A reading list

Start from an empty workspace

1. 1

   New workspace

   Choose File ▸ New Workspace… (⇧⌘N) and make a new workspace in an empty folder.

2. 2

   Make the book supertag

   Choose Sidebar ▸ Supertags, click New supertag, type book and press Return. No note is made. Its page is where its fields go.

3. 3

   Add the fields

   Open the book page. Choose Note ▸ Add Field…, type Author, leave the type as Text, and click Apply.

4. 4

   Add Status

   Choose Note ▸ Add Field… again, type Status, choose Option in the Type menu, and click Apply. Click Status on the Fields card and add the options To read, Reading and Done, each followed by Return.

5. 5

   Set the default

   In Field Settings, click the Default row and choose To read. Each new book starts on the shelf in To read.

6. 6

   Add Rating

   Choose Note ▸ Add Field…, type Rating, choose Number in the Type menu, and click Apply.

Add books and notes on each page

1. 1

   Make the shelf

   In the Inbox, press Return and type Reading list. Click its bullet to open it as a page. The books will be its child notes.

2. 2

   Add the first book

   On the empty Reading list page, press Return and type The Overstory #book. Choose book and press Return. The book gets Status To read and its Rating field.

3. 3

   Add the next book

   Click in the empty space below the last row, type Piranesi #book, and press Return.

4. 4

   Rate it

   Click the Rating value on The Overstory's row, type 5 and press Return.

5. 5

   Note a page

   Put the caret at the end of The Overstory, press Return, and then press Tab. The new note nests under the book. Type p. 34: the forest sentence.

Show the shelf as cards

1. 1

   Choose Cards

   On Reading list, choose View options, open View as, and choose Cards. Each book is a card.

2. 2

   Group by Status

   Choose Group in the view controls and pick Status. The cards split into one column for each option. A Group by Status button also appears on an ungrouped board.

3. 3

   Move a book

   Drag a card into the Done column. Its Status becomes Done, as one undo step.

Sort and average in a table

1. 1

   Show the table

   On Reading list, choose View options, open View as, and choose Table. Each book is a row, with Author, Status and Rating columns.

2. 2

   Sort by rating

   Click the Rating header to sort. Click it again to reverse the order.

3. 3

   Average the rating

   Under the Rating column, open the calculation menu in the footer and choose Average. The footer shows the mean of the rated books.

Keep the books you rated highly

1. 1

   Make the search

   Choose File ▸ New Search Note. Click the title, type Highly rated and press Return.

2. 2

   Set the conditions

   Under Find notes matching, keep All. Click Add condition, choose Supertag and pick book. Click Add condition, choose Field, then Rating. Set the operator to is at least and type 4.

3. 3

   Read the results

   The results list each book rated 4 or higher. A book whose rating drops below 4 leaves the list.

Keep the shelf tidy

In the book's Configure section, set Rating's placement to Optional. Each book then lists Rating under Hidden fields on its page, and its row stays short. Rating still sorts, averages and searches as before.

What each feature does here

Make it yours

• Group by a second fieldIn the Group menu of the Cards view, choose Supertag to see books in columns by the supertag each note carries.
• A book with its own pageClick a book's bullet to open it as a page, with its notes below the title and its fields above them.
• Read the results beside the shelfOpen the search in a second pane, so you can read the results while you sort the cards.
• Hide the rarely used fieldsSet a field's placement to Hidden or Optional, so it stays out of the book's page while its value is kept.