Volume keys navigation (mobile app)

Hi,

Is it possible to move the cursor one character backward/forward using volume down/up key for the mobile app?

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Hi @hguler, welcome to the forum!

We have considered adding methods for precise keyboard control, but not specifically using the volume keys. Is there another app that does this?

However, we haven’t made this a priority because there is already an existing system for precise cursor control on both Android and iOS, where you can hold down on the space bar in order to move the cursor around. In fact, this system is generally much more powerful than a system that can only move one character at a time using hardware buttons. Is there a reason that this is not sufficient for your use-case? We have found this to be good enough in almost all cases which is why we haven’t implemented something Supernotes-specific.

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Thanks @connor,

There is PyDroid3 (a python ide for android) in the play store which does what I am requesting.

When typing codes, this feature helps a lot, especially when you want to edit inside of an auto-completed paranthesis. Holding down and moving the cursor just one character with androids own system is a bit difficult (since the screen is small) and not very fast.

My experience with supernotes involves a lot of latex codes. So I usually need to edit inside of a newly closed paranthesis or latex part (not the final $ sign, but things just before it). Such a feature will be very nice for this. You can check PyDroid3 app and see that it in fact makes typing faster and navigation precise (on screen navigation sometimes goes wide due to small screen).

Hi @hguler, thanks for the follow up, that makes a lot of sense for code editing.

I think our preferred solution would be to have < > buttons on the upcoming keyboard bar, like in this development version of the mobile app:

Whether we include these buttons to move the cursor caret left and right isn’t finalised yet, as Connor mentioned both iOS and Android have the built in cursor control when holding down space – so we may use that precious space for other navigation purposes. Although I appreciate this is a little slower than dedicated buttons. Would this be sufficient for you or would you still prefer hijacking the input from the volume buttons?

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Hi @tobias ,
Thank you for the info. The keyboard I am using (SwiftKey) has a feature to add arrow keys at the bottom of the keyboard. I tried that feature and did not have a smooth typing experience with it. So, I guess I prefer the volume keys.

However, it is possible that the actual problem in my experience with the keyboard’s arrows was the place of those arrows, because when you have those arrows at the bottom, all other keys go up a bit which means the letters present at different positions than those you get used to. Since the < > buttons in the pic you upload are on the top, they do not change the positions of the letters etc. So, I think your solution seems better than my keyboard’s feature and I will be happy to use it.

We added cursor caret left and right in the mobile Editor Toolbar in Supernotes 3.0.0 so are marking this as implemented (as this was decided to be better than overriding the volume keys).

Top Tip: If you hold down the left and right carets on the mobile Editor Toolbar it outdents and indents the line your cursor is on.

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