Favorite Blocks on left sidebar

Feedback Feature Requests
1

Im new to Logseq and i was surprised to find out i couldnt favorite a particular block, only pages; Given how outlining is the main structure, how we can focus/zoom-in even with breadcrumbs it creates this expectation that blocks are treated as pages/contents thenselves. Not being able to straigh favorite a block broke the illusion so to speak, bringing foward the need/necessity to think in files instead of outlining

Feature Request/idea: enable favoriting blocks like pages, on the same menu/option as favoriting a page.
implementation: favorited blocks (left sidebar) could work like block-links/references, displaying part of the block content (up to a maximum character number, because of space) while actually referring to uid.
I would also add an arrow or ‘…’ before the block title favorited, just to differentiate favorited blocks from favorited pages(root from files).

I think Logseq would benefit from elevating blocks closer to the relevance of pages

what i mean is the whole nature of Logseq is portrayed and built, from the frontend, as an outline- but actually working around individual files sort of clash with that design language; On one end it presents and creates this expectation towards outlining as the means and the end, on the other theres the necessity to separate files.

I get the reasons for separate files and i actually prefer this way- mardkown backend is awesome, future proof, portable and i dont have to ever worry about corrupting an entire database… but i wish the gap between the outlining upfront vs the files containing then was smoothed out- like in the favorites or easier linking to blocks.

For an outliner it feels like pages are more relevant, treated with more weight and relevance then blocks

I think/feel improving on that would also help making Logseq stand out even more from similars like Obsidian; I feel like Logseq can go further, expanding and building more on the outlining-first treatment compared to Obsidian with plugins

2

The right sidebar allows you to add block in the Contents.
Favorites is for linking pages, and Contents is for adding a mix of pages and blocks(block reference, block embed)

1 Like
3

Im aware of contents, but im using contents in other ways- scrappad, tasks, graph… limiting favorites to pages only pretty much turns the leftsidebar almost unusable for me, and i would have to use the contents as favorites (on top of everything else) cluttering it even more

I feel like an outliner relying so much/enforcing individual files goes against its format and philosophy- sure the backend via markdown is awesome, allowing for separation in files is good… but ‘having to’ use pages is speaking against the bottom-up networked ‘wholesome’ database and is confusing for new users. Everything in the app speaks and acts as a whole (its a graph not a folder, a network, a database, the breadcrumbs and zoom treat blocks properly)… i think covering this sort of gap will be good

For example im new to logseq but not that new- ive been tackling pkm in different apps for a long while, have used and hacked at obsidian a lot, compared all alternatives out there (dendron, trilium roam, etc)… and i have been on the foruns and discord figuring out everything in Logseq…

…and despite all that im still struggling with ‘make a page or not’. Sure one part of it regards how everyone organize thenselves, but in similar apps like roam and workflowy that one dilema doesnt exist, one less friction point.

And that friction point gets to me- maybe im alone but ive saw some youtubers voicing the same difficulty (make a page or not)… when im using logseq im hammering at my keyboard and in the flow everything gets in an outline; But then im constantly thinking and sweating over ‘should i turn this into a page?’ - and if i decide to do so i either break my flow making a page, pasting stuff if ive already written for it or i just continue and later on have to return and parse everything ive written deciding what to split and how…

Pages= Nodes, easier referencing, backlinks, favorites
Blocks/Outline= Dont create nodes, no backlinks, no favorites

Ive been trying to adapt and adjust and even found an way where the separation of pages vs blocks helps me a lot- i can keep the graph more meagninfull, clustering topics together i have no reason to be a dozen+ nodes on the graph- wich is very neat…

but then im loosing more precise backlinks and favorites on the process

This is part of a larger discussion i think. Ive only mentioned favorites here because of how feature requests are focused requests, but i see this as part of a combination of suggestions (favoriting blocks, easier referencing blocks, filtering backlinks when blocks are focused)

One of the main appeals/differentials of outliners is that potential- not individual index cards like luhmans old slip box but everything already networked (the outline itself implies a network, a thread of conections in a hierarchy). Trying to escape the ‘make new file everytime’ was what pushed me away from evernote ages ago and obsidian more recently. In obsidian i was missing seeing topics together, having to do mocs by hand or clustering what i wanted as atomic notes in bigger notes (had to choose)… also i was splitting notes all the time

The greatest promise and potential of outlining is in the blocks. One big topic, suddently each and every heading already being ‘its own page’/atomic note…

I dont think its far fetched to expect to reference/link/favorite the branchs
I think (im no coder), a hunch, that Logseq could blur the lines further in the future- so that pages are an option and more of how-it-works-in-the-backend then something the user have to actively think about all the time

5 Likes
4

I agree this should be an obvious feature. I was surprised this is not possible. I don’t want to be forced to turn a block into a page in order to add it to my favorites.

5

This would be great for me as well. Should be easy enough to implement too. Maybe could be a community plugin, but it seems like a fairly small thing to add as a plugin.

6

Seems like it’s been quite a while since this request but in 0.9.15 this is still not possible. I, too, advocate for “Blocks ar first class citizens of Logseq”, which is quite funny considering that Pages are actually Blocks with Names and a dedicated file on disk. Anyway, the lastest update of the Right SideBar, which uses a stack of "Cards" will render anything you “Favorite” to the Contents into an unusable mess because, as you open new stuff in the Right SideBar, it goes to the Top of the Stack so pushing your Contents Card down. Have a couple of other cards opened and you can’t see your Conents Card anymore.

So, if not for Blocks in the Left SideBar, at least a native option to “Pin” a Page as the Top Card in the Right Sidebar…

7

Great Idea! It should be done