# Mobile: Quickly add notes (incl prototypes)

**URL:** <https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/mobile-quickly-add-notes-incl-prototypes/30085>\
**Category:** Features\
**Created:** [18 March 2023 11:00 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/mobile-quickly-add-notes-incl-prototypes/30085 "2023-03-18T11:00:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![wimmers](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/wimmers/32/16564_2.png) [@wimmers](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/wimmers)\
**Post date:** [18 March 2023 11:00 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/mobile-quickly-add-notes-incl-prototypes/30085/1 "2023-03-18T11:00:35Z")

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For me, the primary use of the mobile app is to get ideas and reminders/todos down as quickly as possible, e.g. in meetings, on public transport, when taking a walk...

If one wants to get down multiple todos at a time, the current interface feels quite slow and tedious. I wanted to put out three possible ideas on how this could be improved, for which I also made prototypes.

**Idea 1: Input field on top of notes list**

Workflow:

- Use action button in notes view
- Opens an input field on top of the notes list
- Enter note title, press go/enter
- Note/todo is added to list
- Can use the field to add another note

![quick-notes-1](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/uploads/cozic/original/3X/7/8/78653b377cbf69401968f7a0bd101fdacdd21c42.gif)

**Idea 2: Refresh gesture**

Workflow:

- Open notes view
- Pull down from top: "refresh gesture"
- New todo is created

[GIF missing: sorry, I am only allowed to add 1 per post].

**Idea 3: Swipe left in note view**

- Open a note
- Swipe left ("forward"/"next")
- Opens a new note/todo for editing

[GIF missing: sorry, I am only allowed to add 1 per post].

**Discussion**

General:

- These are not finished, e.g. 2&3 need better visual indicators when swiping
- They are somewhat orthogonal. One could have 1 or 2 plus 3.

Idea 2:

- Users could expect the gesture to work more like "refresh" rather than "add" (but I guess some other apps have a similar "add" gesture?)
- It does not seem clear to me how useful a dedicated "refresh" gesture would be in Joplin
- Should the input box be styled like a note item?

Idea 3:

- This feature would be most intuitive if the app would also allow to go back and forth between notes:
  - Swipe left: "next"/"create", go forward in history, or create note when at most recent item
  - Swipe right: "back", go backward in history

- In this way, the functionality could really help to note down scattered but connected ideas quickly
- Users might have different expectations of swipe gestures

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**Author:** ![wimmers](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/wimmers/32/16564_2.png) [@wimmers](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/wimmers)\
**Post date:** [19 March 2023 17:37 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/mobile-quickly-add-notes-incl-prototypes/30085/2 "2023-03-19T17:37:44Z")

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The missing GIFs 🙂

**Idea 2**

![quick-notes-2a](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/uploads/cozic/original/3X/2/4/248d85e23224c8275cc9f51427a24a026174d434.gif)

**Idea 3**

![quick-notes-3](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/uploads/cozic/original/3X/1/0/1070a4c213694afb0da2efc4f67084f43ff71ee8.gif)

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**Author:** ![wimmers](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/wimmers/32/16564_2.png) [@wimmers](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/wimmers)\
**Post date:** [31 May 2023 13:12 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/mobile-quickly-add-notes-incl-prototypes/30085/3 "2023-05-31T13:12:11Z")

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I would like to pick this up again. I am inclined to prepare a pull request for Idea 1 for now.  
Maybe Idea 3 could be done in a later iteration.

Any comments?

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**Author:** ![johano](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/johano/32/1053_2.png) [@johano](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/johano)\
**Post date:** [31 May 2023 15:52 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/mobile-quickly-add-notes-incl-prototypes/30085/4 "2023-05-31T15:52:59Z")

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@wimmers, this would be a useful addition, and the suggested implementation seems easily useable, IMHO. Thanks for the work

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**Author:** ![wimmers](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/wimmers/32/16564_2.png) [@wimmers](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/wimmers)\
**Post date:** [6 June 2023 17:25 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/mobile-quickly-add-notes-incl-prototypes/30085/5 "2023-06-06T17:25:53Z")

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The PR is here now 🙂

> <https://github.com/laurent22/joplin/pull/8269>
>
> Adding a bunch of short notes/to-dos can feel a bit slow and tedious in the curr…ent mobile apps.
> 
> This PR proposes to address this by adding the possibility to open a new input field on top of the notes list for quickly entering new notes/to-dos.
> 
> Workflow:
> 
> - Use action button in notes view
> - Input field opens on top of the notes list
> - Enter note/to-do title, press go/enter
> - Note/todo is added to list
> - Input field can be used to add another note
>  
> This is what it looks like:
> 
> !\[quick-todos\](https://github.com/laurent22/joplin/assets/1756973/deebe552-6ddf-4869-993e-a98fd129e2fa)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![wimmers](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/wimmers/32/16564_2.png) [@wimmers](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/wimmers)\
**Post date:** [7 June 2023 10:32 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/mobile-quickly-add-notes-incl-prototypes/30085/6 "2023-06-07T10:32:09Z")

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There is also progress on Idea 3. The GIF demos:

- Hot reloading of notes in the CodeMirror editor
- Navigatiing note history by swiping, also across folders
- Creating a new note when there is no forward history

![history-swiping](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/uploads/cozic/original/3X/1/3/134b6cce9f67fe91e30f1d1b1ccfb332c2c0eb8a.gif)

The code can be found [on Github](https://github.com/wimmers/joplin/tree/swipe-notes).

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**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/uploads/cozic/original/3X/1/c/1c948e33314e232a0927789508474d8624f4270b.png) [@system](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [1 June 2024 10:33 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/mobile-quickly-add-notes-incl-prototypes/30085/7 "2024-06-01T10:33:03Z")

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