote does not like to update as it affects all Evernote clients and their servers.

[ericMB 16]

16 hours ago, jefito said:

A suggestion: add feature requests as individual items. That way they can be individually discussed and voted on. Note that some of these have already been requested; sorting, automatic and otherwise of todo items, and additions to the checkmark vocabulary come to mind.

It is worth assessing feature requests individually, and as you say, the individual requests probably exist. But in my view it makes sense to point out how they can work together to achieve a particular goal--especially when that goal is to help automate a work process that I have evolved over a couple of decades to keep track of what I'm doing. I've used it for software development projects, writing projects, and decision-making processes, so it has stood the test of time, for me. (Evernote has become a pretty big part of that process, too.)

[jefito 5,589]

1 hour ago, eric_treelight said:

But in my view it makes sense to point out how they can work together to achieve a particular goal--especially when that goal is to help automate a work process that I have evolved over a couple of decades to keep track of what I'm doing.

That's all fine; and there's nothing stopping you from describing in each individual feature request how it all hangs together for you, and use cases like that are good information, but it's still a good idea to break individual requests up (or piggyback onto existing requests) You can always link to related threads for adding context as well. These are voting forums and multiple issues confuse the waters : what does an upvote represent in these cases? In this instance, it means a vote for your particular system, which isn't much use to me (I have my own), even if individual ones would be nice to have. But it's just a suggestion, and and it's your forum, and your request, too, so have at it.

[ericMB 16]

I get what you're saying, jefito. That would certainly be the best way to do it.