add to collection indicator, when item already present

james.k.russell

When I drag an item from a list to a collection, if the item is not already in the collection I see a + sign in a green circle. If it is already in the list, there is no sign. This is problematic because, with a large set of targets (collections, sub-collections) to drag to, successful targeting of the drag & drop operation can be uncertain. Am I getting no indicator because the item is already in the collection - or have I missed the target? A different indicator that I've hit the target would be a welcome enhancement. Maybe a + sign in a yellow circle?

dstillman

The indicator comes from the system and isn't something we can customize (at least currently).

dstillman

I'm also not aware of any software that does this, though. Some just show the + in all cases, but that does take away potentially valuable feedback.

james.k.russell

I agree that a distinct behavior is desirable. Not knowing quite what you mean by "comes from the system", I don't know if it would be feasible, but I note that when I drag something to a place where it will be new, I get two indicators - the + sign in a green circle, and the target collection gets a dark background highlight. It would be useful if the highlight indicated that I've successfully targeted the right spot, and the absence of the + in green circle could then provide the distinction you describe.
Thanks in any case for your quick attention.

james.k.russell

I just noticed a feature I hadn't seen before. On a Mac, pressing Alt with an entry highlighted in turn highlights each of the other collections it appears in. Not exactly what I was looking for, but useful in its own right. This kind of yellow highlight would be useful when dragging an item into a collection in which it is already included, to show that the destination collection was appropriately found, per the discussion above.