Suggestion: Go to Last Viewed Page

[MikeTO]

One feature I could really use today in Publisher is Go to Last Viewed Page. We have the ability to go to a specific page as well as first/previous/next/last, but not to the page we had viewed before the one we're currently viewing.

For example, I'm on page 123 and use Find to move to page 456 to make a tiny edit. After doing that I want to go back to where I was but I don't remember the page number. The only ways to temporarily "bookmark" a page to get back to it are to type unique text that I can easily find and delete again (e.g., ***) or to insert a temporary anchor which I'll have to delete after returning to it. It would be nice to have a Last Viewed Page menu command so I could assign a keyboard shortcut to it.

Thank you

[Pšenda]

19 hours ago, MikeTO said:

temporarily "bookmark"

I think that the standard system of "bookmarks"*) is optimal for these purposes. It can be a temporary or permanent marking of places/chapters/paragraphs that you return to repeatedly and need to find them easily and quickly.

*) At least under that label, it's available by standard in any decent code editor/IDE.

[MikeTO]

32 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

I think that the standard system of "bookmarks"*) is optimal for these purposes. It can be a temporary or permanent marking of places/chapters/paragraphs that you return to repeatedly and need to find them easily and quickly.

*) At least under that label, it's available by standard in any decent code editor/IDE.

This isn't much different than Publisher's anchors - you're adding a placeholder and then finding it again and then deleting it.

What I'm proposing is that Publisher keep track of the last page you viewed and simply allow you to jump back to it. This would be analogous to an ebook reader that allows you to move to another page and then jump back to where you were without having to first add a bookmark.

[GarryP]

I like the idea of this – I often would like to quickly switch between pages that are far apart in the document – but I think it needs a little tweaking.

For example, if you were viewing page 2 and then scrolled down to page 10, and then pressed the “go back to the last viewed page” button (or however it is implemented) to go back to page 2, which page would it take you back to?
Technically, the last ‘viewed page’ would be page 9 as that was the last one which was seen by the user before scrolling from that page to page 10.

May I suggest that the “go back to the last viewed page” button was made to be a “go back to the last page on which the user selected a layer” button?
By selecting a layer, the user is making a deliberate action which can then be tracked by the software and scrolling would not ‘get in the way’.

I haven’t put a lot of thought into this but it sounds reasonable to me at first blush.

[Pšenda]

Bookmark/anchor reliably solves exactly these problems (what is the "last" page - viewed/edited/selected) - what the user marks can be quickly returned to. Alternatively, what if you need to switch between two/three/more locations?

The existing Anchor could be used for this, but the point is that it should be some "service" of the work environment, not part of a work document, where it can then be forgotten and it will be a nuisance. As has been requested many times before, there should be a specific service layer for notes and reminders that would not be printed or exported.

 

1 hour ago, GarryP said:

to quickly switch between pages

P.S. the "Last selected page" system will not allow repeated "switching" between two places, because only one selected/edited layer is the last one.

[GarryP]

I agree that more comprehensive ‘page bookmarking’, or even ‘page grouping', would be nice but, in the meantime, something simple along the lines of what MikeTO has suggested might be useful.

In my suggestion, and I should have made myself clearer, I meant that the previously selected page was kept track of, rather than the last selected layer on the current page. In other words, the software keeps a track of which pages the user has selected things on and, when requested, goes back to the previous page. E.g. select on page 1, scroll to page 5, select on page 5, scroll to page 8, scroll to page 12, select on page 12, go back to page 5 (because page 8 wasn’t selected). I hope I’ve managed to be clearer this time.

[MikeTO]

6 hours ago, GarryP said:

For example, if you were viewing page 2 and then scrolled down to page 10, and then pressed the “go back to the last viewed page” button (or however it is implemented) to go back to page 2, which page would it take you back to?
Technically, the last ‘viewed page’ would be page 9 as that was the last one which was seen by the user before scrolling from that page to page 10.

Scrolling to page 10 doesn't set the current page. You're still on page 2 until you click on page 10 or its thumbnail.

5 hours ago, Pšenda said:

P.S. the "Last selected page" system will not allow repeated "switching" between two places, because only one selected/edited layer is the last one.

It would allow for switching back and forth because this command would rely on the concept of current page. I'm proposing that Publisher keep track of the previously current page. Here's how it can work.

• You're editing page 123 but realize you need to update the section about bananas. Search for "bananas" and click the result for page 456.
• Edit page 456. Now you want to go back to where you were. Choose Go to Last Viewed Page and Publisher would set current page to 123.
• Once on 123 you realize you wished you'd made one more change before returning so you choose Go to Last Viewed Page again and Publisher would set current page to 456. Toggle back and forth as much as you like.

In this model Publisher would keep track of just one more page than it does now.

[Old Bruce]

I seriously doubt that I would use this functionality but I do see some usefulness for some workflows. Having said that I'll bet that if it does come about I will wind up using it all the time. So I guess I support it.

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, MikeTO said:

In this model Publisher would keep track of just one more page than it does now.

Other applications I've used that have a function like this keep more of a stack, and you can go back multiple times.

[Pšenda]

8 hours ago, MikeTO said:

It would allow for switching back and forth

Although it is a slightly different function, the ability to simultaneously display two/more different places of the document with a vertical/horizontal division of the work window is very useful. This makes it possible to work "simultaneously" in two different places in the document (without the need to switch back and forth, where the context is lost anyway), to edit and copy text/formulations, and possibly even visually check them if both places should look the same/similarly.

[walt.farrell]

11 hours ago, Pšenda said:

Although it is a slightly different function, the ability to simultaneously display two/more different places of the document with a vertical/horizontal division of the work window is very useful. This makes it possible to work "simultaneously" in two different places in the document (without the need to switch back and forth, where the context is lost anyway), to edit and copy text/formulations, and possibly even visually check them if both places should look the same/similarly.

You can do that already. 

1. View > New View 
2. Float both tabs
3. Arrange as you like
4. Edit in either/both.

Edit: That's even a mildly cumbersome way to handle Mike's original request. Create the new view. In the new view, go to the desired page. Close the view.

[Pšenda]

6 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

You can do that already. 

1. View > New View 
2. Float both tabs
3. Arrange as you like
4. Edit in either/both.

You probably don't know the function I'm talking about - it's a "one click" function that even twenty years old Word has. The cumbersome and thus practically completely unusable procedure you proposed certainly does not replace this function. By the way, it's quite a shame that Serif, in several years of development, didn't master a very simple and basic Tile feature for arranging open windows, which would make the proposed procedure much easier and make usable.

[Ash]

We've added this in 2.2 beta which is available to try now!