The Comma Trick

<p>The comma trick is the term used for a thought name with the name of an linked thought separated by a comma either before or after the original name

Using the comma trick, when an active thought is displayed, any child or jump thought containing the active thought's name seperated from the unique text using a comma, will only display the unique text. The Active thought portion of the jump or child thought's name will be hidden. When the child or jump thought is active, the entire thought name will appear.

This is much easier to display in pictures. In the sequence below, when <b>Animals</b> is the active thought, the "<b>Animals, </b>" text in the child thoughts are hidden.</p>

<h2><img src="/83be13e1-b054-5224-abb3-3c2fd61d0446.jpg"/></h2>

<h2 ><img src="/f6ab7580-83ec-50c7-b8c6-8f4b46cc154c.jpg"/></h2>

<p><img src="/c6c69ac7-4197-5018-b95b-e802fb599942.jpg"/>

<b>Note</b>: Make sure you have a space between the comma and your thought name, otherwise your thoughts may not sort correctly.</p>

<h2>Automatically Creating Comma Trick Thoughts</h2>

<p>When you create a thought, if you type a comma before or after the thought name, it will automatically inherit the active thoughts name in the location you put the comma.

In the example above, if the active thought is <b>Animals</b> and you either drag a link or use F6 to create a child thought, if you type "<b>, Giraffe</b>" the thought will be created as "<b>Animals, Giraffe</b>". Typing "<b>Giraffe, </b>" will name the thought "<b>Giraffe, Animals</b>".

This will only work when you create a thought. The active thought name will not automatically be added when renaming the thought. You can still add the active thought's name manually separated with a comma and it will display according to the comma trick rules.

<b>Tip</b>: When you have numbered thoughts, if you prepend the thought name they won't sort correctly. Add the comma to the end of the thought name so the parent name is after the thought name, and they will retain the correct sort.</p>

<h2>Uses</h2>

<p>People use the comma trick for multiple reasons:</p>

<ul>

<li>It's a quick way to create a family and automatically add the last name to indivduals.</li>

<li>It allows you to identify thoughts with identical names quickly (in instant search, type in the first few letters of the parent thought before the thought name).</li>

</ul>

<div ><img src="/a681e8db-4033-506e-8fb6-debd7e36b565.jpg"/></div>

<ul>

<li>It allows you to easily view all thoughts that are related to another thought. For example, if you have thoughts "Animals"; "Animals, Giraffe"; "Animals, Chimpanzee"; "Animals, Tiger" you can type Animals in the instant search field and see Giraffe, Chimpanzee and Tiger listed.</li>

</ul>

<div ><img src="/556a5926-1f5d-5109-9a15-aff9fd9df597.jpg"/></div>

<p>

I'm sure there are more uses. I just can't think of any more right now. :)</p>