Feature Request: Customizable @-Mention Search Priorities and Preferred Tables

Superhuman Ask the Community
1

Feature Request: Allow users to customize @-mention search priorities

Problem

When using @-mentions in Superhuman Docs (formerly Coda), search results are presented in a predefined order, with people and pages frequently appearing before table rows.

For users who rely extensively on table-based references within their documents, this creates unnecessary friction and significantly reduces the efficiency of the writing experience.

Use case

I maintain a centralized glossary (ABC) in a dedicated table within my document. This table contains terminology and definitions used throughout our internal policies and procedures.

While writing these documents, I frequently insert @-mentions referencing specific glossary entries.

This functionality is particularly valuable because readers can hover over a referenced term to view its definition without leaving the document.

However, when I type something like @b, the search results initially show numerous colleagues and pages before eventually displaying relevant entries from my glossary.

Finding the correct reference can require extensive scrolling or typing additional characters, interrupting the writing process.

Suggested improvement

Allow users to customize the search behavior and priority of @-mentions.

Ideally, this would include:

  1. Customizable result priorities: Allow users to determine whether people, pages, tables, or table rows should appear first.

  2. Preferred tables: Allow users to designate specific tables as preferred sources for @-mentions.

  3. Contextual search: Introduce an option to search directly within a specific table, for example by using a syntax such as @ABC:term.

  4. Persistent preferences: Remember these preferences at the user or document level.

Why this matters

One of the key strengths of Superhuman Docs is the ability to combine structured data with traditional document editing.

Using table rows as inline references creates powerful opportunities for interactive documentation, particularly for policy manuals, compliance frameworks, knowledge bases, and internal procedures.

However, the current search behavior makes this functionality unnecessarily cumbersome.

Workarounds such as manually copying row links or navigating back and forth between pages defeat the purpose of having an efficient inline referencing system.

Expected benefit

Giving users control over @-mention search priorities would significantly improve the writing experience, especially for organizations using Superhuman Docs as a centralized knowledge management and documentation platform.

Even a relatively simple option to prioritize one or more specific tables would already make a substantial difference.

2

Hi @Jelle_Hordijk! Welcome to the community!

I checked internally, and we have heard similar feedback about making tables and rows easier to find in the @-reference menu, including requests to sort and make table names searchable. I don’t have a confirmed roadmap commitment or timeline for customizable priorities or preferred tables today, but I’ll add your glossary use case and suggestions to the existing feature request and keep tabs on it with the product team.

A few workarounds that may help in the meantime:

  • Give glossary rows a distinctive display value, such as “ABC · Term,” so typing the prefix and term narrows the results more quickly.
  • Type more of the exact row name to reduce competing people and page results.
  • Use the glossary table’s search to locate the row, then copy its direct link. This is not as seamless as a rich @-reference, but it can reduce scrolling.
  • If you’re referencing glossary entries from another table, a relation column provides a table-scoped picker and retains the row preview.

I agree that even a simple preferred-tables option could meaningfully reduce friction for glossary and knowledge-management workflows. Thanks again for the request, and I will update this thread if there is any movement.