Scrivener is great! I’m so thankful for and happy with this amazing creation of Literature and Latte. And I hope to enjoy Scrivener for many more years to come!
I’m convinced that Scrivener is able to offer a solution for just about every problem an author might come across. And while searching the web for a timeline solution I came across this article:
This solution makes use of Custom Meta Data and the option to sort documents in the Outliner view by clicking on the Custom Meta Data column. Unfortunately this is only possible for the MAC version.
So I would like to suggest to offer the Windows version the same option. It would be great if a collection can be made and viewed in the Outliner view with the option to sort the documents of that collection by clicking on the columns. That way, a Collection can be made to function as a timeline without reordering the Binder as the writer of the article mentions. And with Keywords and the Search function several Collections can be made to display timelines for different characters or plots.
I’m looking forward to hear if this is a possible solution. Thank you in advance!
So good to hear about that plan. A lot of Windows users will be extremely happy to hear about that.
Do you have some sort of roadmap for that? It’s nice to know a bit about when the MAC functions will be available for Windows. Are you planning to wait for a major upgrade with all the changes at once? Or smaller updates with a few changes per update?
Of course you understand the reason for me asking is to know a bit more about when the option to sort by columns in the Outliner view will be available for Windows users. This will help me decide if it’s better for me to invest the money and time (for the learning curve) in Aeon or wait till the Windows version has the option to sort by column. Because as soon as it does, I won’t be needing Aeon for my purposes.
I’m sorry, I can’t offer any schedule information.
I think it really depends on your timeline. If you need the feature now, you’re probably better off going with Aeon Timeline (which I believe does have a free trial). If it’s a “nice to have” that doesn’t really affect current projects, that’s a different situation.
Seconding a request for the ability to sort by column in the Windows Outliner. This seems like such natural, expected functionality, I was surprised to find it doesn’t work.
FYI, custom meta data is currently supported in the Windows, but not sorting it. So one can do a portion of what you are requesting. I use it for what I think of as multi-column outlining. I own Aeon Timeline, but haven’t got around to really trying it out thoroughly to see if I want to incorporate it in my workflow. It (version 2) apparently can work/interchange with Scrivener projects. viewtopic.php?f=18&t=32005&p=201403&hilit=multicolumn+outline#p201403
Since sorting on outline columns is a feature of the Mac version, and Scrivener for Windows and Mac are heading toward feature parity,* your wish is already part of the plan.
best,
gr
Which I guess is like saying: if they can do it they will do it and are doing.
Yes, sorting custom meta-data is on the Windows to-do list. Also, the next major versions of Scrivener for macOS and Windows will support more types of custom meta-data (namely dates, pop-up buttons and checkboxes). Oh, and this:
I’m actually having to maintain a list of valid values in a document to keep my usage of custom metadata consistent, so I’m really looking forward to pop-up buttons!
So should we assume that we will eventually get other things that were said to never be incorporated into future versions? Do we just have to ask enough times for them to be implemented?
This will help me decide if it’s better for me to invest the money and time (for the learning curve) in Aeon or wait till the Windows version has the option to sort by column. Because as soon as it does, I won’t be needing Aeon for my purposes.
