Warning: If you switch between the markdown and WYSIWYG editor, certain kinds of data washes away

[t0dd]

A warning to certain types of users (doesn’t effect folks that only use the WYSIWYG editor) and a request for comment.

Maybe need some way to disable the WYSIWYG editor? Frankly, I never use it, but this is what happened today:

I have a document. I commented out a bunch of stuff in it. I had some “metadata” commented out as well. Quite a bit actually.

I switch to layout mode to see how things were looking. Then I switched back, but I was confused … because it didn’t switch back. Then I realized, “Oh, I must have hit Code View instead.” And then I saw a typo, fixed it, and then decided to switch back to markdown mode cuz … markdown is how I was editing this document.

Then … CRAP! a page worth of commented out experimental text and metadata vanished … poof! gone.

So … is there a way to turn this thing off? I can’t seem to determine a means to do so. Does it nuke other data as well?

-t

UPDATE: 1.There is a solution to get back the data (see Laurent’s comment on Note History … I was in a rush and the text was not critical so I didn’t use this, and 2. There is a means to disable access to the WYSIWYG; see dpoulton’s comment below.

[laurent]

Can’t you recover with note history feature?

But it’s true it’s not ideal as it is, and no it’s not possible to disable it. I’d prefer a solution where the editor can edit the note in a lossless way, leaving intact the markup that it doesn’t handle.

[dpoulton]

@t0dd

So … is there a way to turn this thing off? I can’t seem to determine a means to do so.

You can set Joplin to use the "traditional" markdown editor / viewer and then hide the "code view" button so you cannot accidentally press it and trigger WYSIWYG.

Explained here:

Feature Feedback: Pre-release 1.0.207

@derikb If WYSIWYG is REALLY not for you, you can: Start Joplin and, if not already visible, toggle the Code View button so that the Layout button we are all used to is visible on the toolbar. As @laurent says, Joplin will remember this as your selected default from then on. Then, add the below to userchrome.css a.button[title="Code View"] { display: none !important; } Quit and restart Joplin. This will remove the Code View button from the toolbar so for you Joplin will look pretty muc…

As WYSIWYG is no longer an option in the View > Layout Button Sequence menu it is, to all intents and purposes, disabled.

I'm not "anti-WYSIWYG" I just prefer the markdown / viewer pane combo to create and edit notes.

[t0dd]

@laurent Yeah, I was going to do that. I was in a rush though to hand the core text to someone, so I just recreated the meta information and will worry about the lost text later. It was not earth-shatteringly important, but annoying.

@dpoulton Thanks.

[michelb]

It would be great if the wysiwyg-editor wouldn't delete the xml-comments. At least the table-calculate-plugin would be more usefull then. Data-entry is much easier in wysiwyg.

From another perspective, maybe there should be a guideline for plugins how to add extra meta-information, which won't be deleted. Maybe they should be using markdown comments (I'm a noob, so could maybe be done better)? (gitlab)
{::comment}
This is a comment which is
completely ignored.
{:/comment}

[t0dd]

I sometimes do comments like this:

[comment]: # "This is my comment. There are many others like it, but this one is mine. My comment is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, my comment is useless. Without my comment, I am useless. I must write my comment true. I must comment with more clarity than other commenters, who are trying to kill me."