Rename tags from viewer tabs
At the moment, the only way to rename a tag is from the Tag Selector in My Library.
So if I tag an annotation in the PDF viewer with a new tag, the tag is automatically created. But if I realise that I have made a typo, I need to go back to My Library and rename it there.
It would be nice to be able to rename tags directly from the bottom of the annotations pane in the viewer tab.
So if I tag an annotation in the PDF viewer with a new tag, the tag is automatically created. But if I realise that I have made a typo, I need to go back to My Library and rename it there.
It would be nice to be able to rename tags directly from the bottom of the annotations pane in the viewer tab.
I think supporting renaming from the tag selector in the annotations pane would be a little conceptually muddled and therefore dangerous. Are you renaming the tag just for all annotations on this file? For all annotations on any file? For any item in the library, not just annotations?
You can of course rename across the whole library from a filtered view in the main tag selector (e.g., within a collection), but the tag selector is still clearly showing a subset of all tags in the library. Here it would just be too ambiguous what you were actually renaming.
A) Typo on a new tag:
1) Tag with
Defintion
2) Drag multiple other annotations to that tag
3) I realise the typo and want to fix it by renaming it to
Definition
.But other cases would be:
B) Typo on an existing tag:
1) Start tagging by typing
Def...
2) Use the autocomplete feature to select the tag
Defintion
3) Realise that there is a typo and want to fix it by renaming it to
Definition
.C) Highlight a specific tag:
1) Add multiple tags in the annotations of a paper
2) Then decide to work specifically on one tag (
Definition
,Project Flower
, ...).3) For this I would like to make the tag easier to identify quickly by putting a ⭐ in front of it (
⭐Definition
,⭐Project Flower
, ...).D) Expand a category:
1) Tag multiple annotations with the tag
Flowers on the moon
2) Realise when reading a paper that the tag should actually be more general, to include all plants
3) Rename the tag
Flowers on the moon
toPlants on the moon
[Note: I find it confusing that tags are sorted by order of appearance in the annotations pane rather than the alphabetic order used in the Tag Selector. I most likely will not remember the order of appearance, so this ordering will not be very helpful to find the tag I am looking for. But I may be missing the reason for this choice?]
I guess there might be some confusion for some people, thinking that renaming a tag from the annotations pane would have a local effect when it is actually changing the tag globally.
But you can make the same argument for the Tag Selector in My Library. People get already confused thinking that the Tag Selector only shows Item Tags. [This confusion probably comes from the fact that you can see the annotation tags in the Tag Selector, but you cannot actually see that they are annotation tags from the My Library tab.] So people would rename a tag in there without realising that they are actually also changing the tag used in the annotations.
In all examples I have thought of:
- Either the tag to rename is only local to the file currently being annotated (not used anywhere else), and there is no possible confusion
- Or the tag is global (either shared with other annotated files or used also on items) and the global renaming is the most likely expected result. When using a pre-existing tag in the annotations of a document, it should be clear already that it is a global tag from the fact that it appeared in the list of auto-complete options.
There are probably cases where someone would start using a global tag in the annotations, and then would like to modify it only locally on a single file, or only for annotation tags. But:
- Either he understands that the tag he is using is already used elsewhere. In that case, he clearly understands that it is the same tag used locally and globally. In that case, considering that the concept of a "local tag" does not exist, the idea of doing a "Rename Tag Locally" simply would not make sense.
- Or he does not realise that he is using the same tag as he has already used elsewhere. In that case, he is still in trouble anyway, even without adding the "Rename Tag" option from the annotations pane, because any modification he will make later from the Tag Selector (rename or delete) would also change his local annotations without him even realising...
The risks of possible confusion do not seem to me to outweight the benefits of renaming tags from the annotations pane.
The tags displayed in the annotations pane actually do exactly the same as the Tag Selector: showing a subset of all tags in the library for the file currently displayed.
I feel that having a more consistent Tag Selector across tabs (My Library and the viewers) would clarify that tags are just global tags, with item tags and annotation tags simply belonging to the same list of tags. In that case, it would be useful to reactivate a shortcut to toggle the Tag Selector, or simply hide the Tag Selector when there is no tag to display, so that people who do not use tags on annotations would not waste that space.