How can I quickly collapse everything that isn't a folder?

[John . Smith]

Hello

Is there any quick way to collapse everything that isn't a folder?

If not, would you find it useful to have it as a hotkey?
I would...

Cheers

J

[robisme (Olivier R)]

You can set hotkeys to expand x sublevels, maybe it's a first step toward your need ?
Olivier

[John . Smith]

I agree that's a first step, but it's not what I'm looking for.

I have tried putting everything into a single folder and then giving it focus and then using "Show level 1" or "Show Level 2" or "Show Level 3" etc. using hotkeys.
My problem is that it's showing EVERYTHING at those levels, including all the tasks that it doesn't need to show - and this is cluttering up the screen.

i.e. In my example in order to show Folder 1.2.1, it is also showing tasks like "This is task A" and it's siblings.

J

[robisme (Olivier R)]

Then I suggest you build a specific view with a filter "is folder = true".
Olivier

[John . Smith]

Thanks, Olivier

Well, initially I thought this was brilliant.

On the up-side it shows your folder hierarchy very cleanly and it works well when used with F7 to open all the folders as far as possible.

Furthermore, if you then save that View and give it a hotkey (e.g. control/shift/alt/F) I can even apply that filter to the current view using a hotkey.   :)

However, there are problems: 

1. If the current Tab is locked it won't work without creating another tab every time you use it (which causes confusion and clutter).

2. Also you can of course no longer open up any given folder to see what's actually in it. (This is due to the View's filtering that will now be in place!) 

3. In order to see what's in each Folder, all you can do is - IF and only if the folder has no child-folders -  is double-click on that folder  and be taken to your first Tab on the left. 

BUT once you get there : 

a) If your Tab has filtering that stops that folder from being viewed (e.g. it is using Active tasks view), then no row will have focus (which feels confusing) [so this forces you to have an ALL tasks view...]

b) If you get to the LH tab without losing focus, you now have a problem of how to get back to that Folders- Only tab. If you click the folder name again and it does have child tasks, then it will simply open up any child tasks. And if you double-click on one of the child tasks, although it will take you back to the Folders-only view, it will now lose focus because task are not visible on that view! 

==> Aaarrgh!  Not quite so useful after all. 

If going this route, we are thrown into using one tab for multiple MLO Views. 
But even then there is no way to toggle this view on and off using your hotkey, which would have been nice.

Conclusion
I would still prefer some inbuilt function that would expanding everything just far enough to show all the Folders, so that this could be achieved with no fuss on Locked tabs, without the need to change either Tab nor View and ideally it should be a function that toggles.

- Would anyone else vote for this feature?

J

[John . Smith]

PS I would particularly like to have a folders-only view possible when you hit F3.... as this would help cut and past tasks out of the inbox into the correct Folder.

[Nick Clark]

I’d always recommend that the leftmost tab is the Outline view. That way you can always see the whole hierarchy, and this would solve your folder focus problem.

[John . Smith]

Yes, good call. And following my experiences above, I now broadly do the same!

The exception is that I am marking my (GTD) SomedayMaybe stuff with a Context Tag, and I *HATE* seeing all that stuff except when I am doing a weekly review.

J

[TMZ]

Follow-up question:
Is there a way/a view in which I can see a folder, but never see the tasks in that folder?

(I wanna build an inbox-view with the content of my inbox folder and one other folder. I need that folder just to move tasks into, but every time I open that view at the beginning of the day, the not-inbox-folder is expanded and I see all the tasks in it, so I have to collapse it.
I tried things like "is folder is false", didn't work

[John . Smith]

This may/may not help, but what I have done is put everything (i.e. all my folders) into to my <Inbox> folder.

I then hit give the <Inbox> folder focus and hit Shift+Alt+1 

That creates a screenful showing each of my (what were) root directory folders for each of my Areas of Life - of which I have about 7.
And below those folders are all the tasks that I have added using Rapid Task Entry (Control+Shift+M).

I can then drag and drop them using the mouse into the correct Area of Life folder.

If you do it fast enough the folders don't open further. 
If you want to put it into a sub-folder then just hover for a second or 2 over a folder and it will open.

If you cut and paste then the folder you have pasted into will open up to reveal where the task has moved to. 
 

J