OS 10.12.6
Editor window split. Document open in top, Portion of outliner in bottom. Focus is on a document synopsis in the lower pane, which is being edited.
If I just click in the top pane, focus does not change to top pane if I click past the margin set for the text. There are only three ways to change the focus to that pane: clicking in the pane’s scroll bar, clicking in the text margins, or clicking the pane title bar. Since most of my scrolling is done with the mouse, I rarely use scroll bars. I’m not editing text, I’m looking for things to include in the synopsis. It would be nice if any click, anywhere in a pane, activated focus for that pane—especially without setting the insertion point unless in the text margins.
As it is, I’m clicking … not scrolling … clicking again … not scrolling … triple click, still not scrolling. Grrr. Precise click, finally scrolling. Time lost: minor. Concentration: lost. Irritation: increased.
May I ask what sort of mouse you’re using, and how you’re trying to scroll? I ask because I just tried this with 3 different pointing devices.
I noticed that I didn’t need to change focus to the editor pane in order to scroll. If I merely placed the pointer over the text area and used an appropriate scrolling gesture, the contents scrolled. I did this by using the two finger scrolling gesture with an Apple Trackpad, a one finger scrolling gesture with an Apple BT mouse, and the scroll wheel of a Microsoft style wired mouse.
I don’t dispute that you need to switch focus in order to do what you’re trying to do, I’m just confused as to how you’re trying to scroll the text in the second pane that requires switching focus.
All that aside, there is another way to switch focus that won’t set an insertion point. Try using the ctrl-tab key combo. Repeat until the pane you want has focus. (It may take more than one try if you have Binder and/or Inspector open.)
I hope something in here helps!
EDIT: I see you’re using MacOS 10.12.6. The ability to scroll a non-focused pane may not be in that version. If so, please consider the ctrl-tab combo.
In addition to the Ctrl+Tab shortcut, which cycles through open elements, Navigate > Move Focus To includes commands and shortcuts to jump to a specific area of the interface. Ctrl-Opt-Cmd-E will focus the bottom editor, and Ctrl-Opt-Cmd-R will focus the top one.
You can also use the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl-Opt-Cmd-Up/Down to scroll the other editor without changing focus. (These and additional commands are under Navigate > Editor > Other Editor.)
Finally, for the specific case of clicking into the editor, it looks like the behaviour here is a bit inconsistent, so I’ve made a note to look into that. In the meanwhile, though, try enabling either View > Text Editing > Page View or the fixed width editor with the centred option enabled (under Appearance:Main Editor:Options in Scrivener > Preferences). With either of these, clicking into the margin or even the editor background behind the page will switch focus to the editor, and in Page View, clicking into the background will focus without moving the insertion point.