Browser menu

Accessing the browser menu

The most important operations on the browser are available from the browser menu. To open this menu do any of the following:

• right-click over the browser window,
• click the menu button on the browser toolbar,
• press Alt+F10 when in the browser window, or
• press Apps Key () (context menu key left of the right Ctrl key).

Browser menu items

The browser menu includes the following options:

(top level)

• Learn (Ctrl+L) - make outstanding repetitions on elements included in the browser. The sequence of repetitions is determined by how elements are sorted in the browser (i.e. not by the global repetition schedule). Once outstanding repetitions are made, Learn will proceed with memorizing browser elements that are listed in the pending queue
• Go neural (Ctrl+F2) - use the browser as the starting point for a neural review
• View (Enter or Ctrl+Enter) - display the current element in the element window, and switch focus to that window. When the Synchronize button is down on the browser toolbar, changing the selection in the browser will automatically change the element displayed in the element window

Child

• Child - open a child browser with a subset of elements stored in the currently used browser
  • Priority - open a child browser with all elements whose priority surpasses a selected value
  • Selected - open a child browser with all elements that are marked with a checkmark in the leftmost column (see Select : Select element below)
  • Unselected - open a child browser with all elements that are unchecked in the leftmost column
  • Sources - open a child browser that will include only the origin elements of extracts and clozes listed in the browser (including sources not listed in the browser)
  • Articles - open a child browser that will include only top-level articles. All extracts and clozes will not be listed
  • Extracts - open a child browser that will include only article extracts (as opposed to top-level articles)
  • Descendants - open a child browser that includes all presently displayed elements and their descendants in the knowledge tree
  • Outstanding - open a child browser with all outstanding elements of the currently opened browser
  • Memorized - open a child browser with all memorized elements contained in the current browser
  • Pending - open a child browser with all pending elements contained in the current browser
  • Dismissed - open a child browser with all dismissed elements contained in the current browser
  • Items - open a child browser with all elements that are items
  • Topics - open a child browser with all elements that are topics
  • Tasks - open a child browser with all elements that are tasks (i.e. belong to any of SuperMemo tasklists)
  • Tasks/Topics - open a child browser with all elements that are tasks and topics
  • Filter - open a child browser with elements meeting a set of chosen filter criteria
  • Branch - open a child browser with all elements that both belong to the currently opened browser and a selected branch in the Contents window (i.e. eliminate all elements that do not belong to the branch)

Select

• Select - select or unselect browser elements (read also: Using subsets)
  • Select element - mark the current element as selected. Marking is most easily done with either Ins or Space (the difference between the two is that when you select the current element with Space, the current selection will not move to the next element as is the case with Ins). Marked elements have a checkmark in the leftmost column. You can later process marked element with other options such as Select : Save selection or Child : Selected
  • Select all elements - mark all elements in the browser as selected
  • Clear selection - unmark all elements
  • Invert selection - unmark marked elements and mark unmarked elements
  • Browser range - mark all elements in the rows numbered in a given range. For example, if you input the range 10-20, the elements in the rows numbered from 10 to 20 will be marked as selected
  • Element range - mark all elements with numbers falling in a given range. Element number expresses the element's physical place in a given collection and is used as a unique element identifier. Element number is displayed in the column ElNo
  • Unselect browser range - unmark all elements in the rows numbered in a given range
  • Unselect element range - mark all elements with numbers falling in a given range
  • Unselect-Subtract - unmark all elements that belong to a given subset file
  • Unselect-Intersect - unmark all elements that cannot be found in a given subset file
  • Save selection - save all marked elements in a subset file (see Select element above)

Subset

• Subset - subset operations (read also: Using subsets)
  • Save all - save the whole contents of the browser in a subset file
  • Add subset file - create a new browser with the sum of the current browser and a subset file
  • Subtract subset file - create a new browser with the difference of the current browser and a subset file (i.e. containing all elements that belong to the browser and do not belong to the subset file)
  • Intersect subset file - create a new browser with the intersection of the current browser and a subset file (i.e. containing all elements that belong to both the browser and the subset file)
  • Intersperse subset - create a new browser that includes the current browser and a subset file mixed randomly in given proportions. For example, if you choose ratio of frequencies equal to 2, the browser will list two elements taken from the current browser for each element taken from the subset file. If you mix Chemistry and Math 3:1 (frequency ratio: 3.00) and then mix the resulting subset with Biology 1:1.5 (frequency ratio: 0.666), then for each 10 elements, you will get 6 Biology elements, 3 Chemistry elements and 1 Math element. The excess elements will be listed at the end of the subset
  • Delete - delete a subset file

Search

• Search
  • Search browser (Ctrl+F) - search for a text in all elements included in the browser
  • Find title (Alt+F) - find the first element containing a given text in its title (starting with the current row)
  • Find next (F3) - repeat the last search started with Find title
  • Find all titles - find all elements containing a given text in their title and place these elements in a new browser
  • Find current - locate the element from the element window in the browser
  • Search and replace (Ctrl+R) - search and replace texts in the browser

