From v9.5.0, the File menu option to export a selected note now allows a multiple selection. This has an implication for how the export location is selected by the user. In addition to the changes that implies, overall there are a number of improvements to this feature:
- Single or multiple note selection. Instead of only exporting a single note, this method can now export each note from a selection of multiple notes. Otherwise behaviour is as for exporting a single selected note, as if this were a succession of individual exports.
- Embedded images. If a selected note has embedded images these are exported alongside the (HTML) file generated. For each note in the selection the images are exported alongside its source note (i.e. paired images and file, per exported note in the selection).
- Creation of Destination folder(s). If the destination directory does not yet exist inside the export folder, it will be created. For example, if the exported note is at path
/People/Lincoln, a folder "People" will be created inside the export folder if that folder does not already exist, and Lincoln.html will then be created inside this folder.
To where do notes/images export?
The export folder for the document is set via the Export Inspector. However, the need to support both internal-only presentation preview and pre-export-preview has introduced some complication, especially for existing Tinderbox users, as is explained further below. The export folder may be set internally (for in-app presentation) or externally (for actual export). The default for new v9.5.0+ documents is an internal location. Pre-existing documents with no export folder explicitly set used to default to ~/Desktop will now default to "none", i.e. the new internal location (see next section).
Therefore the user needs to be much more careful to check the Export Folder location before export.
What happens if the OS Export Folder is not defined?
By default, from v9.5.0, a new document defaults to using an OS system internal temporary folder for export, so as to allow zero-configuration preview. If single note export is called in this context, the OS chooser dialog will default to the users Documents folder (~/Documents). Note that once a full export has been used in a document, it is likely to have the Export Folder set to an external location.
Changes from previous single-note export behaviour
In older versions, when exporting a note from a document with a previous export folder (and having exported), the export OS chooser dialog opened at the location of the previous file. If the note as new, the OS choose opened to the folder where the note would previously have exported. In other words, on export the user was shown the folder into which the note had/would be exported.
Now, in v9.5.0+, the fact the export can be one or more notes requires a slightly different approach, albeit to the same end. An effect of multiple note selection is that the selected notes may not all be in the same container, yet we still wish them to go where they should go in the overall exported website. Thus the only common folder to which to point Tinderbox's export is the root Export folder, such as is used for full document export. From that Tinderbox works out (and creates if necessary) the folders to the notes actual location … for each note in the selection.
So the outcome is the same as when only a single selected notes was exported, but done a different way.
What does this mean for long term users of this feature:
- Exporting new pages into an existing set of exported pages. Select the TBX's export folder and not the folder where the actual note/file lives. Doing the latter will create the whole outline-derived OS path all over again. At the beginning of a Tinderbox session the default OS folder offered is the main Export Folder and for the new behaviour this is the correct folder to use.
- Exporting ad hoc items, e.g. data tables, compiled reports. Select the desired OS folder. Again, the session default is the full export folder.
- Because the export now always writes the in-doc path, it is effectively impossible to export a selected note directly to the folder specified unless the note being exported is at document root (otherwise the outline path is inserted to the OS folder).
- If using both the above methods in one session, when using the re-export of existing files (case #1 above) ensure the document's Export Folder is set to the OS external root folder for whole-document export.