Adam J. Richman

Explain the problem as you see it

The breadcrumbs bar only shows the node directly above the one I'm currently on. I can't see the entire path to the node I'm looking at, thus I lose context. I have 3-4 different areas of my tree for clients from different categories of work. IE:

Category 1 > Clients > Client Name
Category 2 > Clients > Client Name

When I'm in either Client Name node, I only get to see Clients to help reference where I am. I want to see the complete path of Category 1 > Clients > Client without having to click on anything.

That area of pixels is otherwise wasted at the top since there's much more room to the right for this important info to live.

In Workflowy, I get the complete path:

In Tana, it's a complete mystery where I am:

Why is this a problem for you?

In Workflowy, I am constantly looking up at the Breadcrumbs bar to see where I am. It is extremely helpful. Not having this in Tana creates a ton of friction.

Suggest a solution

Always show the complete path of Breadcrumbs to where the node is in the graph. Keep the ability to click and go elsewhere and expand with the arrows as it currently works, just add more context in the otherwise wasted space at the top.

Explain the problem as you see it

There's no way to make an attractive separator node natively. I currently do this with CSS, which works quite well. But it'd be good to have it natively for when I share my workspace with other folks.

Here's the CSS — 

    /* SPECIAL SEPERATOR #--- SUPERTAG */
    [data-tag-name="-"],[data-tag-name="--"],[data-tag-name="---"],[data-tag-name="----"],[data-tag-name="-----"] {
    opacity: 0.10;
    }
    [data-tag-name="-"] .bulletSide,[data-tag-name="--"] .bulletSide,[data-tag-name="---"] .bulletSide,[data-tag-name="----"] .bulletSide,[data-tag-name="-----"] .bulletSide {
    display: none;
    }
    [data-tag-name="-"] .templateNameList,[data-tag-name="--"] .templateNameList,[data-tag-name="---"] .templateNameList,[data-tag-name="----"] .templateNameList,[data-tag-name="-----"] .templateNameList {
    display: none;
    }

Why is this a problem for you?

Mostly just to organize information more efficiently. I use it for fields especially...

Suggest a solution

Add an item to the / menu that is "separator" that formats a special node that looks like what's attached.

Explain the problem as you see it

Only fuzzy search is supported with the "Jump To" (aka Search) palette. This doesn't allow for doing easy specific queries using common operators.

Why is this a problem for you?

I can't find what I want 90% of the time using the "Jump To" (aka Search) palette. Despite knowing exactly what I want 99% of the time, search isn't smart enough to intuit what I need, and without basic search operators I'm left without an easy way to move around the graph fluidly and quickly.

Suggest a solution

Support the common search operators. Some inspiration.

I don't even need all the fancy kinds that Workflowy support.

Minimun would be...

• " " for specifics
• - for negatives
• OR or |
• AND
• * wildcards

Explain the problem as you see it

You can't currently use the same keyboard shortcut for multiple actions to build toggles. For example, I want CMD+O to be BOTH: Show Completed Items AND Hide Completed Items (basically to function as a toggle).

Why is this a problem for you?

The keyboard shortcut is muscle memory from Workflowy. It means I heave to learn another keyboard shortcut.

Suggest a solution

Support toggles for keyboard shortcuts. In this example... If the items are currently shown, hide them. If they're hidden, show them.

Explain the problem as you see it

There's no way to customize these two shortcuts. You can customize any other shortcut, but not these. I want to use these shortcuts for other things. Especially CMD+SHIFT+K.

Why is this a problem for you?

Other browser extensions want this keyboard combo. I have many macros bound to it already. I always set anything that customizes my keyboard shortcuts to CMD+SHIFT+, in all my apps. Want to unify in Tana, the Everything OS.

I want CMD+K to be the "Jump" aka "Search" menu and CMD+SHIFT+P (for palette) to be the command palette.

Suggest a solution

Simply allow the changing of these keyboard shortcuts (and specifically the changing of them, not just the adding of new shortcuts for them, which is different).

Explain the problem as you see it

When making a bunch of new supertags and wanting them all to be the same color, there's no easy way to simply select all of them with the keyboard, hit CMD+K find something like "Set Supertag Color to..." and then have a quick little list of colors. It requires lots of mousing into the tag, and mousing into colors. Inefficient.

Why is this a problem for you?

It's inefficient and makes me reach for my mouse.

Suggest a solution

Add a command to set the supertag's colors via CMD+K / command palette. Thanks!

Explain the problem as you see it

I heard a lot of talk from Tarjei about upcoming AI features and how deeply they'd be integrated, being able to do more than chat with our data. My first reaction was absolutely not of excitement but rather concern.

Mostly, I am concerned with the lack of caution or hearing anything about the privacy implications for giving a LLM access to my entire graph of Tana data, without limits. This feels very naive to me. This technology is very young, the landscape changing every day, and meaningful limitations, regulations, or restrictions are completely lacking in the industry. Blind ambition is leading seemingly every company in a race off a cliff.

I say this having used AI to tweak a sentence in the last paragraph. I say this having a ChatGPT window open at all times throughout the day. I say this using AI with Raycast daily. I say this using AI to automate much of my work day. I am a strong advocate for using AI for so many things.

