Design problem: "Removing annotation" when there are multiple attachment points deletes the entire n

Fr Devin Roza
Fr Devin Roza MVP Posts: 2,419
in Beta Desktop App Forum

I love the multiple attachment points option in Verbum, but I wish that when you right clicked on a highlighted passage which has become an attachment point, and you choose to remove the annotation, that it would remove the attachment point, not the note. As well, I think it would be good that if you are at a passage where there is a note, and you delete it, if the note has multiple attachment points, the software either only remove it where you are at, or at least warn you, give you an option, something. This is especially serious given there is no undelete function!

Let me share with you rather extreme but interesting usage scenario. Say I want to create a note in which I summarize the History of Interpretation of a passage like Ezekiel 37:1-14 (the dry bones). I could decide I want to take notes on all the passages in the Ancient Literature section of the Passage Guide that reference Ezekiel 37:1-14. To do so: 

  1. Create a new note at Ezekiel 37:1
  2. Run a Passage Guide on Ezekiel 37:1-14
  3. Export the Ancient Literature section to a Passage List
  4. Clean it up and arrange it in whatever order I like
  5. Export/Print the Passage List to the clipboard. 
  6. Paste it into my note

At this point, you've got a fantastic note, with each passage on a separate line, ready to be summarized.

Then you want to attach the note to all of those passages.... Hmmm....

So, you open up Edit Attachment Points, and try to paste the passages in there. Doesn't work. Not even one by one.

But you can select some text from each passage, and then add it by attaching it to the selected text. 

So, you end up with a note like this, after a bit of work, with the first few texts summarized or commented on:

You could easily do this for dozens of texts, until you had all the texts summarized. 

Then, you see one of your highlights, and decide to remove it, or even to just resize it. So, you right click on it, and choose "Remove annotation."

All of a sudden, your dozens of hours of work are gone, with no way to get it back. When what you really wanted to do was just remove the attachment point. 

P.S. For anyone wondering how you are "supposed" to remove your annotation in this case, without deleting the note, the way it currently works is you have to open the note, then choose the little arrow at the top right of the note, then choose edit attachment points, then click on the little X on the far right to remove the attachment point.

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