Add or subtract years from multiple events at once | World Anvil

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Add or subtract years from multiple events at once

New Feature Addition · Timelines · Created by AddAppend
accepted
timeline -events chronicles bulk-edit mass-edit

What functionality is missing? What is unsatisfying with the current situation?

There's no way to "add more years" between events of a timeline. If I want to "push forward" or "push back" a lot of events, I have to update each of their years individually. This feature would be a very simple way to fix that issue - input what events you want shifted, input the amount of time you want added or subtracted, submit. Each event selected gets its date modified by that number. The input for selecting the affected events could be a sort of search/query interface to select groups like "all events after 2001" or at least just a checkbox to select each event you want shifted (like the interface for mass-moving events to another lane in chronicles). You could probably use the existing event update API, and if it doesn't already exist, add logic for outputting a new date from an input of existing date and the delta.   What's unsatisfying now: For example, I make a timeline that details all of the events of a war. Then I decide another war starts 10 years after that first war. So I add in all of the events of this second war, beginning 10 years after the first war's last event. Later, I realize for this second war, I want the technology to be progressed to a certain point, but 10 years isn't enough time to fit in all those inventions. So now I think, "ok, I think the technology events will take 20 years all together," and then go through each of the events of the second war, just adding 20 to all of their years. Then I add all of the technology advancement events. Then I realize, "oh, what about this tech?" and I want to add another 5 years, but I need to go through and add 5 years to even more events.   This has resulted in me basically abandoning WA for sketching out my timelines. I can't commit to specific dates at the beginning stages, or even the middle stages of my worldbuilding. The timeline in my head is a series of events, before and after, cause and effect, not a set of datapoints associated with exact dates.  

How does this feature request address the current situation?

If I need to add 5 years in the middle of my timeline, I can just input, "add 5 years to events after this date." It could be used more specifically, too. "Add 1 year to all events between this date and this date," which would allow for shifting of just a part of the timeline. Knowing that I have that flexibility would make me feel less worried about committing to specific years for lots of events, because I know that shifting them around will be easy if needed.  

What are other uses for this feature request?

There was a request that was declined, where the user wanted to drag events on the timeline. It was rejected because the clicking and dragging wasn't clean. But this feature would solve the main pain point, which was that it's tedious to move a bunch of events forward in time if you want to add in new events. Sure, it would be awesome to have a slick GUI for this painpoint, but a simple query/delta interface would be easy to implement without changing any other existing functionality.   Sometimes a timeline is finished, and then later you want to add some "prequel" events. You wouldn't want to update every event just to give yourself some working room. One solution is to have the timeline start at the beginning of time, and place your story in that timeline. But what if you don't know how time began? Why worry about events you haven't even conceived of? Just start the timeline where the story begins, then later you can easily "add 25 years to all events". Say you have 2 battles, battle A and battle B, and each battle has several events. Then you decide that you actually want to switch the order the battles happened in. Doing this by hand wouldn't only be tedious - it would be confusing. With this feature, you could do it in two queries: 1. select all the events of battle A, and add a number of years that puts it after battle B. 2. Query all the events of battles B and A, and subtract the number of years you added to battle A.   You decide that the story of a particular dynasty actually just isn't working, so you decide to cut it. You can delete all those events, but it leaves a 150-year hole in your timeline. You can just "subtract 150 years from all events after this date".
Current score

58/300 Votes · +11106 points

Votes Cast

  • +300

    by ChairmanFirantine
    on 2022-12-31 02:04
  • +100

    by macwithoutcheese
    on 2022-12-31 01:40
  • +100

    by holydemiurge
    on 2022-12-29 19:59
  • +300

    by shamrocklobster
    on 2022-12-29 06:22
  • +100

    by A Adorable Skeleton
    on 2022-12-28 17:53
  • +300

    by sclark99
    on 2022-12-28 13:56
  • +100

    by Tansa
    on 2022-12-26 20:50
  • +300

    by Geoffrey of Monmouth
    on 2022-12-23 21:58
  • +300

    by Player4595
    on 2022-12-22 16:47
    In General more Mass Edits would probably be a good thing. Like mass add Tag, Mass Cover Image change, Mass Option Change (like mass mark as NSFW) and probably even more I just can´t think of right now
  • +1