And yet, still, I do not ever want AI reaching into the entirety of my personal data (aka, my Tana graph).

There is so much that I want to keep in Tana, but would refuse to as I assume right now that I would not be able to limit it's scope (based on what I heard in the AMA). It is a very similar situation as with encryption for me. To truly treat Tana like a second brain, I need assurances that AI will never reach my most intimate thoughts, have access to sensitive client information, be able to read a passwords database, see a picture of a friend of mine, etc.

Privacy is the most important metric I use when assessing a tool for personal use (and for work, though in specific, highly-sensitive, scenarios). A key to making Tana private, beyond allowing us to encrypt our workspaces, nodes, tags, and fields, is limiting the scope of AI's reach in our graphs.

Why is this a problem for you?

The reason I and much of my community do not use many of the other applications on the market right now that have all raced towards "chat with all of your data" solutions is because of the privacy concerns. I do not want to end up having to do a hard 180° turn on Tana and abandon it if it suddenly turns on an AI feature that relentlessly scrubs all of my information in some attempt to be helpful.

It is already problematic that true encryption (where I hold the keys) is not yet prioritized, and enabling a "full-graph" AI layer without/before any real barricades/encryption/limitations are available would be cause for having to stop using Tana completely for me. Caution around AI and a privacy-first approach is far more important than any perceived productivity boost or whatever else would be gained.

Giving AI access to our personal data is also terrifying and alienating to huge swaths of the population, not just nerdy tech populations who value privacy.

Suggest a solution

The current "local" AI implementation — using AI at the node, tag, or field levels — is perfect. I love it. I've never seen anything like it. I control exactly when/where/how I invoke AI. Keep this please!

Please continue to expand on its usefulness, ease, etc. It is natural and safe because it is confined to specific containers where it can be used. No other tool offers this with as much power as Tana does. They instead opt for the all-in approach, which is a massive turn-off for privacy focused communities.

If plans for a "global," full-graph, AI continue to manifest, always give all users the ability to turn this off completely (but simultaneously allow the above "local," per-node style AI to be kept on).

Finally, enable user-holds-the-key style encryption for entire workspace, per-node, per-tag, and per-fields and by-default disable any future "global" AI from ever being able to reach into those nodes or workspaces.

Thanks for considering/reading. I really hope Tana gets this (and encryption) right in 2024! Please prioritize privacy.

Explain the problem as you see it

There's no current way to interact with references without zooming into the specific node itself, and there's no way to know how many references a node has without turning on the "hidden" function to show the Reference Counter.

References/mentions are a critical function of an outliner, an they are buried here in Tana and useful only by zooming, or by reaching for the mouse.

Why is this a problem for you?

In Workflowy, I relied on being able to quickly (and without a mouse) twirl down all references (aka Backlinks). They were treated like regular nodes. At one point someone at Tana said: "Everything is a Node." Well, it doesn't feel like References are treated like Nodes since I can't use the same ⌘+↓ shortcut to reveal them. I have to: enable the Reference Counter, then click the reference counter icon... this builds unnecessary friction.

Suggest a solution

Make References an expandable node in the tree, without requiring the Reference Counter or the mouse, so that you don't need to Zoom In to them to see them.

Video appears too large for this page / wouldn't upload, but there is one on Slack. Reference image here.

Explain the problem as you see it

There is no way to quickly go to any date in the calendar without the mouse and clicking the "Go to date" button.

Why is this a problem for you?

I am trying to enter historical calendar events and there's no easy way to get myself to the required dates to enter historical meetings. Very frustrating.

Suggest a solution

Give me a command that is:

Go to Date >

And then let me enter any date in any format and have it build the node and send me to it.

Explain the problem as you see it

We currently have: "regular" fields, "optional" fields, but we don't yet have "contextual" fields with defaults that can be overridden locally, able to be made from the supertag config (despite them able to be made elsewhere, via table view). Having this would unlock at least one great workflow, and likely many more.

Why is this a problem for you?

Specifically for this example, but surely in other scenarios...

I want to list and re-use a list of #[[invoice line item]] nodes, each with pre-filled fields like:

Rate:: $100
Unit:: per Day
Quantity:: 6 hours

Logo Design #[[invoice line item]]

Rate:: $100
Unit:: per Day
Quantity:: 6 hours

I then want to reference this node (and a few others from my "library" of invoice line items) on a new #invoice so I can keep track of things like, "how many times I billed this particular thing," and totals per this category at EOY.

The problem is that when I reference this node and I want to adjust the rate for say, a corporate client versus a non-profit, when I change those rates, they obviously change across all of these references.

The only current solution is to simply duplicate this node and then change the rates.

Suggest a solution

What would be more ideal and interesting is if we could have a NEW FIELD TYPE called a CONTEXTUAL FIELD, matching existing nomenclature. This new field type would be able to be overridden at a local level, each time the node is referenced. So it would come along with my defaults, but it could then be changed on a per-invoice basis.

We already have the ability to create contextual fields at the TABLE level (and they even track into list view), we just don't have a way to create them at the CONTENT TEMPLATE level.