Scrivener is a gem. Thank you again and again for this incredibly usefull tool! I have one BIG wish: working with split windows in editing mode is suboptimal. Why? Because I have to click every time in one of the 2 windows to make it “active”. Further more, it is not very well visible, which of the 2 windows is active and so it often happens, that I click on a document in the binder, because I want to check it out in, let’s say split-window 2, but in fact the document appears in split-window 1, where I was actually writing. This is an absolute killer for the writing process, because I have to get my writing document back first in window 1 and then look again for the other document.
Would it be possible to implement a feature like “mouseover activates split windows”, so that a split window is automatically activated, whenever the mouse pointer is moved in that window? Or did I overlook a setting in the preferences…?
Hi Emanuel,
I know that you can lock a document in place by pressing alt-cmd-L (and unlocked with the same combination).
Doing so will prevent that document from changing based on where you click in the binder.
In my brief experiments it didn’t seem to make where you click in the binder automatically open in the alternate window (you still had to give the alternate window focus first), but its a start at least.
Someone else might be able to point you to an easy way to solve this as well, which would interest me.
Matt’s tip is excellent; lock one of the windows. Usually I lock the draft on the left side and use the right side to rove among notes. As for which window is active, there’s a visual clue in the title strip; the title text is underlined. Note also the arrows, which will take you back and forth among the items you viewed in that window. Early on, I had some of the difficulties you’re experiencing, but with practice I rarely mess up, and if so, it’s easy to restore the item that I want in the window.
Split Locking and History (Cmd-[ and ]), as already mentioned, are your friends!
You can use Cmd-Opt-Ctrl-E and R to go back and forth between splits, too, by the way. You needn’t stop typing to use the mouse.
You’ll get used to that underline cue under the title with time. It is subtle, but rightly so. The interface stays clean, and once you are familiar with it, remains very informative.
The split with the focus has its title underlined in the header (as Amber says).
You can also set it up so that only one of the split views is ever affected by changes in the binder if you so wish, using Binder Affects (from the View menu). You can even set it up to work like a traditional 3 pane outliner if you so wish (using a combination of Binder Affects and Selection Affects Alternate Editor…).