Open multiple desktop windows at once or open objects as their own window
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Faith Money
I have 3 monitors at my desk (I swear I need them all!!! 😂) and love being able to view multiple piece of information that I may need to update and reference all at once. I could do this by having a browser window open and the desktop window, but I don't love that workaround and sometimes I get a popup saying I'm already using Capacities in another window which interrupts the flow.
I'd love to be able to open another Capacities desktop window so I can have different information always accessible at any time. I know I can use tabs, pinning to the sidebar, etc. to try and organize within one window. Maybe it's just me, because I also have 3 monitors and could use tab management to organize information on one monitor but I choose to have 3 lol. I like to be able to see my stuff!
I'd also love to be able to open objects in their own window. This could even be a "mini" window without a sidebar - similar to when you open an object and it pops up as a preview rather than opening as a full page. If there was a button to open the object as a mini, floatable, resizable, independent window this could eliminate my need to have multiple desktop windows :)
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Erik Mueller-Harder
This is such a basic, basic thing! It’s practically the entire reason that GUIs were invented 40+ years ago: refer to one document in one window while composing in another document in another window.
Like the OP, I have three displays. I’m trying to use Capacities for almost everything (tasks, reference, composition) — but the constant fiddling with sidebars and previews and tabs is
so
cumbersome! It would be so much easier if I could just glance at my left-hand screen to check something, add a new task on my right-hand screen when it occurs to me, and get my real work done on my laptop’s display.Please
implement this!J
Jame Healy
This would be AMAZING!
Basically spawning (in Windows terms) a Top Level Window (like you would do with Outlook opening a message or appointment).
My ideal is having the option, under the "Open" submenu, the Open as Page, Open in Side Panel, Open in New Tab, and Open in New Window.
Thanks Faith Money (?) for the excellent suggestion ... I came here to search/submit it and you laid it out perfectly.
In time, it would be great to "drag" a tab or side panel content to a new window, like all the modern browsers too, but ... baby steps.
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Lianne la Faille
I really would love the ability to open different objects/pages in stand-alone windows. I use a 13.3 inch laptop and am used to tiling different windows so I can see everything I need at one moment. This is also where side-panel is not helpfull for me, cause using a side panel forces me to open the Capacities window to a certain size to be able to actually use both objects at the same time. At the moment the lack of flexible window management within Capacities is the only reason why I feel that I need to use additional note apps. So I can window-tile the reference-note vs the editing-note side by side or under each other etc. It unfortunately really is a barrier to me fully moving into Capacities.
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Myles Orme
I think we are asking for a native macOS app
Beth
Merged in a post:
Device State Sync is Very Counterintuitive
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Daniel Toruno
Currently, I have a dual wielded computer setup but most the time I prefer to use two or more separate instances of capacities so I can view more data side by side to inform my writing and thinking. Currently, since the sync doesn't support having two instances of capacities in the same browser I have to use multiple browsers or browser + desktop app in order to do so.
My point is that whether you are using two computers or not it is very important to be able to have capacities side by side in different instances. The current sync feature makes the tabs sync between all devices makes this a bit of a tricky process because I may have a window open in one window and then I navigate somewhere else and the tab on the other device is also moved.
Now this is more of an issue if you are like me and like to use just one single tab of Capacities, I understand that you can have multiple tabs open on capacities which essentially solves this issue but here are the two suggestions I have that could improve the intuitiveness of this sync.
1) It would be cool to have a toggle for how the sync works. I notice there is a setting that I can choose when the app is opened if I'd like it to go to Last Page, Daily Page etc. so with that same type of Idea in mind just Have a sync setting where I want it to sync Page states Between ALL my devices or only keep the separate devices separate example if I have it open in a browser it could use cookies, and my tabs in my browser could be different from my desktop app if I were to toggle this option a new 'second sync option' where each instance is stored separately in cookies.
(Edit) 1.5) Especially the sidebar open or closed state active sync. I cannot stand when apps sync these states between devices. If I'm working on one device and see something move on my other display it's just distracting/annoying seeing it get displaced an a seperate device that likely has a different sized screen.
