I use split view constantly, and would love to have whichever document I’m editing be highlighted in the Binder. (In other words, have the Binder be aware of what the currently active/“in focus” document is.)
Right now (and since the beginning, I think), whichever document I select in the binder remains highlighted, even when I move to the other pane and edit the “previously selected” document.
I am not talking about Scrivenings view or editing a “multiple selection”.
Ecstatically satisfied user for at least 10 years. So obviously I can live with this, if a pain to correct.
(Scriv 2.8.1.2 MacOS)
There are some sound and fundamental philosphical reasons for how it works now, including:
If the binder always selected what you were currently editing, it would have to expand groups you have collapsed, messing up your binder set up and taking too much control. The binder would jump and scroll around every time you clicked in an editor.
The UI is designed to run left to right, so right affecting left only sometimes would confuse things.
The selection in the binder is a very useful indicator of the last document you specifically selected, making it easy to return to (I find that really useful myself).
There is already an easy way to find whatever is in the editor - Reveal in Finder.
However, that said, Scrivener 3 has a solution: it has a secondary, more subtle highlight that indicates the document the focus is currently in. The binder won’t automatically expand to show it or scroll to it - you can still use Reveal in Binder for that - but it’s a really nice solution that provides the best of both worlds. (I can’t claim credit for it - I took the idea from Apple’s Xcode.) Hope you like it!
