Completed Status that is hidden

[danson]

Dear Kinook,

I like to know what has been done for a particular project. But I don't necessarily want to have my view of what needs doing cluttered up by all the things that have been done.

May I propose a 'view' option whereby you can choose to view or hide completed items?

I don't know whether or not these completed items are simply one's with a "red tick mark" flag. I don't see any reason why not to use that.

However when you tick something, it effectively disappears from the data explorer. You can select to view completed items if you want to (perhaps on an item by item basis or globally).

Most of the time you just want to see what is outstanding, but by keeping (and hiding) completed items you can easily refer back to previous items for reference.

Current implementations I have seen have a 'Completed' folder. However this does not keep information about WHERE that item was before it was completed and to which project it belonged (without entering extra data of course).

Thoughts?
Daniel

[Taxi]

Perhaps my projects are not so complicated, but I find that the power of 'Logical Linking' provides the necessary facilities to keep track of things that have not yet been done.

I have created child folders named 'Things to be done' for each project and linked all the oustanding tasks to become children of this folder. This approach can be extended by creating sub-folders named "Priority 1", "Priority 2", etc.

When these things have been done, they can simply be unlinked from the 'Things to be done' folder (or the link can be moved to a 'Completed' folder) without making any other structural changes, so retaining information about WHERE that item was before it was completed or to which project it belonged.

The 'Things to be done' folder can then be used to access and process each of the outstanding items 'in-situ' with any changes being reflected in the linked copies to be found when exploring other parts of the data tree.

I'm slightly reluctant to support the idea of hiding items as this can cause confusion when you're looking for something and you've forgotten to remove the 'filter'.

[sobko]

I agree with danson. I appreciate the flexibility UR has, but the ability to check off tasks would be great, and this functionality is pretty standard for any progrm that manages tasks. When checking them off, UR could give the option to:

1. show them as checked off but don't move them.
2. Move them to [Specified Place on tree]
3. Delete them.

[danson]

Options are always nice - people work in different ways.

My Revied opinions after hearing from you guys:

1. Hiding - ok this could be a bad idea since things might get lost.

2. "Pre-linking" into a "Things to do" folder requires too much effort. Every addition requires a linking.

So how about this (at least as one option

When you mark something as completed it moves to the bottom of the folder that it is in and appears sruckout (line through the centre).

So:

1. At a glance you know it's not something you need to pay attention to.
2. It's still visible and readable.
3. It's automatically out of the way, leaving important, outstanding tasks at the top of the list. *

Whatever ordering was applied to the list should still be present in the completed items at the bottom of the list.

One related request - it would be nice to have the 'flag' column be shown on certain folders and not globally. Some things are task lists, others are not.


How's that?
Daniel

[lsebba]

You can do it with a search template under each project parent. Save a search where you search for "item contains "project Name" AND " Flag" does not equal "complete", and you are all set. YOu can save another search to keep all completed items as separate children.

By using the search templates, one can have enormous flexibility in this way. Also, by using columns, all you have to do is click on the "Flag" column to easily mark it as completed

[danson]

>> YOu can save another search to keep all completed items as separate children.

that's for the reply! just clarifying the above point.

does this mean I can have my structure like this:

--My Project
(Completed)-Task1
----------------Task2
----------------Task3
---Outstanding Tasks Search
-----Task2
-----Task3

?

Ie can the search actually list it's results as visible children in the data view? Is it updated in real time (if you mark Task2 as completed it instantly disappears from the search?).

If the above is possible.........how can i do it please? =)

[lsebba]

Create a child item from the search template (alt-ins, search)
Then create the search as above.

It seems to either need a refresh to show the change, or otherwise the next time you open the search it is automatically updated. Try it. It is one of the more pwerful features of the program. You can also customize the columns that are displayed in the search

[danson]

ah but the search results appear in a separate "Search Results" window right?

I'm looking for something that'll actually show the results in the Data Explorer tree itself as 'children' of the search item.

