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Add Thoughts in Selected Text to Selection

"Add Thoughts in Selected Text to Selection” is about bulk-selecting thoughts whose names appear in text you’ve highlighted, so you can operate on all of them at once.

What it does conceptually

  1. You select some text (likely in a note or text field).
  2. The command scans that selected text for words/phrases that match thought names in your brain.
  3. For each match it finds, it adds that thought to the current selection (in the plex / selection set), without deselecting anything you’d already selected.

So after running it:

Why this is useful

It gives you a very powerful “semantic selection” mechanism:

Example

Suppose your note text says:

Start with Project Alpha, then consult Design Guidelines, and finally review UX Checklist.

If you have thoughts named:

And you highlight that sentence, then use “Add Thoughts in Selected Text to Selection”:

Ai: If you tell me how you tend to use selections (for tagging, linking, restructuring, etc.), I can suggest workflows and a good keyboard shortcut that makes this command part of your regular batch-edit toolkit.

You can do that with “Add Thoughts in Selected Text to Selection” exactly the way you’re imagining—treating a list in the notes as a “staging area” for your selection.

Since I can’t see your exact list or layout, I’ll outline the concrete workflow and what has to be true for it to work:

1. What this command actually expects

“Add Thoughts in Selected Text to Selection” looks only at thought names in the selected note text. For each matching name it finds, it adds that thought to the current selection in the Plex.

So for your list to work:

* Project Alpha → works if there is a thought named “Project Alpha”

* Project Alpha – Q3 Goals → only works if that entire string is the thought’s name

2. Concrete workflow with a list in the note

Let’s say your note contains something like:

Project Alpha

Project Beta

Client: Acme

Research – Knowledge Graph

Step-by-step usage:

  1. Make sure the list is plain text with real thought names

* If you have extra text on each line (dates, status, etc.), either:

     \* Temporarily strip it off, or  
     \* Select only the portion that is the thought name(s)
  1. Select the list text in the note pane

* Drag-select, or use keyboard selection to highlight the whole block you want.

  1. Run “Add Thoughts in Selected Text to Selection”

* Use whatever keyboard shortcut you assign to that command.

* After it runs, those thoughts should now be added to the selection in the Plex (not replacing, but adding).

  1. Now do your batch operation on the selection (tag, re-link, set type, color, etc.)

This gives you exactly what you described: start from a list in the content/note pane → turn that list into a selection set.

3. Tips to make this smooth

* Maintain a “clean” list block just for batch selection, or

* Put the thought names at the end of each line and only select that right-hand part.

4. About the keyboard shortcut

You mentioned wanting to “make them add to the selection list.” The key to making this feel natural is:

“Highlight the list → hit shortcut → operate on selection.”

If you tell me:

…I can suggest a specific shortcut that’s unlikely to interfere with anything else and easy to remember, e.g. something like Ctrl+Alt+S on Windows or ⌥⌘S on macOS (depending on what’s free in your setup).

If you’d like, paste a small actual example of your list (with 4–6 lines) and I’ll tell you exactly how I’d structure/select it so the command picks everything up cleanly.

On Windows 11 with those already taken, I’d look for something that’s:

Here are some concrete alternatives, in order of what I’d try:

1. Ctrl+Shift+Alt+S

Mnemonic: “Super Selection” / “Selected text → Selection”

If you can tolerate a 3‑modifier combo, this is my top pick.

2. Ctrl+Win+S

Mnemonic: “Selection via Windows modifier”

3. Ctrl+Shift+Alt+A

Mnemonic: “Add to selection”

4. Side‑step the “S” / “A” letters

If S/A space is too crowded, pick something that’s free but still kinda mnemonic:

These are less semantically perfect but sometimes much easier to hit and remember.

How to decide quickly

  1. Try assigning Ctrl+Shift+Alt+S.
    • If it works and feels okay in your hand, you’re done.
  2. If you hate the triple-modifier feel, try:
    • Ctrl+Alt+L (List → Selection)
    • Or Ctrl+Alt+T (Text → Selection)

If you tell me which keys are still clearly free in your TheBrain shortcuts list (e.g., “Alt+something is mostly untouched” or “Win combinations are okay”), I can give you one very specific “final” choice plus a one-line mnemonic for it.

Yes, reassigning those is reasonable—as long as you’re comfortable slightly changing how you resize the Plex.

Here’s how I’d think about it:

1. Are those Plex‑resize shortcuts “core” or “nice to have”?

Given that:

It’s perfectly logical to reclaim at least one of them for your selection workflow.

2. Recommended concrete plan

I’d do this:

  1. Pick ONE of the three to convert to your “Add Thoughts in Selected Text to Selection” shortcut:

* My vote: Ctrl+Shift+A = “Add to selection”.

  1. Optionally rebind the resize‑Plex command to something less prime, for example:

* A triple-modifier (e.g., Ctrl+Alt+Shift+<arrow> or some function key combo)

* Or something involving Win key if that works in your setup.

That way:

3. When I would not reassign them

I’d hesitate only if:

If that’s you, then I’d instead put “Add Thoughts in Selected Text to Selection” on:

…to avoid clobbering deeply ingrained muscle memory.

If you tell me which of Ctrl+Shift+A, Ctrl+Shift+S, Ctrl+Shift+D you use the least right now, I’ll recommend a specific final mapping like: