How do I get the file tree back?

[Martin Fredriksson]

Terribly bad "update". I am very surprised that someone find reasons to ruin a previously very nice user interface experience. Please go back to the previous version who was much much better!

I have just started to advocate this tool at work, but have to reconsider completely now, and it doesn't feel good at all.

I realize that this note doesn't constitute "an answer", but I have no other way to express my deep frustration about ruining a previously great tool. I was going to vote for the Jiras mentioned, but I get an error when I try to register for Atlassian Jira access (error from the web application... sigh...).

[George Cook]

Also going back to to previous version. If they don't at least put an option go go back that will be the end of sourcetree for me. The new UI is truly ineffective.

[Deleted user]

Aside from the other topics disccused here:

I'd love to have back the stagin area with Drag-and-Drop. It's more user friendly.

[Carol Shepherd]

I agree with the displeasure over the new UI. For my changed files I do NOT want the see the file path prepended to the file name. After I downgraded I figured out that in the old version I could change the order of the columns (silly me). You cheesed my move and moved my cheese.

[Martin Sandberg]

True, but still don't like losing any tree views! I really hope that Atlassian does not think this http://xkcd.com/1172/is applicable here :-)

[Martin Sandberg]

Losing the tree view is definitely extremely odd - I mean the thing is called SourceTree!

[Seth]

I think that refers to git branches, not folder structure.

[rzero]

Having lots of problems with 1.9.1, and logging in to jira.atlassian.comjust brings me recursively back to a log-in page, so...

• Truncating the first part of filenames in the files list by full path makes it unreadable, e.g.:
  • "...Example Assets/Shaders/Vegetation.mat"
  • "...le Assets/Shaders/VertexAnimation.mat"
  • "...sets/Shaders/VertexAnimation_blue.mat"

• When I click the checkbox next to "Staged files" or "Unstaged files" (which I assume means "stage/unstage all files") I get a spinning icon as though Sourcetree is doing something, but it spins forever.
  • I have to quit Sourcetree to recover.
  • After restarting Sourcetree the files are in fact properly staged/unstaged.

• The diff pane forces its width to be the width of the entire path to the file.
  • If the selected file has a long path name, the files pane on the left becomes super narrow.
  • The diff pane appears to take precendence, preventing me from resizing the files pane to be bigger (it lets me make the file pane smaller, but not bigger...)

• Redefining the typical meaning of a checkbox in the case of staging/unstaging files is unintuitive.
  • Rarely, if ever, does toggling a checkbox mean "perform this action immediately", normally it just toggles the selection of an item in a standard UI.

• Selecting multiple files in the file list, then right clicking and selecting "Add to index" (or "Unstage from index") sometimes has no effect.
  • I expect it to add/remove these files to/from staging.
  • Sometimes this command actually works, but not every time.

• Selecting a single file in the file list, then right clicking and selecting "Add to index" (or "Unstage from index") sometimes causes EVERY file to be added to/removed from staging.
  • Doesn't happen every time.

• When scrolling down the file list of my working copy, the "Staged files" scroll out of view.
  • This makes it hard to manage my commits when I can't visually track which files are in staging.
  • This is also sometimes confusing when I scroll down and add a file to staging, because the file just disappears from view with no other feedback about what just happened.

I think I'll stop there for now. I was excited for these changes but I tend to agree the the other users here, the new design is worse than the old one. Thankfully I can downgrade.

[Roy Leban]

Thanks, Seth. Don't know why I didn't think of that.

[Seth]

Roy and Kaveh, you should convert your comment (bug reports) to answers. Kevah can them mark them both as the right answers.

[Seth]

Have any of you opened a bug report/feature request at jira.atlassian.com? If so, please post it here as an answer so everyone in this discussion can vote it up.

[Mark Beech]

Terrible update! Reverted back to 1.8.1 and will be staying there until this BS is sorted

[Mark Beech]

Terrible update! Reverted back to 1.8.1 and will be staying there until this BS is sorted

[Roy Leban]

I spent some more time trying out 1.9. There are worse problems than the loss of the file tree.

Their "improved commit" experience is worse (or buggy, or both). Files sometimes automatically stage themselves when you change them.

Before, it was really convenient to look at the list of staged and unstaged files together, since they both scrolled separately. I use staging all the time while I'm working to snapshot a good (but not commitable) state while I continue to make changes. Now, staged and unstaged is one scrolling list, so I can't see both together.

The new diff view is not better -- it's worse. The wide gray bars are harder to distinguish from the pastel pink and light green bars for the diffs than the sharp deliniation we had before before. It is useful to see the hunk deliniations because it indicates a jump to another location in the file.

The commit options are worse, buried in a menu when there is plenty of room for them. I use Amend commit all the time, just like staging. I stage, stage, commit, stage, stage, amend commit, ..., push. This makes it easy for me to forget to amend. And they made the "push immediately" option, which I personally never use, really prominent.

Putting the entire commit pane at the bottom makes the commit comment history popup appear broken. Nice.

We paid for copies of SourceTree for everyone in the company before it became free. I've been really happy with it. But this is a downgrade.

So ... I just UPGRADED back to 1.8.1. 1.9.x is going to need a lot of work before I consider using it.

[Roy Leban]

While we're at it, how do you hide the distracting lines between file names? Reading a long list of path names with separator lines makes it harder to group them by directory as you're reading. Plus, it fits fewer files. This product is for developers, not average people, and we like file and directory listings where we can see more, not less. The lines serve no purpose other than visual clutter.

And ... how do I get the view where one column is the filename and the other column is the path (or directory)? That was super useful! Now I have to make the left pane really wide in order for it to show me the filename, which shrinks the diff to way too small on my laptop screen. Yeah, it's not much of an issue on my big screen, but I also work on my laptop.

Really, what were they thinking?

[Kaveh Vaghefi]

I found the link for the old version: http://downloads.atlassian.com/software/sourcetree/SourceTree_1.8.1.dmg

[Seth]

I can't help chuckling to myself, because the file selection UI you are describing has been the only UI ever available in the Windows version of SourceTree.

It is very annoying, the easiest way to find a specific file is to start typing its name into the search box. If you are focused on modified files, just set the filter to "Show Pending".

[Philipp Ringler]

IMHO that's no reason why Mac users should now put up with the limits of the Windows version.

[Georges Berenger]

So now, how do I revert to the previous version? I can't find it...

[Georges Berenger]

Yes, this update is maddening! Who the hell thought it was a good idea to make this change!

Reviewing diffs, mine or others', using the tree view is the single most important thing I use SourceTree for! In facts, most days, that's the only thing I use SourceTree for...

[Philipp Ringler]

I second that! Tree is gone, and column view is gone. I wonder how anyone can work like this??

See also: https://answers.atlassian.com/questions/289244/how-to-get-column-view-in-file-status-view-in-1-9-0