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[Feature request] Allow disabling of ZIM files
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Description

User story

As a user with multiple ZIM files downloaded, I want to restrict browsing to certain ZIM files so that I can continue to use use the Offline Library using a subset of ZIMs without deleting unused ones entirely from my storage.

Note: This would be an edge case since there were no comments from user research indicating a desire to disable certain ZIMs.

Proposed solution

Allow users to disable searching from certain downloaded ZIM files.

Original task description

It is possible that a user would like to have multiple 'zim' files on his device but would not want every single one of them to be used by the app. The reasons could be,

  1. S/he might want to browse articles only from a particular 'zim' file to restrict search results
  2. S/he might want to stop receiving results from a 'zim' file for some time (Note: This isn't the same as 1)
  3. Something I missed for now but might add in the future ...

The app currently auto-discovers zim files which is nice but might not be something that few users might like as it prevents them from stopping the app from using a zim file. Further removing an item from the 'Offline Library' list also removes the associated zim file present in the storage. This hinders users from stopping the app from using a 'zim' file even after the app auto-discovers it.

For the app to allow users to choose which zim files the it should use, auto-discovery should not happen. The typical usage flow without auto-discovery might be something like,

Adding a zim file to 'Offline Library'

A 'zim' file obtained through the app
  1. Download a 'zim' file from the list of available ones
A 'zim' file obtained from an external source (sharing etc.)
  1. Get the 'zim' file to the local storage
  2. Try to open the 'zim' file and choose the app from the list (if shown) (This requires the app to associate itself with 'zim' files)
  3. This should show a detail screen with an option to "Add it to 'Offline Library'"

This would allow the user to choose if he wants the app to use a 'zim' file or not.

Removing a zim file to 'Offline Library'

A 'zim' file obtained through the app
  1. Choose the 'Remove' option from the concerned item
  2. User is shown a pop-up about whether to remove the 'zim' file from storage
  3. If yes, remove from storage else, just remove it from the list.
A 'zim' file obtained from an external source (sharing etc.)

Same as above (just to keep things consistent)

AFAIK, this doesn't have any drawbacks as the user without any file manager should be able to add the 'zim' files.

Event Timeline

  1. S/he might want to browse articles only from a particular 'zim' file to restrict search results

Why?

  1. S/he might want to stop receiving results from a 'zim' file for some time (Note: This isn't the same as 1)

Why?

The app currently auto-discovers zim files which is nice but might not be something that few users might like as it prevents them from stopping the app from using a zim file.

This is a tautology, and doesn't explain why someone would want to stop the app from using a zim file.

In general I made this suggestion because,

  • I thought it would be nice to give users more freedom by making few assumptions about the user
  • I anticipated that someone would file a ticket in the future requesting the ability to disable certain 'zim' files ;-)
  1. S/he might want to browse articles only from a particular 'zim' file to restrict search results

Why?

I thought this was an Offline Library. Why wouldn't a user prefer to have categorical searching that would restrict the search results? Considering each 'zim' file to be a category. To give a crude example,

Imagine I'm a person who owns an android device which has a lot of space in it. I live in a LMIC where internet access is intermittent/expensive so I would like to take advantage of the 'Offline Library' feature of the app. My device is also used by my hypothetical school going son. Further, I'm interested in self-health. As I have a lot of space I download the following from 'zim' files,

  • Wikipedia EN
  • Medical Wiki EN
  • English Wikipedia for Schools

When I search for something related to personal health I get results from all these 'zim' files which I find it a little frustrating. It would be nice if it was possible for me to get results only from 'Medical Wiki EN' when I want to learn something related to my personal health so that I would get more relevant search results at the top (restriction instead of ranking search results, I would call this). So, I would like to restrict the results only from a particular zim file.

Further, when my hypothetical son wants to use my device to browse articles related to his school work he wouldn't want to see results from the zim files other than the 'English Wikipedia for Schools'. So, I would like to restrict the results only from a particular zim file.

  1. S/he might want to stop receiving results from a 'zim' file for some time (Note: This isn't the same as 1)

Why?

Continuing the same story when I'm casually searching for random articles to read I wouldn't want to get results from the 'English Wikipedia for Schools'. So, I would like to stop receiving results from that particular file.

The app currently auto-discovers zim files which is nice but might not be something that few users might like as it prevents them from stopping the app from using a zim file.

This is a tautology, and doesn't explain why someone would want to stop the app from using a zim file.

Though I'm not sure why it's tautology, I agree it was(?) a lemma. I guess I explained the why in this comment.

RHo renamed this task from [Suggestion] Allow users to choose which 'zim' files the app should use to [Feature request] Allow disabling of ZIM files.May 21 2018, 12:47 PM
RHo updated the task description. (Show Details)

This feature is currently shelved (T195518) and will likely be very different when brought back.