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Is there a way to do "free form" scratch work math in Lyx? I'd like to be able to do math scratch work as if I was typing in a Word document where I could freely make a new line and add arbitrary spaces/indents whenever I want. As far as I can see, when I'm in math mode or an equation enviroment in Lyx, my ability to move the cursor around is pretty limited. I know I can make a new line in an equation/align environment and use latex tricks like \quad but it's still not really "free form"; all the math is in these restrictive boxes. Is there a way to get this?

I've heard Scientific Notebook allows for this sort of capability, but I'd like to stick with Lyx if possible.

Thanks!

Smithey
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    I hope that LyX never will try to implement such "free form" maths, because then the exported LaTeX code will be not garbage, but the next. Export from LyX to LaTeX is one of the few format conversions that produce clean code. Let's not mess it up. In Insert → Formatting you have much spacing options than Quad, even custom verticual and horizonatal spaces, but if you use this often, most probably you are formatting in the wrong way. – Fran Feb 27 '23 at 19:45
  • I don't want to export to latex or pdf. I just want to write math scratch work in Lyx. Some people can write their math scratch work with pencil and paper. That doesn't work for me. I want to use a computer to write my scratch work. Thanks for tip on Formating! – Smithey Feb 27 '23 at 22:59
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    If you just want to use LyX as an editor, you can follow the suggestion over here: https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/152001/264024 , it won't allow "normal" spaces inside math formulas, but it will allow for free spacing and line breaks in the standard layout, which you might find more comfortable. – Udi Fogiel Feb 28 '23 at 00:00
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    You can define a keyboard shortcut to insert the space \, or ~ that will be used to add arbitrary spaces where you want. – Andrey L. Mar 02 '23 at 14:16

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