Is that possible? What do you think of that idea?
Ie all items that are found in the the search are automatically logically linked as children of the search item.

Phew, finally thought of how to word it.
That's what I wanted to say from the start =)

[lsebba]

Nice idea, but iyou are right, it is not possible at present, as i undertand it.

I guess that for me, the "search results" is generally good enough. My one concern about using the search template too extensively is that I may run the risk of "losing" an item. If it is assigned to one parent, and then appears in mutliple searches, the temptation is to think of it as really being logically linked to the "parent", when in fact it is only there as a result of the search. There is the risk of removing it from its true parent, and then deleting it, because one forgets that it is not truly logically linked to the search. To me, that would be the major value of what you are suggesting.

[kevina]

"Filtering" the Data Explorer pane to not display "completed" Info Items would be a significant change to Ultra Recall, this extended forum thread discusses the topic and other related feature requests in much more detail (which are still being considered for a future version of Ultra Recall)...

Currently much of what has been requested is available in different ways, including:
1) If you change the flag value to Completed, the item title of the Info Item will become greyed in all Panes (including the Data Explorer pane). While this is not strike-out text, it has some advantages (already implemented, easier to read, etc).
2) If the Info Items in question are displayed in the Related Items pane (either via Logical Linking or by running a search), you can sort on one or more columns (including the Flag column) which can easily place "Completed" Info items at the bottom of the list.
I know you have expressed a preference for this sorting to take place in the Data Explorer pane, but personally I find it is more convenient and useful to use both panes together for this very purpose.
3) While automating the deletion or moving of just Completed Info Items is not available (and could be useful), you can already make this process very efficient with a saved Advanced Search or two.
For example, if you want to routinely delete or move Completed Tasks, you can execute an Advanced Search that locates all Completed Tasks. Copy this search to an appropriate location, then run it whenever you want to delete or move your Completed Tasks, and move, copy or delete all the Info Items located in one step (just select some or all of them and delete or move as appropriate).

A couple notes:
- Running a search doesn't logically link anything, but a Saved Search could be considered virtual Logical Linking (it makes the located Info Items appear like logically linked in the Related Items Pane, however they do not show up in the Data Explorer pane as children).
- You can add or hide all columns in the Related Items Pane (your settings persist and can be reset as well), so you control whether the Flag column is visible or not in this pane).

[danson]

Thanks for the complete reply. I've thought of possibly a nice simple solution -

Could there just be a switch/button (with a hotkey) that toggles display of completed items?

If they are shown they are shown greyed out as current. if hidden they just disappear from the data explorer pane.

this means the data backend is untouched and no massive amount of work is required. all the change is in the UI with a simple (if item.completed and display_completed=FALSE then do not show item).

then there is no unexpected/automatic movement of items.


To avoid the possibility of 'losing' items when you forget you have them hidden I would suggest that in any 'folder' a sibling called "Completed (x)" is displayed showing the number of hidden/completed items. If you cannot find something you will still notice the presence of this item that will tell you that you have the completed items hidden.

I really want to get comleted items out of hte way. Some projects have dozens of steps and once one is completed you dont need to see it. however you cannot delete it since you might need to reference it later.

[danson]

any comments on this last batch of ideas?
i feel it would make the UR experience much nicer whilst avoiding any confusion about 'lost' items.

[simmotech]

Greyed out Completed items and normal items are almost indistinguishable on my screen.

Possible options are:-
1) More options to select fonts (so I can choose colour, size and strike-out myself
2) Strike-out font for completed items
3) Different icons for completed items - maybe current task icon with red tick for items not started, yellow tick for items with non-empty Completed% but not marked as Completed and green tick for items marked Completed

Option 1 makes most sense (but most work?) since it is general customization and everyone loves customization. Was suprised that only 2 options are available for selecting fonts??

Cheers
Simon

[igoldsmid]

Yes totally agree. Many more options for customizing how items display in the tree would be very beneficial!