WHAT DO YOU RECOMMEND?
I hope this is not already in here under a different name, I tried my best to avoid duplicates. However, since this so such a crucial feature, I doubt that no one created a request already.
In every PARA setup you need relations like this: https://www.reddit.com/r/Anytype/comments/192bijw/can_i_create_a_project_template_that_auto/
So filter by relations to the current project for example, as it works in Notion. Without this one has to manually add every filter, which is practically impossible for bigger projects.
Overall the whole process of applying a template should be refined. This would drastically enlarge the application area of Anytype.
- Add the possibility to reference the object applying the template in filters. When applying the template, this placeholder just get’s replaced with the actual object that now holds the sets.
- Add the possibility to write relative dates from the moment of applying the template into relations, once a template is applied. Similar to Creation date that uses the current date, but we could use this to have a default value of “today” and still change it, if we need to create a daily note for a different date (not possible when using Creation date).
- (Not really related, but if we could additionally allow for referencing relation values in title (and body), we would have a fully automated daily notes setup, that many people use. However applying self-references in filters is far more than just a daily note setup.)
HOW COULD IT BE DONE?
Allow a user to self-reference to the object that applies the template where possible. Then when the template is applied, use the actual object reference.
REAL WORLD USE CASES
Let’s say a users has a Collection of Projects.
The Project structure is rather complex with multiple sets to view.
One of them is the Tasks assigned to a specific project.
We could just have it working if the object can self-reference in the filter by applying a template (this is a major part of templates when working with object relations).
RECOMMENDED ALTERNATIVES
- Applying filters manually for small things
- Using Notion otherwise
although it’s not as sexy and private
ADDITIONAL CONTEXT
I love the Anytype interface and privacy options and I know everyone uses it for slightly different tasks, but I wish we could have these rather basic (in comparison to other more impressive requests) features that help where Anytype can shine most. Another one that is similar would be to automatically insert self-references in the title (relation data) or document body, in combination with inserting real-world data like todays date when applying a template. This way we could create convenient daily note. What I heard in the little time I spent with the community, many like to use Anytype for exactly this purpose, having private daily notes, and still a lot of potential for a full PARA setup. For things like web publishing etc. I can still use Notion since privacy is not so important there.
