Subset - Docs

Read on to learn how to save, share and search with Subset.

Getting Started

  • Found something interesting on the web or in an app?
  • Tap the iOS Share icon (square with up arrow) for that item.
  • Select Subset from the row of apps to save it.
  • Add a public or private note / paste excerpts / edit the title.
  • Tap the iOS Share icon in the top left of the sheet.
  • Select elements to push to other app / tool / service.
  • Tap "Push", select the relevant target and complete the action.
  • Close by tapping "Done".
  • Later, open the main app.
  • Tap the magnifying glass on the toolbar.
  • Type a word from the saved item's title, URL, notes, excerpts or share records.

Save

  • A saved item in Subset is a unique URL.
  • There are four ways to save items to Subset:
    • Via the Share Extension on the web or within an app
    • Single: in-app, tap "+" and paste a single URL
    • Multi: in-app, tap "+" and paste text with multiple URLs
    • Fetch: in-app, tap "+" and paste a target URL to retrieve links from
  • Multi and Fetch additions initiate a review screen, including the ability to name an addition and add a note to every added item.
  • Each addition type is searchable (e.g. "src:fetch").
  • Add public and private notes to each saved item, and paste in excerpts.
  • Tap "Get title" to retrieve the title from the URL or tap "Edit title" to customise the current one.
  • "Clean URL" makes it possible to remove specific fragments and parameters from a URL (e.g. remove "#section" or "?si:sfk4334nc2").
  • In the list view, swipe actions are available for opening the link, pushing and sharing it (swipe right), as well as deleting, archiving and marking unread (swipe left).

Share

  • Subset users must connect with one another to share.
  • To do this, tap the two-people icon in the top right of the main screen.
  • First, "Edit connect alias" to something your peer will recognise.
  • Second, "Get connect code" and share it with your peer via a secure channel (e.g. WhatsApp, Signal).
  • Third, ensure your peer has received your code and vice versa; now, "Paste connect code".
  • Important: both peers must have received and pasted their codes for sharing to function.
  • At any time, you may disconnect asymmetrically from a peer, making it impossible for you to receive their shares.
  • You may also, at any time, favourite, archive or delete a peer, change their alias on your device, or merge two peers into one.
  • Once connected, select the share action (two-people) by swiping right in the list view or tapping the detail view toolbar.
  • You will then be able to choose which peers to share the item with and select the elements to include (public notes, excerpts, a unique share note).
  • Share records are automatically created for every outbound share; inbound shares will trigger a push notification and result in the creation of an additional share record (or the creation of an item if you haven't already saved it).
  • As well as peer-to-peer sharing amongst Subset users, you can also push saved items to other apps, tools and services.
  • Swipe right in the list view and select the iOS Share icon (square with up arrow) to trigger a push. Select the elements to include (public notes, excerpts, a unique share note) and complete the action.
  • Successful pushes will result in the creation of a new push record.
  • The Share Extension also allows you to link a share record to a share action.
  • To do this, go to the result of your push action on the web or in an app and open the Share Extension. Select the link icon at the top to see a list of recent pushes and choose the record that corresponds with the outcome.
  • That share record is now linked with its outcome, so you can return to it via the "..." context menu of that share record at any time.
  • Subset includes a custom, full text search engine.
  • For basic search, just tap the magnifying glass in the toolbar and type a term.
  • Field-specific search examples include "u:term" (URL), "t:term" (title), "n:term" (notes), "e:term" (excerpts).
  • Date-specific search, examples include "c:YYYY-MM-DD" (created on specific day), "m:-7d" (modified in the last 7 days), "c:>YYYY-MM" (created after specific month), "m:YYYY-MM-DD/YYYY-MM-DD" (modified between specific days)
  • Multi-term searches are implicit AND searches by default, but AND, OR, NOT and NEAR operators are available and can be combined.
  • "!" is available as shorthand for the NOT operator (e.g. "technology !AI").
  • To see the full search guide, tap the circled-''i" on the keyboard toolbar when entering a search term.
  • Searches that result in an action (detail view entry, go-to link, an admin operation, a share, a push) are automatically logged as views.
  • Searches may also be manually saved as views by tapping the viewfinder icon on the keyboard toolbar when entering a search term.
  • To see your views, tap the viewfinder icon on the main toolbar.
  • Tapping a view activates the logged query.
  • Swipe left to favourite a recent view or delete it.
  • Swipe left on a favourited view to unfavourite or delete it.
  • Favourited views can be renamed by tapping the pencil icon.
  • Favourited views can also be set to "CLOSED" state. Views are "OPEN" by default (the same query is run again on activation). "CLOSED" views, in contrast, resurface the specific results at the time the query was last executed.
  • You may activate a view and then add a search term (e.g. "v:unread t:ai").
  • You may also swipe left on an item whilst a view is active and tap the eye-cross icon to hide it from that specific view.