HOWTO: Editing List Items on Windows PC

You can edit the items on any of your lists at any time using either the Item View window, or by editing them directly right on your screen.

Item View Window

Double-click any item in your list, or select any item and pick the Properties menu pick or button to display the Item View window. Use this window to change any of the values for your list items.

Direct Editing

You can also edit any of your list items directly without using the Item View window. When you click in any text, number or date column of a currently selected item, that column will become editable. You can use the mouse or keyboard to edit the column or enter new text. Category columns provide a drop down list of values to choose from, and date columns will provide a calendar drop down. A Notes field containing multiple lines of text will expand to provide a multiple-line editing area large enough to edit the whole field. You won’t be able to edit columns that are Auto Date/Time or calculated columns, however. You’ll only be able to edit Linked columns in item view, since in list view clicking on them activates them.

While you are direct editing a field, you can use the Enter key to close direct editing and save your changes, or you can use the Escape key to discard your changes. You can also close Direct Editing by clicking outside the field with the mouse. You can use the tab key to close the current column and open the next column for Direct Editing (shift-tab opens the previous column). If you are direct editing the last column in the last item in your list and you use the tab key, a new item is inserted into the list, and the first column of the new item is opened for direct editing.

You can also start direct editing currently selected item by pressing the space bar. The last column direct edited or the last column clicked on is opened for direct editing when you press the space bar.

The left and right arrow keys can be used to change the focus to individual columns in an item. When an item is first selected, the entire item will be enclosed by the focus rectangle (a light, dotted outline of the item). The arrow keys will move the focus rectangle to individual columns. The column that has the focus when you press the space bar will be opened for direct editing. If a Checkbox or Flag column has the focus, you can use the space bar to check or uncheck the column.

If you have selected Show Notes Pane from the View menu, you can also directly edit the Notes field that is currently showing in the Notes Pane. 

Repositioning List Items

You can move list items up or down with the arrow buttons in the tool bar or the Move Up and Move Down items in the Items menu. You can drag items to a new position using the mouse. You can also use the clipboard Cut and Paste features to change the position of list items. You can change the indent level of an item with the arrow buttons in the tool bar or the Move Left and Move Right items in the Items menu. You can drag items to new indent levels using the mouse.

List items can only be repositioned when no temporary sort has been applied. Use Remove Sorting on the Ordered List submenu of the View menu to remove any temporary sorting or filtering and allow you to change the order of list items. This applies only to Ordered Lists.

If the list is sorted and you’d like to automatically reposition all items using the current sort order, select Reorder List from the Ordered List submenu of the View menu. You will not be able to return to the original order by picking Remove Sorting, but you will be able to reposition individual items. If you haven’t checked the Ordered List option in the Settings Tab of the List Properties window, the new sort order will be made permanent automatically whenever you sort.

Note that when you paste items into the list, they will be pasted following the currently selected item. If the list has a temporary sort applied, pasted items will appear in the list in their sorted position.