Key shortcut for switching window focus. Suggestions for PT behavior

Question

Hello,

Currently we are checking our translation and jumping around a lot from verse to verse and chapter to chapter. I have the list of notes open in one window, and the project and resources open in others. I have learned that when I am in the notes list, I can use Ctrl + Up Arrow or Ctrl + Down Arrow to go between the notes, and use F12 to expand or contract them. However, when I go to a different note, Paratext does not switch to that note’s verse. I can use Ctrl + Tab to go up to the verse reference in the note and press Enter, and that takes Paratext to that verse. However, it switches the focus to the project window. I can no longer get back to manuvering in the notes, unless I click back into the notes window.

My questions:

1. Is there a keyboard shortcut for changing window focus?
2. Are there keyboard shortcuts for jumping to or tabbing between only certain types of windows? (For example, projects, notes list, Biblical terms, enhanced resources, and resources.)

My suggestions for PT behavior:

1. When manuvering between notes, have PT switch to that note’s verse (be it if the user used a keyboard shortcut or mouse)
2. Or, if not that, when clicking on the verse reference in the note, have PT switch the verse displayed, but without taking the focus to the project.

Other PT users, how do those suggestions sound to you?

This page was helpful but still left me with the above questions:

Paratext

Popular Keyboard Shortcuts - Helpful Tips to Improve Efficiency - Paratext

Using keyboard shortcuts can help you work more efficiently! Learn about the most popular and helpful keyboard shortcuts in Paratext.

Est. reading time: 13 minutes

Thanks so much,

anon094061

Comments

+1

I love PT, but in several areas the ergonomics are (litterally) painful. I love every change that would allow my hands to stay on the keyboard; since this tool is all about text.

Answer 1

1. There’s not currently a shortcut to switch to other tabs. If there were, it would be Ctrl+Tab to be the same as most other applications which use tabs. This should be relatively easy to add and feels like it would be useful to many. This feature request already exists in our case tracking tool (PTX-21128), so I’ve added your name to it.
2. Not yet. It’s an interesting idea, but given what we know about how many open windows most users have of each type, it would be useful to only a very small percentage of users. It could also be tricky to do something both predictable and memorable, so this is unlikely to be something we would add with any urgency, sorry!

Re: Suggestions:

1. User feedback when we created the Notes window determined that Paratext should not change the current scripture reference while someone is browsing through notes. This is because the user may not know whether they care about the note until they’ve read it. The scripture hyperlink in the note is there to make that verse available with one click. Related to this, I can imagine it being useful to do Alt+Down, and then Tab to cycle between verse ref, open and expand/collapse. (An expanded note allows you to tab between typing a reply and highlighting the Resolve, Assign, OK, Cancel operations.) This is now also in our case tracking tool, PTX-21399
2. To view the verse which a note refers to without navigating all of the current scroll group to that verse location, you can Shift+click on the verse reference to see a “quick reference” window. That’s true of most scripture links in Paratext.

I hope that helps.

Comments

Thank you IanH! My aplogies for my delay.

In regards to your answers on my question on tabbing between windows, Ctrl + Tab would be great for tabs! I would also love to be able to go between windows that aren’t in tabs. Shift + Tab looks to be available. Could we use that? Doesn’t seem too tricky, and I imagine it would be useful to a lot of users who like key shortcuts. Just an idea .

In regards to your responses about my suggestions:

1. Thank you for creating PTX-21399. It’s not quite clear what behaviour you are describing. Could you please clarify? Are you talking about viewing the note’s verse without loosing focus on the notes window?
2. Shift + Click is a great tip! I notice that works for search results too, loading a lot faster than a normal double-click.

Thanks so much!

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Ah, also, regarding the possible addition of Shift + Tab:
Switching in the order that the windows were opened could be one option. Switching in the order of most-recently-focused-on windows could be another, possibly more useful, option. I know lots of web browsers have given the users the ability to choose between the two behaviors.

Thanks again.

Answer 2

As a workaround, my colleage had the excellent idea of putting the notes in a pinned floating window, so that I can alt+tab back to them. I’ll give that a try!