Context-aware notes/comments in sidebar

[Alok-S-Sharma]

Describe the problem

While writing, I often need immediate reference to notes, comments, or contextual information related to the currently active document (Scene, Chapter, Title Page, Plot, Characters, Locations, Objects, etc.).

At the moment, notes/comments exist in the form of:

• inline comments
• footnotes
• document notes

However, accessing them usually requires:

• scrolling within the document, or
• switching focus away from the main editor

This interrupts concentration and breaks writing flow, especially during deep drafting sessions.

Describe what you want to happen

I would like to request a dedicated Notes / Comments panel displayed in the sidebar, which is context-aware to the currently selected document.

The idea is:

• The main editor remains a pure, distraction-free writing space
• Notes/comments are displayed passively in the sidebar
• No scrolling or jumping away from the text is required

Even a minimal implementation (read-only display, or simple editable notes tied to the active document) would already be very helpful.

Describe alternatives you’ve considered

I currently rely on existing features such as:

• inline comments
• footnotes
• document notes

While functional, these approaches require interacting directly with the document text or changing focus, which disrupts writing flow. A sidebar-based display would allow reference without interruption.

Why this feature is useful

• Maintains distraction-free writing
• Allows instant reference to intent, continuity, reminders, or constraints
• Reduces cognitive load during drafting
• Especially helpful for long projects with many interrelated elements

Additional context

I understand and respect that novelWriter intentionally avoids unnecessary UI complexity. This request is coming purely from a workflow perspective rather than a desire for feature parity with other software.

Many writers depend heavily on notes during drafting, and having them visually available without interrupting the writing process would be a meaningful quality-of-life improvement.

Screenshots (if applicable)

Not included at this time, but can be added if needed.

[Alok-S-Sharma]

I’ve added a simple illustration to visually explain the idea of the Notes / Comments sidebar.
This is only a conceptual mockup to clarify the workflow, not a suggested final UI.

[vkbo]

I'm considering ideas to add a panel to look up all the different kinds of meta data. It will be a read only panel, and I think it will be positioned as a collapsible panel below the project tree, but this may work as a solution to your request. Adding a new full size panel is problematic due to the existence of the viewer panel, which is already a tight fit for small screens.

The panel I'm considering will at least show story structure comments and notes, and adding footnotes is not an issue either. Regular comments aren't currently parsed by the indexer and are just ignored. They're not really meant to be used for information you need to track. At least not after the introduction of the other two new comment formats (story and notes).

I also plan to extend the search panel to specifically target meta data types. See #2256.

One consideration I would like your input on is whether a sub-panel on the left is enough, or it should be a separate panel view like project tree / novel view / search is. Basically, a new "Meta Data View" or something like that.

Adding an option to make it context aware is anyway not a problem, and allowing click-navigation to its location is a good idea too.

[Alok-S-Sharma]

Thanks again for the thoughtful response. I also want to briefly clarify one point on my side to avoid any confusion going forward.

When I earlier mentioned that a read-only panel would be acceptable, that was my mistake in wording. What I meant to convey was that visibility and separation from the main editor were the primary goals — not that the panel should be read-only by design. Sorry for the confusion there.

To restate the requirement clearly:

The core requirement is:

• distraction-free writing, and
• immediate access/reference to notes and comments while writing.

From that perspective, I’m flexible about where the panel lives, as long as it supports those goals.

Either of the following would work well:

• a dedicated panel on the right, collapsible to address screen-space constraints, or
• a sub-panel on the left (for example below the project tree), also collapsible when not needed.

What matters is that:

• the main editor remains focused on primary writing,
• notes/comments are kept out of the text flow,
• and they can be viewed (and ideally edited) without breaking writing concentration.

Also, to be clear, I’m not suggesting any changes to the existing notes, comments, or footnotes systems. Those can remain exactly as they are. The idea is only to surface existing meta information (such as notes, comments, and footnotes) in a dedicated panel or sub-panel, leaving users free to continue using whichever method they are already comfortable with.

I completely understand the layout constraints you mentioned, and I think a collapsible approach in either location is a very reasonable balance.

Thanks again for inviting input and for the open design discussion — much appreciated.

[vkbo]

I meant either as a collapsible panel, or as a new panel that replaces the project tree via a button on the sidebar, like the novel view and search panel does. The latter won't be collapsible.

As for read only, the panel would then be a view into the notes and comments and not a text box where you can write. The core idea of novelWriter is to keep all text input in the documents and not have additional data input fields and forms, whatever they may be.

For large scale notes, like over-arching plot notes and character notes, the intention is to write dedicated note documents and keep those open in parallel in the viewer panel. I am considering making both the panels editable, but that's a long term feature change that requires some fundamental rewriting of the core functionality of novelWriter.

[vkbo]

To clarify the last point, I am looking into if the functionality of the editor and viewer panels, which are now two separate entities, can be merged such that the difference between them is merely a mode switch (via a button or whatever). If so, both document panels can in principle switch between edit mode and view mode.

The relevance to this feature request is that if you do need to keep a lot of notes alongside each scene or chapter document, you can achieve this by creating a note document next to each scene or chapter document. Notes can easily be excluded from the manuscript, so this isn't a problem.

This raises the question if it should be possible to assign a companion note to each novel document so that they're opened in parallel. That may be a useful feature in several contexts. For instance, I always keep a plot note that details all the key events of the plot, and it would be useful to assign that note as a companion to the key scenes. But it could also be used for your use case if you do want to keep detailed notes outside of the main text.

What do you think?

[Alok-S-Sharma]

Yes — this describes my workflow very closely, and I think this is why the companion note idea resonates so strongly with me.

When I start writing, my priority is to get thoughts and imagination into words as quickly as possible. I don’t stop to organise scenes, chapters, or structure while I’m in that flow. In a single session, I often write 3,000–5,000 words, and occasionally much more.

During those sessions, I may insert quick notes or comments, but the real difficulty comes later, when I need to rediscover context — what I was thinking, why something mattered, or what I intended to revisit. Finding those notes again inside long documents can be surprisingly hard once the writing momentum has passed.

This is why the idea of companion notes opening in parallel feels like exactly the right abstraction for me:

• the main document stays focused on drafting,
• companion notes can capture intent, reminders, or context without interrupting flow,
• and they’re immediately visible when I return to the document later.

To clarify the concept further, similar companion or parallel note workflows exist in general editing and writing tools, not just specialised story software. For example, tools like Microsoft Word or Google Docs allow comments to be viewed in a side pane while keeping the main text focused, and many editors (including document editors and code editors) support opening related documents or reference notes in parallel panes. These examples are not about copying a specific UI, but about the general idea of keeping contextual notes visible alongside primary content without embedding them directly in the main writing flow.

The companion notes don’t need to be large or detailed — often they would just be short contextual notes. The existing comments and footnotes can remain exactly as they are.

Seeing companion notes as real documents that open alongside scenes or chapters feels like a very natural fit with novelWriter’s document-first design, and it solves the “finding notes later” problem without introducing new data entry fields or changing existing systems.

[vkbo]

Sounds good. I think we can split this into two features then. One simple one to assign companion notes to documents, and another one to navigate and find notes and comments in the whole project or for a specific document. I think I will make it possible to link a full document (note) as a companion, and optionally specify a tag in that document to automatically scroll to when opening it. The latter is useful if you have the notes for several documents in a single note document. Tags are the default way to identify sections/headings. It'll be similar to how you can link to a heading in a web page for instance.

Let's keep this feature request on the companion note feature, and I will create a new feature ticket about the collapsible navigation panel. It could replace the drop down navigation menu that exists now, which I never really liked anyway.

When I start writing, my priority is to get thoughts and imagination into words as quickly as possible. I don’t stop to organise scenes, chapters, or structure while I’m in that flow. In a single session, I often write 3,000–5,000 words, and occasionally much more.

When I have a new story idea, I always start with a main plot document where I work out all the key events and turning points of the story. I prefer following the traditional three act structure. This document is usually a few thousand words. I define the main characters in parallel. After that, I create a document per act and define the important scenes of the first act at least before starting to write. But I jump into writing pretty quickly, and alternate between filling in notes and writing text. Since I write SciFi, the world building part is usually fairly extensive.

Of course, the tooling of novelWriter is well suited for this type of flow because that's what I need myself. So it is always interesting to hear other people's flows and how the application can be adapted to suit it. It's a priority to keep the UI as consistent and as possible, so adding features that are out of the way if you don't use them is always preferable.