Activate auto-Complete

[johnro]

The update guide says “In the “Project” menu, “Meta-Data Settings”, “Auto-Complete List”, “Text Preferences” and “Set Selection as Templates Folder”/“Clear Templates Folder” were all separate commands in Scrivener 2. In Scrivener 3, all of these options are now set in a single Project Settings panel (Project > Project Settings…).”

My auto-complete list appears in the Project Settings, but it is not auto-completing in my text. How do I turn it on?

[anon56864026]

Did you try this from Section C.6 of the manual:

…Every project has its own stash of auto-completion phrases that you can make use of. By default these will never get in your way as you type (unless you are scriptwriting, where we find most scriptwriters prefer aggressive replacement suggestions), but rather will be shown after typing in a few letters and then pressing the completion shortcut, ⌥Esc…

EDIT to add what I’d forgotten:

There’s also this from Section B.6.4 (note the options circled in the added screenshot from Preferences > Corrections):

B.6.4 Auto-Completion
Word completion is usually used to speed up the entry of places and names and other common project specific terminology. However, it can be set up to use the entire language dictionary and attempt to complete every word you start typing.

Suggest completions as you type Enables auto-completion in general. When this is unchecked, no auto-completion will ever be dynamically per- formed, but you can always manually request word-completion with the Edit ▸ Completions ▸ Complete (⌥Esc) menu command.

Words will be presented to you in a list of narrowing specificity the more you type. Once you’ve narrowed it down to the right word, or select one from the short list, you can tap Return or Tab to select it and proceed on with the next word.

In script mode only Disable the auto-completion feature unless the editor has been set to script mode. This is the default behaviour.

Only suggest completions from custom auto-complete lists Restricts the auto-completion list to only those words that you have specified in the Project Settings: Auto-Complete List pane (Appendix C). When this option is disabled, the completion engine will attempt to find words using the exhaustive built-in language dictionary.

[AmberV]

I believe the above covers all of the salient points. As a side note, if you still have a copy of v2 floating around, you can save your preferences via the Manage… button in the Preferences panel from it, and then switch over to v3 and load your settings into the new preferences system. If you’ve tweaked little things like this over the years, that can get you a head start.

[johnro]

Thanks for your help. One box re scripts ticked in the general preferences, under the tab “auto-correction”, which has nothing to do with word completion. Too bad L&L fell on its face with Scriv3. I had read the manual portion you quoted but finally figured the problem out from your note.
Unfortunately, I threw away my copy of Scriv2, so I can’t roll back to it. Eventually L&L will probably get back to me and give me a copy. Then life will be good and my editor won’t be screaming, “Why can’t you just give the ms. in the format we agreed on?”

[anon56864026]

You’re welcome. I don’t know what’s generating your displeasure with Literature & Latte; that’s between you and you, or you and them. Just as a point of information––because of the multiple, recent changes, the support side of the business is currently quite busy.

You can get a legacy version of Scrivener here (you can use a Scriv 3 license for 2.9): literatureandlatte.com/legacy-download

When a Scriv 2 project’s format is upgraded to 3, by default a backup of the project is made first. See Section 5.1.5 of the manual:

…The first action that will be taken is to create a complete backup of the project in its current state in the same folder where the project is presently located. If you have a project called “My Thesis.scriv” in your Documents folder, then a backup
project called “My Thesis Backup.scriv” will be placed in your Documents folder prior to attempting the upgrade. This is your first layer of protection as that copy will be precisely the same as it was before starting the upgrade…

If you no longer have a backup or you’ve considerably added to the project, you have a specific option to export the project from Scriv 3 as a Scriv 2 project. I’ve never done it; I’d first do some research and then experimentation with a dummy project. The export option is in the Scriv File Menu: