Bug in 3.5: "Find" is broken [in Quick Reference windows]

Benjamin621 · October 4, 2025, 8:24am

Hi,

I just installed the 3.5 version minutes ago – on Sequoia 15.6.1, Macbook Air M2.

Searching is broken if you’re using Quick Reference documents.

When you do Cmd+F, it doesn’t search in the document you’re seeing in front of you, like it did before.

It searches only in the background document that is selected in the Binder – a document you are not even seeing. Makes no sense at all.

If you have opened a Quick Reference document opened in front of you, then in practice, Find simply doesn’t work.

It’s a crippling bug: Cmd+F is a basic, necessary functionality.

Please fix as soon as possible.

Thank you very much.
Best regards,
Benjamin

xiamenese · October 4, 2025, 9:57am

Confirmed, but in my case:

M2Pro Mac Mini
Sequoia 15.7.1
Scrivener 031025.zip version

Open quick reference panel
Click Cmd-F
Find dialog opens
In the panel, I can type in a word to search for and a replacement, and select/deselect Ignore diacritics, but the various buttons are greyed out.

Mark

auxbuss · October 4, 2025, 4:21pm

Yeah, I’m seeing that too. But with a bit of clicking around, I can get search active, but as the OP says, only for the background editor.

Weird one that. And can imagine quite frustrating when it’s your usual workflow.

jcarman · October 4, 2025, 5:35pm

Same behavior here, MacBook Pro, M4 Max Tahoe 26.0.1

AmberV · October 4, 2025, 9:08pm

Thanks for the report! We just got note of that the other day and already have it written up.

yaoyaozijing · October 5, 2025, 1:58am

When opening a new window, the focus does not switch properly.
It seems this issue is not introduced by macOS 26, as I did not reproduce the problem when testing Scrivener 3.4 on macOS 26, but it appeared in 3.5.
I want to know why.
Perhaps the new version needs more testing and bug fixes.

jasondm007 · October 14, 2025, 10:27pm

By chance, @AmberV, is there an ETA for when this bug will be patched?

I don’t mean to be pushy, but I rely on the Quick Reference / Find feature quite a lot, and this bug has made it pretty difficult to work since updating to version 3.5.

If a patch isn’t coming anytime soon, is there an easy way to roll back to a previous version of Scrivener without the issue—like version 3.4?

Thanks so much for your help!

kewms · October 15, 2025, 4:15am

If you’re not using Tahoe, you can just download and install Scrivener 3.4 from here:
https://www.literatureandlatte.com/downloads/Scrivener_3.4.0.zip

If you’re using Tahoe, you might want to read the 3.5 release notes first. Unfortunately there’s a tradeoff between fixing this issue and exposing yourself to a variety of Tahoe compatibility problems. Release notes are here:

Benjamin621 · October 15, 2025, 6:57am

I agree, the bug is central, the developers should fix it quickly.

I went back to 3.4 on day one because I’m still on MacOS Sequoia. But those who’ve installed MacOS Tahoe apparently can’t do that.

So for those who use Quick Reference windows, Scrivener has no “Find” feature: it’s crippling.

Scrivener is the reason I’m not updating to MacOS Tahoe.

jasondm007 · November 3, 2025, 7:32pm

Thanks for your help, @kewms! Since I’m on macOS Tahoe—and you mentioned there might be other issues I could run into—I’ve been hesitant to reinstall the old version of Scrivener (3.4). But at this point, I may not have a choice. One of the main reasons I started using Scrivener was the ability to open and use Quick Reference panels while working in the main editor—and being able to use the search function within those panels has always been a key part of that. Now that we’ve lost that ability, I’m really struggling to use the app effectively.

Do you know if there’s going to be a patch for this anytime soon, or is that functionality permanently gone from Scrivener (at least for now)? I don’t mind rolling back to the old version temporarily, but I’d rather not do that if it’s something that may never get fixed. And since it’s been a few weeks now, I just wasn’t sure if—or when—this might be addressed.

Lastly, if I reinstall the old version, will it mess up any projects I’ve worked on in Scrivener 3.5? I’ve got some massive academic projects with thousands of footnotes, so that could turn into a real nightmare.

As always, thanks for your help—I really appreciate it!