Sort

• Sort - sort the browser by a given column
  • For Review (Ctrl+S) - sort the browser using sorting criteria as defined by Learn : Sorting : Sorting criteria
  • By interval - sort the browser by current intervals
  • By stability - sort the browser by the memory stability (S)
  • By retrievability - sort the browser by the probability of recall (R)
  • By difficulty - sort the browser by the estimated difficulty of elements
  • By first rep. date - sort the browser by the date of the first repetition
  • By last rep. date - sort the browser by the date of the last repetition
  • By next rep. date - sort the browser by the date of the next repetition
  • By memory lapses - sort the browser by the number of memory lapses, i.e. the number of times each element was forgotten
  • By postpone count - sort the browser by the number of times elements have been postponed by Postpone
  • By priority - sort the browser by element priority
  • By repetition count - sort the browser by the number of repetitions afforded each element (i.e. the number of times each element was repeated)
  • By text size - sort the browser by the size of texts included in the elements
  • By picture size - sort the browser by the size of pictures included in the elements
  • By tree - sort the browser by the precedence of elements in the knowledge tree (i.e. root first, first child of the root second, etc.)
  • Other
    • By title - sort the browser alphabetically by the element title
    • By type - sort the browser by element type (item, topic, task or concept)
    • By A-Factor - sort the browser by A-Factor
    • By element number - sort the browser by the element number (column ElNo)
    • By delay - sort the browser by the element delay in repetitions
    • By forgetting index - sort the browser by the requested forgetting index
    • By ordinal number - sort the browser by ordinal numbers
    • By U-Factor - sort the browser by U-Factor
  • Randomize (Shift+Ctrl+F11) - randomly mix up the contents of the browser

Export

• Export
  • Transfer elements - copy all elements in the browser to another collection
  • Document - export browsed elements as a single HTML document
  • Q&A text file - export all items in the browser to a Q&A text file. Such a file can later be imported to other versions of SuperMemo even if they do not support XML import. Q&A files can thus be imported to SuperMemo 6 for DOS, SuperMemo 7 for Windows, SuperMemo for Pocket PC, SuperMemo for Palm OS, Multimedia SuperMemo, supermemo.net, SuperMemo 98 Freeware, etc.
  • XML - export browsed elements in the XML format that can be imported to other SuperMemos. See: Revolution in the pocket
  • Source text - export all elements in the browser as a text file with the learning process included. Such a file can later be imported to another collection
  • Text subset - open the text registry subset corresponding with browser texts
  • Repetition history (txt) - export the entire history of repetition for the currently displayed subset to a text file
  • Repetition history (CSV) - export the entire repetition history for the current subset to a CSV file

Random

• Random
  • Random review (F11) - jump to a randomly picked element in the browser. This option is useful in quickly reviewing the material contained in the browser
  • Random test (Ctrl+F11) - start random test on the contents of the browser. All elements will be repeated in the standard way but the repetitions will have no effect on the learning process. Unless you review somebody else's collection, it is recommended you use subset review on a randomized browser rather than Random test
  • Randomize browser (Shift+Ctrl+F11) - randomize the contents of the browser

Tools

• Tools
  • Save pending - place all pending elements from the browser at the end of the pending queue. You can use this option to sort the pending queue by ordinal numbers, by title, by priority, by contents tree, etc. For example, to sort the pending queue by difficulty: (1) choose View : Outstanding, (2) click the column Dif, and (3) choose Tools : Save pending on the browser menu
  • Save priority - save elements from the browser at the top of the priority queue
  • Save drill - save elements from the browser in the final drill queue. The old queue will be overwritten. You can use this option to drill a subset of elements (e.g. on the day before an important examination). Before you use the drill queue for cramming, use subset review
  • Save repetitions - reschedule all outstanding browser elements along the current browser sorting order. You can use this option to sort outstanding repetitions (e.g. for difficulty, length of the interval, number of memory lapses, etc.)
  • Swap Q&A - swap questions and answers in browser elements
  • Total knowledge - compute the estimate of changes in subset knowledge over time
  • Repetitions graph - display a graph that shows the correlation between the number of repetitions and the interval reached by elements included in the browser

Figure: The horizontal axis corresponds with the repetition number and the vertical axis represents intervals (logarithmic scale). Despite a popular belief, the semi-log scale does not produce a linear graph here. Clearly the increase in the length of intervals slows down with successive repetitions. Moreover, the graph corresponding with zero lapses (red curve), results from the superposition of items with lower and faster increase in intervals (determined by difficulty). The bell-shaped curve is determined by all contributing items (below repetition number 10) and then only by difficult items or items with low forgetting index for which the increase in the length of intervals is significantly slower (above repetition 10). To see the above graph in your own collection, use Tools : Repetitions graph on the browser menu

Process browser>

• Process browser> - process all elements in the browser using options available from the subset processing menu

Close

• Close (Esc) - close the browser