Sticky Notes panel causes confusion

[MikeTO]

I find the stickiness of the Notes panel confusing and I imagine it might trip up others as they start to use the feature. I'm working on a project that exclusively uses sidenotes. If I open another document and use footnotes or endnotes, when I next work on my project, even in a later session, the panel will default to footnotes or endnotes. To do it properly, I have to first click Sidenotes and Document-wide.

I would prefer that Publisher remember that I'd last added a document-wide sidenote in this document and default the panel back to the state it was last in.

I'd even prefer it that Custom was never sticky. If I choose Custom to change one sidenote the setting and any other settings I customize stick for the next note I create. I have to remember to always switch back to Document-wide before creating another note.

I like that when I do use Custom that it remembers the custom settings I used last time because I have just two sidenote formats. If I had three sidenote formats it wouldn't be as useful and then it would be nice to have note presets.

[Old Bruce]

I have to agree with these ideas.

I just don't know how the application will determine which type of notes should be the default in a situation where there are two or three types used. Would it be last (most recently) used or most frequently used (20 footnotes, 5 endnotes, and 2 side-notes)?

[MikeTO]

56 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

I have to agree with these ideas.

I just don't know how the application will determine which type of notes should be the default in a situation where there are two or three types used. Would it be last (most recently) used or most frequently used (20 footnotes, 5 endnotes, and 2 side-notes)?

I suggest:

• If there are no changes to the way Custom works, simply default to the last used Notes options for the document. The panel should look identical when you re-open the document and when you switch back to it after using another document with different notes. It's really hard to work on two documents if one uses sidenotes and the other uses footnotes. You'll constantly be making mistakes.
• To address the "I forgot to turn off custom again" issue, make custom just a temporary setting. Choose it before adding a note or to customize one. But then have it spring back to document wide. Perhaps this is a bit hokey and should wait until the day when Notes presets could be added but it would save some mistakes.

[fde101]

"Document-Wide" and "Custom" should be replaced with tabs at the top of the panel for "Selected Note(s)" and "Document Settings".

The choice of note type would be immediately underneath that.

For "Document Settings" you would always see all properties, and they would always adjust the document-wide settings regardless of what note was selected.

For "Selected Note(s)" there would be a checkbox "Use Document Settings" and the rest of the settings would be disabled when it is checked.