Bullet list manipulation: add custom hotkeys for indent in/out (outliner-like)

[henrique]

Zettlr is open source, also based on Electron and has better text manipulation functions.
CTRL + click to place multiple pointers;
SHIFT + end to select the entire paragraph (not just the line);
ALT + Up / Down to move.

It may be easy to import these functions from him.

[argparse]

You can place multiple pointers (alt + click for me).

[argparse]

A heads up that you if you have a bullet list you can use tab to nest it inwards and shift + tab to nest it outward.

[cognociente]

@argparse I too can place multiple cursors with alt + click BUT the subsequent implementation/execution seems buggy in my version. Are others experiencing the same?

[cognociente]

@goodsignal I feel the same way about having a shortcut to move lines up and down in my text files - it’s essential.

I’m not too fussed on the particular difficult shortcut (sublime, vs code both have different defaults) especially if it can be remapped anyway.

[goodsignal]

Alt+click is a little buggy for me too. If you’re also on windows @cognociente, I know why it’s buggy and have a work-around.

The problem is that whenever Alt is pressed and released without another modifier key, that’s the OS shortcut to activate the menu bar and focus is removed from the Obsidian Edit window to the the menu bar. The buggy workaround is that you have to press and release Alt again for the OS to toggle focus back the Obsidian Edit window where you can resume your multi-cursor editing.

It would be nice if a more graceful implementation could be figured out.

[cognociente]

@goodsignal well picked up! Seems that it would then be best for Alt based shortcuts to be avoided because underlying browser functionality won’t change. Maybe Control should rather be used as the modifier for the mouse click?

[nixsee]

This is absolutely crucial for me too - I was all-in on moving all of my notes from OneNote to Obsidian until I just found out here that this isn’t possible. It’s such a basic feature that I just assumed that it was already implemented.

When I’m writing, I just do a stream of consciousness and dump everything in a very poorly organized tree of bullet points. Once done (or sometimes during the process) I will rearrange the points into a more coherent order - keyboard shortcuts (OneNote uses Alt+Shift and arrow keys to move in/out/up/down) make this incomparably faster than dragging or cut and paste.

I’m extremely disappointed - I don’t think I can use Obsidian (which otherwise looks extremely promising) without this.

A related feature is to add/remove bullets from a selection of lines (at any indent level) with one command. Again, OneNote you just press Ctrl+. or / for ordered lists (numbers).

[ryanjamurphy]

You can swap the current lines up and down using either the command palette or by setting hotkeys for “Swap lines up” and “Swap lines down”:

[nixsee]

Yup, it was a great addition! Now I’d just love to see in/outdent added to the customizable hotkeys so I can make my “joystick” with the arrow keys!

[ryanjamurphy]

Mind adding a separate feature request for this?

[goodsignal]

up/down and in/out are both clearly described together in this as a feature request.

I question whether solving half the feature should require users to resubmit another request for the other half? There’s momentum here with the number of likes. People want this. Seems strange to voluntarily reset that number to zero and put it back at the bottom of the request pool.

Alternatively I can edit the post, clarifying that up/down has been added but in/out has yet to be addressed. That’s evident in the comments, but I see the utility in helping users learn that some of it is already fixed (from the top post without going deep). Just give me the go, if that sounds good @ryanjamurphy. I can also clarify that in/out is possible but not by your own hotkey preference.

[Dor]

@goodsignal

There’s momentum here with the number of likes. People want this. Seems strange to voluntarily reset that number to zero and put it back at the bottom of the request pool.

But maybe most of the likes are for the feature that has been added.

[ryanjamurphy]

@goodsignal I thought that this worked:

@argparse

A heads up that you if you have a bullet list you can use tab to nest it inwards and shift + tab to nest it outward.

Or do you mean you want this to be editable in the hot keys preferences?

[WhiteNoise]

Let me understand this. The only think missing here is having custom shourtcuts for indent\unindend (shift & ctrl shift alternatives)?

[goodsignal]

At this point, yes. That is what we are down to. We have the comprehensive, since we can shift in/out and up/down. But instead of fast, it’s a little cumbersome without being able to choose hotkeys. Really hoping for custom hotkeys for the things that many of us do so frequently.

So, is the verdict:

• Create a new feature request?
• Edit this one to the current state of request?
• Or something else?

[ryanjamurphy]

I take your point about losing the momentum on this request, then. I just edited the title—feel free to edit your post to make super clear what the remaining request is.

(Remember that requests are like notes! Atomicity is a good thing!)

[WhiteNoise]

I think it;s ok to keep this one

[goodsignal]

Thanks for the edit. That’s perfect.
Clarifies the current state and maintains the history.

[Kuridinn]

I hope I did the right thing by making a comment here, rather than opening a new thread.

In the brief time I spent with Roam, I got used to the way it handled moving around nested lists. All I had to do to move back a level was press Enter; the Tab key would move me forward/inward, the way Obsidian also does. In Obsidian, however, pressing Enter on a blank second-level item ends the list, the way I would expect it to do if I pressed Enter on a blank first-level item.

Does this seem unintuitive to anyone else? I would love for people to have custom shortcuts & do whatever works for them, but my concern is that the default behaviour is jarring as it is (at least to me).