Randomize Document Order

[Zarquan314]

I use PDF XChange editor to grade digital assignments. One of the things I try to avoid is knowing which paper is which while grading to avoid bias. Unfortunately, by default, all the papers are in alphabetical order by last name, so I fear I may develop bias for papers based on position.

I was wondering if there is a good way to randomize the order of the tabs in the editor. Currently, I'm thinking of creating a script that I could use to replace the name of the paper with a random number which I would run between each problem graded, but I would prefer not to do that, as the names of the documents are important to the online software we use for assignment management.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello Zarquan314,

Thanks for the post and enquiry.
This is the first time I see such a request, and honestly - I do not think we have a way to do this randomization for you - as this is something that needs to be done more on the file system/file management level, rather than after files are already loaded in the Editor.

Kind regards,
Stefan

[David.P]

Hello all,

Maybe this is a possible approach:




Just make sure you don't hover with the mouse over the tab name, otherwise the file's (bad boy's) name will be displayed in a tooltip.

Cheers & Hth
David

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

[David.P]

Hello Zarquan314,

Unfortunately, by default, all the papers are in alphabetical order by last name, so I fear I may develop bias for papers based on position. I was wondering if there is a good way to randomize the order of the tabs in the editor.

Also, I believe that an alphabetical order of the tabs only occurs when the PDFs had been listed in alphabetical order in Windows Explorer when opening multiple PDFs.

When you sort files, for example, by size in Windows Explorer before dragging them to PDF-XChange Editor, the tabs will also be ordered by size and not by name.

Cheers
David

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello David.P,

Thanks for the feedback!
Hope it's useful to @Zarquan314!

Kind regards,
Stefan

[Zarquan314]

Thank you! That is much better than messing with the file names. Assuming I can make a script to change the document title.

I didn't notice that the file open order was based on the Windows order. That opens up some other options I will have to think about.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]