[FEATURE REQUEST] Better folder UI.

[XingShelly]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
I cannot reach the files I want to because the folders are impossible to rearrange.
There is no way currently to rearrange the folders, which makes any new documents, even though they are important, be thrown to the end of the list. This renders the app unusable for me.
The problem is exacerbated by the fact that only the top bar is the available space for the folders and there is no page just for the folders. Moreover, each folder takes so much space so you have to keep swiping forever until you get to the folder you want.

Describe the solution you'd like

• Well first the ability to rearrange the folders I think this is so critical it should even be classified as a bug rather than a feature request. (I don't know if it's just me who was not able to find the rearrange function)
• Make the folders icon smaller.
• Make the home page just for the folders rather than a page for random documents. Because any random documents are just documents that need to be arranged into folders.

Describe alternatives you've considered
I have eventually decided to switch to "MyDocs" app which is a closed source app and I will try to cut all internet connections from it. However, it still doesn't feel comfortable to have a closed source Ad-based app controlling my most critical documents.
But the UI there is very usable and user friendly. I can use it and get what I want directly with no nonsense.

Additional context
I'm a privacy conscious person and I love your app because it's open source. I wanted to use that over the closed source ones but I think at this current stage it's very difficult to use.

[farfromrefug]

@XingShelly sorry to hear you got trouble with folders.
Can you add details are there are some things i dont understand. For example what do you mean by rearrange folders ?
Maybe you can share some screenshots for what you see that makes it unusable?

• the folder top bar is scrollable so even if you have many folders you should always be able to find the one you want.
• you can always move any document to any folder by selecting them and use the dot menu to do "move to folder".

[XingShelly]

By rearranging folders (and files for that matter), I mean changing the order of the folders in which they show up in the UI in. Because again, I do not want to swipe forever until I reach the folder I want to use. Especially if the folder I want to use is at the end of the end of the line and it's used often.

The main page should be a grid of the many folders that a person have (and having folders inside those folders would be a great help as well). The order in which these folders show up on the user interface should be rearrangable to fit someone's need. Not to have the most used folder be thrown at the back end, and you have to scroll for hours to get there.
(Having the ability to do that with files inside the folders is also very helpful.)
Accessibility is super important for such an app.

I will send you a screenshot of the app I am using currently and even though I am not satisfied with even that because the main page also keeps showing files instead of just folders. The folder order is still rearrangeable to fit my needs. Plus, the icons for the folders are very small and distinguishable, which makes scrolling even easier.

I will retract a lot of confidential data in the screenshot. However, again I would like you to refer to the app, and I hope you check out it's UI and use it for a while.
It's not perfect. I hate a lot. I hate a lot of things about it and I wish I can change a lot of things about it. But it's a closed source app so I cannot even write a commit to ask for that. That's why I'm writing here, hoping the the community app would prosper instead.
That being said, for the current time I do see it serving a good blueprint for the UI.

This app aims to be an index of someone's files. And an index has three main jobs: First, to save up lots of data. Second, to organize this data into neat logical categories, and third to make this data accessible through search and through UI. (I would add a fourth job, which is to secure this data and protect it, which your app seems to be doing a good job of that.)

But the accessibility part is a bit underdeveloped at this point, both in terms of search and UI.

You seem to be a solo developer of this project and you're pouring your heart out for it. I totally appreciate your effort and feel that value of this project to the FOSS community and to the rest of the world.

I really hope it would develop one day into something usable so I can switch back from my close source app back to it. I really wish that would happen. That's why I wrote this issue commit.

Wish you the best luck.

[farfromrefug]

@XingShelly awesome thanks for the feedback!

• reordering folders is a great idea. Need to figure out how to do it in the database though (right now the order is the creation order, mixing custom ordered into this might get tricky)
• having folders as first screen: it is a bit what we do right now dont we? I mean you also need to show right away documents without folders. Would you prefer if "folders" where shown the same way as document items (same layout, design, thus pushing down documents without folder) ?. It could be an option to choose between different layouts
• in your screenshot i just dont understand the difference between the top horizontal items (which i would assume to be folders) and the vertical "icons". What is are those?

I will definitely make everything i can to make the app fit your needs as the one from anyone else. This is the whole point of making an open source app.
Just bear with me though as i am about to take a 6 months break (will still try to fix bugs and support everyone here). But once i am back i intend to add a lot more features!

[XingShelly]

• I don't know much about how the app is built, but I don't think you need to change how it is in the back end, just the front end UI. I don't know if that's even possible. However, this feature is a must-have for such an application to be usable.

• Also, the choice to make the folders click box smaller and the ability to give them icons and colors to distinguish them would be very much appreciated.

• I guess some people might prefer having files in their main page. Personally, I prefer it to be like a file explorer where I see the folders I click on them and I get access to the files so I can stay organized. However, I can understand if some people still might want fast access to their files on the main page and a choice between the two layouts would be great. I will attach two sketches I made of possible layouts you can have for the main page that would make access really quick while maintaining organization of the files inside the folders.(I prefer the one split vertically, right and left.)

• About the screenshot I sent in the previous comment, the top rectangles are the main folders which have files and subfolders within them. You can click them to be transferred to a different page which shows you what's inside those folders, kind of like a file explorer. As for the bottom side, as the title says, they are the most recent folders with a thumbnail of them, an icon with color to indicate their subfolder categorization, and their title. Again, please install the app MyDoc to get a feel of how the app works, especially the category arrangement function.

And also, please take your time to work on the app, whether it's bug fixing or adding features or resting in between, because the most important thing is not the app nor the community. The most important thing is to take care of yourself. I hope this app succeeds, and please know that I appreciate your effort.
Thank you so much.

[CouldBeThis]

I think I agree with @XingShelly about this issue. I definitely agree with them that this app is a great contribution and muchly appreciate it! And have no demands on a Free project, just want to give suggestion to improve for developer's consideration.

I think I have a simpler proposal for a solution which might be easier to implement while any drastic UI changes are being considered.

Here is a mock up of how the main screen currently is (just the documents/folder part of the screen):

I suggest simply that the folders go vertically instead of horizontally

This way you can see all the folders whatever their order. It is a more conventional way of organizing things.

Rearranging the folders would be nice. But even if that were possible, only being able to see 3 at a time is annoying. Arranging the folders vertically stacked instead of horizontally lets you see as much as your screen can hold.

I wouldn't put them as separate panes.. just list all the folders then all the documents. Like if you run ls --group-directories-first in your terminal.

Thanks for the app!!

[farfromrefug]

@CouldBeThis It is a good idea. I could add alternative layouts for folders.
Your idea seems good.
I wont be able to look at it before september though. Will mark it so that i dont forget