    by TheNamesJonas
    on 2022-12-22 05:11
  • +300

    by When_game
    on 2022-12-21 19:39
  • +100

    by Phebner
    on 2022-12-21 13:17
  • +100

    by SebGreg732
    on 2022-12-21 12:05
  • +300

    by beelzebram
    on 2022-12-18 05:48
  • +100

    by LiaFelis
    on 2022-12-17 21:25
  • +300

    by Nanotide
    on 2022-12-17 15:55
  • +300

    by SirBaconWaffles
    on 2022-12-17 09:42
    A great idea. Also good for when you start with a certain date and then realise that ya done messed up and need to move it all around.
  • +1

    by A Mischievous Elf
    on 2022-12-16 13:26
  • +100

    by KaiserWilliams
    on 2022-12-06 09:14
  • +300

    by BARON229
    on 2022-12-06 06:05
  • +300

    by fantasticat
    on 2022-12-06 04:30
    This would be so immensely helpful and save me so much time
  • +1

    by toffepajja
    on 2022-12-04 17:52
  • +300

    by A Beloved Velociraptor
    on 2022-12-04 11:19
    "The timeline in my head is a series of events, before and after, cause and effect, not a set of datapoints associated with exact dates" is exactly how I create and think, too. I would love the feature you're suggesting if it's at all possible.
  • +100

    by Emperor.Nero
    on 2022-12-04 00:27
  • +100

    by that_guy04
    on 2022-12-03 22:01
  • +100

    by Shamajotsi
    on 2022-12-03 15:28
  • +300

    by A Frightened T-Rex
    on 2022-12-03 03:33
  • +300

    by EkalMaker20
    on 2022-12-03 00:34
  • +300

    by Sat
    on 2022-12-02 20:13
  • +300

    by Aldebaran Aventus
    on 2022-12-02 14:45
  • +300

    by TannerW
    on 2022-12-02 10:38
  • +100

    by F1ak
    on 2022-12-02 09:06
  • +100

    by A Cute Cthulhu
    on 2022-12-02 04:34
  • +1

    by storyauthor
    on 2022-12-02 03:08
  • +100

    by Qayyum
    on 2022-12-02 02:52
  • +300

    by luluthepirate
    on 2022-12-01 21:20
  • +100

    by A Frightened Unicorn
    on 2022-12-01 20:55
  • +100

    by fwalton
    on 2022-12-01 15:47
  • +300

    by theaaronw0
    on 2022-12-01 12:45
  • +300

    by Nocturnus13
    on 2022-12-01 09:32
  • +100

    by Michael Chandra
    on 2022-12-01 08:53
  • +100

    by Wild Jay
    on 2022-12-01 04:00
  • +300

    by VeritableCalamity
    on 2022-12-01 00:15
  • +300

    by stlthbmbr4
    on 2022-11-30 23:38
  • +1

    by Aria Nicest Reynard
    on 2022-11-30 21:33
    Sounds difficult to implement, bit if it's doable I think it's a good idea.
  • +100

    by NovaTerra
    on 2022-11-30 18:03
  • +300

    by Saheyus
    on 2022-11-30 12:46
    That would greatly help preserving the coherence of timelines.
  • +300

    by Tijmuhn
    on 2022-11-29 23:48
  • +300

    by A Filthy Devil
    on 2022-11-29 18:46
  • +100

    by amelianite
    on 2022-11-29 18:36
  • +100

    by Krawczyk & Weaver
    on 2022-11-29 14:44
  • +300

    by Alishahr
    on 2022-11-29 12:48
  • +100

    by WindySkykicker
    on 2022-11-29 12:09
  • +100

    by A Wild Mimic
    on 2022-11-29 11:17
  • +300

    by DramaticDragons
    on 2022-11-29 03:46
  • +300

    by TheDoctor292
    on 2022-11-29 03:22
  • +1

    by Vibeca
    on 2022-11-28 20:48
  • +100

    by Jollygreengiant93
    on 2022-11-28 19:35
  • +300

    by AddAppend
    on 2022-11-28 10:37