SuperMemo Commander

Introducing SuperMemo Commander

Throughout its 20 year development (the Delphi line), SuperMemo for Windows has been enabled with a multitude of options available in a myriad of contexts. All of them implemented with an intention to improve the learning experience. The feature set is always being reorganized and often pruned. By embracing the NUI (Natural User Interface) design philosophy we have gone as far as to intentionally avoid adding new buttons, menu items, options, etc. Yet we keep receiving complaints from confused students.

Newer SuperMemos attempt to relieve the feature bloat by introducing SuperMemo Commander (available with Tools : Commander; alternatively, and more quickly, press Ctrl+Enter). The tool makes it possible for you to quickly execute (often deeply-buried) commands via mnemonic keyboard shortcuts. Only the hardest to access options have been included in the Commander list. The list is open to changes upon user suggestions. The names of commands can be changed by the user.

For example, to open the Sleep Chart press:

1. Ctrl+Enter - to open SuperMemo Commander
2. S - for Sleep Chart mnemonic. This will limit the list to only those commands beginning with s
3. Down arrow repeatedly to move down to Sleep Chart'
4. Enter

You can create an alias for a selected mnemonic keyboard shortcut. To do that:

1. Select the command in the first Command column
2. Click Rename (Alt+R) to the right
3. In the Command name dialog box, type the new name, and click OK

Available commands

The command set is easily expandable in future updates to SuperMemo 17. If you cannot remember a shortcut or need to often use a command available from a deeply nested menu or a button that is not part of your layout, send your request for new commands via e-mail.

• Alarm: Cancel - cancel the alarm setting to make sure the alarm does not sound
• Alarm: Set - determine the time that should elapse before the alarm is sounded
• Ancestors: Show - show the window with the list of ancestors of the current element (same as Ctrl+Shift+X)
• Bullet - insert a bullet into an HTML component (same as Ctrl+Shift+L)
• Capitalize text - convert a text to a lowercase with the first character in uppercase (Sentence case.)
• Compress images - compress all images to a predetermined maximum size
• Concept: Link - associate the current element with a selected concept
• Concept: Make - create a new concept based on the current element
• Delete after cursor - delete all text after the current selection or cursor position in an HTML component (same as Alt+.)
• Delete before cursor - delete all text before the current selection or cursor position in an HTML component (same as Alt+\)
• Deprecate article - mark an article reference as "outdated" so that its newer versions might be imported (e.g. from Wikipedia)
• Dismember - separate components in individual elements (e.g. to split an e-mail with multiple attachments to separate elements each holding a single attachment)
• Done! - delete all components, dismiss the element, or delete the childless element (same as Ctrl+Shift+Enter)
• Duplicate element - create a copy of the current element and make it a child of the original (same as Alt+D)
• E-mail: Answer - reply to a selected text or forward the current element via e-mail (same as Ctrl+Shift+E)
• E-mail: Paste - paste e-mail stored in the clipboard (Outlook, Windows (Live) Mail, etc.)
• Fit all pictures - adjust the size of selected image components to the size of pictures
• Fit picture - save space in the element by reducing the size of the image component to the size of the picture
• Fit to component - adjust the size of components around a selected component
• Highlight - highlight the selected text
• Horizontal line - insert a horizontal line into an HTML component (same as Shift+Alt+H)
• Hyperlink: Element - create a link from the selected text to an element in the collection
• Import file - import a file from the web or from a disk
• Link: Contents - create a link between the element and another one in the Contents window
• Outstanding - show outstanding element in the browser
• Parse HTML - convert HTML code to formatted text (same as Shift+Ctrl+1)
• Paste: Article - paste the text of an article stored in the clipboard into a new element (same as Ctrl+N)
• Plan - open the plan of the day (same as Ctrl+P)
• Pronunciation: Add - add a new word-transcription pair to the phonetic registry
• Reference: Edit - edit references associated with the element
• Reference: Show - show references associated with the element
• Remove formatting: Front - remove HTML formatting from before the text (all tags before the actual text will be removed)
• Remove formatting: Plain text - remove HTML formatting from the entire text (same as Shift+Ctrl+F12)
• Remove formatting: Selection - remove HTML formatting from the selected text
• Reopen favorite - choose from a list of the most often used collections (same as Ctrl+O)
• Save file - save file associated with the current component
• Search web - search the web for the selected text with a chosen service (same as Ctrl+F3)
• Sleep Chart - open the timeline of sleep and learning (same as F12)
• Sort repetitions - sort the outstanding queue using current sorting criteria
• Split: Split the article - split the article into portions marked by split-marks
• Tasklist: Add task - add a new task to the current tasklist (same as Alt+F1)
• Template: Apply - choose a template that should be used with the current element (same as Shift+Ctrl+M)
• Template: Detach - detach the template from the current element to expose the original looks
• Template: Impose - detach the template from the current element without changing its looks (same as Shift+Ctrl+F2)
• Tile components - arrange selected components in equally sizes rows and columns (same as Shift+Alt+T)
• Unit: Convert - performs all imperial unit conversions with 4 keystrokes
• Unzoom image - remove trim/zoom from the current image
• Zoom image mode - enter the zoom mode for the current image to trim, zoom or crop images

SuperMemo Commander dialog box

In the top part of the dialog box, you can see the following three columns:

• Command
  • Command text box - the text box which you start typing the name of the SuperMemo command you want to execute in
  • Command list box - the list of available commands (the list gets filtered by the name that you can type in the text box above)
• Custom name
  • Custom name text box - the text box which you start typing the custom name for the command you want to execute in (to quickly move to this field, press Alt+U)
  • Custom name list box - the list of available custom names (the list gets filtered by the name that you type in the text box above)
• Buttons
  • OK (Enter) - close the commander and execute the selected command
  • Cancel (Esc) - close the commander without executing any command
  • Rename (Alt+R) - give your own name to a given command (the custom names are stored in the commands.ini file located in the [BIN] subfolder of your SuperMemo installation)
  • Default - restore the default command names in the Custom name column (it effectively deletes the commands.ini file from the [BIN] subfolder)

At the bottom, against the yellow background, you can read the description of the currently selected command.