2) Add a default Pinned Tab that is just a Home Page Icon. This way when the app is opened and defaults to the daily page It will open in this home page it's not forced to override the contents of whatever the last tab I was on was, (with no way to go press back to get my previous tab) which is what currently happens when you have this setting on to go to your daily page.
(Edit) 2.5) Just realized that the Calendar Page if I open it side by side in the desktop app using shift+click the two calendar blocks are synced with another... WHY?! If I'm opening it in two places it's obvious that I want to be looking at two different dates. So weird that this exists. Let me look at my week view in the main window and my today view in my "sidebar"
As I was saying with the title of this post, the syncing is a bit counterintuitive in its current state. so those are my two suggestions.
Beth
Merged in a post:
Pop-out windows
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Pavel Golodoniuc
Allow objects to be poped out of the main window into a separate window that can be dragged around independently, e.g., onto another display. Similar to how files opened in VSCode can be dragged outside the main window.
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Sean Evans
I feel multi window support is essential. All modern browser workflow is based on this concept. It feels like suddenly hitting a brick wall when I can't drag meeting notes to one screen and the project record I want to update from them to another.
You then have to start thinking about how capacities handles this and can I use the in app tabs or sidebar. How can I get to the new record I want to open without losing the one I currently have open? It's like suddenly engaging a mental load of how to handle capacities that breaks my concentration on the work I'm trying to do. Because capacities doesn't work like every other browser based app in this regard.
Beth
Sean Evans: You can make tabs in Capacities with Cmd/Ctrl Click on any link, or open in the sidebar with Cmd/Ctrl Shift Click. This should help open a new record without losing what you have open.
More info here and screenshots: https://docs.capacities.io/reference/navigation#side-panel
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Galen Stocking
Sean Evans this 100%. There are a few ways that capacities handles new tabs that are different from most other apps, and it’s a big mental load that breaks concentration.
Just this morning I was trying to take notes from a meeting and integrate them into various projects. In obsidian or notion I would pull the meeting note I had open into a new window and then cycle through the various other notes I needed to integrate the information into in the main window. I ended up being able to do it with the sidebar, but the workflow to open it in the sidebar and open the specific other project notes I needed (which are in tabs or spread throughout) made it a much longer process.
I love capacities and the object based model but this is the one really hard pain point.
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Geoffrey Cambefort
Beth yes, but in all my use cases I need multiple browser tabs with Capacities opened and "focused" on a particular page. I plan to buy the Pro subscription directly when my Comet browser will be able to perform agentic tasks inside 12 different group tabs (with each time 1 tab with Capacities ready to collect and get enriched on the topic from this particular group)
by the way, your work is awesome. thx for your well-executed vision team Cap'!
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Jeremy Bell
Beth Do you have any updates as to whether this feature is being actively worked on? It's really one of the biggest roadblocks for me to adopt capacities. Particularly because I work with more than one monitor. I know things take time but it would be great to know if it's on the roadmap!
Beth
Merged in a post:
Dual Monitor Support
R
Raul Cabral
I have two monitors and would like to be able to open Capacities on both to improve productivity.
Capacities v1.49.3; none none; Windows v10; Chrome v134.0.6998.88 (WebKit v537.36); Desktop (Electron); 21/06/2025, 14:17:11; en (America/Sao_Paulo, UTC-3)
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Mohamed Zein
I was searching for a post with the grievance I had in mind. I work on multiple screens and typically work on two documents side by side. Tabs inside Capacities partially solve the problem, but it's not too practical for people requiring multiple screens to process large information.
The shortcut I found is open one window in the Capacities desktop app on one screen, and another window showing the Capacities web page on another.
Beth
Merged in a post:
Allow multiple concurrent windows to app
C
Cleve Ch
To allow faster referencing between two or more notes/objects, multiple concurrent windows should be allowed side by side. For instance, a new note could be created while refering to another created note at the same time side by side.
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