Sorry for the FAQ - Or I don't understand the Rich Text mode

[kmpeterson]

Operating system

macOS

Joplin version

2.3.12

Desktop version info

Joplin 2.13.12 (prod, darwin)

Client ID: f57474cd769146c5a197efb09737d11d
Sync Version: 3
Profile Version: 44
Keychain Supported: Yes

Revision: e027cdc

Sync target

WebDAV

Editor

Rich Text Editor

What issue do you have?

I apologize in advance, because this strikes me as a conceptual failure on my part... but...

(TL;DR: why can't I click on a link viewing Rich Text?)

I'm trying to migrate off Evernote; I've had Joplin for a year or two but I'm serious about really using it now. I've exported a bunch of my Evernote data as ENEX, and imported things more or less successfully. Or so I think.

I'm not a huge fan of Markdown, and so I've imported ENEX as HTML, which I thought would suit my use case better. I think I have a handle on the behaviors I see except for one thing that's not really even related to the import process:

When "viewing" a note (which is to say, wanting to experience the content presented with formatting), I'm in what I assume is the Rich Text editor, and things look good. However, links don't work - which is to say either importing a EN note or creating a note in that Joplin's Rich Text Editor and using the tool to create a link, I see the normal presentation of underlined, blue text but clicking on this text does nothing. Actually, it looks like it will let me edit the text (not the target), which isn't what I expect from blue underlined text. I would expect that is a link that would be followed...

I can switch to the "Markdown Editor", and the "preview pane" on the right shows me the same presentation, and in this case it works.

I can only presume this is something really obvious that I'm missing.

The question this raises for me is what I alluded to before: it seems that there are two different presentation modes for content, what appears in the Rich Text Editor, and what appears in the Preview pane of the Markdown Editor. If I'm feeling like a simpleton today, and just want to see the "final" (which is to say, formatted) content, is there a way to do this? I thought that would be Rich Text mode, but I don't get why the formatting promises a clickable link. The Markdown preview actually does work, but if it's a "Preview" then what is it a preview "of"? (I find looking at "raw" Markdown distracting.) Is there a way to view a note without risking an inadvertent keystroke or gesture will change it - i.e. not in an "editor" at all?

On some level (i.e., on most days) I don't (want to) care what the underlying storage encoding is, I just want to highlight text and push a button to get bold - or CMD-K and insert a link. What am I not getting?

Thanks, and again apologies if there's something where I wasn't paying enough attention.

[tomasz86]

@kmpeterson

I can only presume this is something really obvious that I'm missing.

It's not obvious and I don't think it's documented anywhere but if you want to open a link, you need to use Ctrl-Click (i.e. a combination of left Ctrl and left mouse button).

[former_evernotist]

@tomasz86

but if you want to open a link, you need to use Ctrl-Click

That's interesting: AFAIK this behaviour is implemented in some mail clients for security reasons. I don't use the Rich Text Editor, but I can't think of any reason why it behaves the way it does.

[tomasz86]

I assume it's to prevent accidental clicking and allow to edit the links easily. Personally, I prefer the way applications like Notepad++ do it, which is to open links via a double-click or through the right context menu. There, the mouse cursor also changes to a "hand", so that the user is aware they are hovering over a link.

[Daeraxa]

This is pretty common, I think lots of MS Office products do this too if you have hyperlinks in an area being edited.

@kmpeterson

The question this raises for me is what I alluded to before: it seems that there are two different presentation modes for content, what appears in the Rich Text Editor, and what appears in the Preview pane of the Markdown Editor. If I'm feeling like a simpleton today, and just want to see the "final" (which is to say, formatted) content, is there a way to do this? I thought that would be Rich Text mode, but I don't get why the formatting promises a clickable link. The Markdown preview actually does work, but if it's a "Preview" then what is it a preview "of"? (I find looking at "raw" Markdown distracting.) Is there a way to view a note without risking an inadvertent keystroke or gesture will change it - i.e. not in an "editor" at all?

You can toggle through the markdown editor layouts with View > Toggle Editor Layout, Ctrl/Cmd + L, Toggle Editor Layout command or

[former_evernotist]

Thanks for explaining, @Daeraxa and @tomasz86! So all these design decisions allow for a distinction between the "click to edit" and "click to follow link" functions. Wouldn't work the same way on mobile, though - so it's good that we have pure Markdown there (although many users would disagree with this ).