Custom metadata - can "checkbox" type items be grouped?

Scrivener Scrivener for macOS
1

I’m using Scrivener 3.0.1 on a Mac running High Sierra 10.13.2

I have been trying out v. 3’s new custom metadata options, and I was hoping to be able to create a type that would constrain the choices, like “list” – but allow multiple selections, like checkboxes.

Similar to…

Notes received

  • Reader 1
  • Reader 2
    Reader 3

…where Readers 1 & 2 would be checked, but Reader 3 wouldn’t.

I know I can already add multiple checkbox items, but I would like to group related checkbox items, so another group, for example might be for “Drafts sent to”. I know I could make a “text” type custom metadata and just add entries, but I’d rather be able to check off recurring items than have to re-type them for every document. If I make such items (like reader names) a “list” type, I’m limited to selecting only one item from the list, but allowing multiple selections from a list type would solve the same problem a slightly different way.

I think it’s just not possible (and have scoured the manual and forums), but before I go submitting it as a feature request, can anyone tell me how to do it if I’m wrong?

2

Absolutely! This is the first thing I found deficient about metadata.

I immediately wanted to produce a list of topics salient to my book (2nd Law, least action,shortest path, prediction,learning,fitness,information theory, computation theory,topology,arbitrary boundaries, causality,locality,domain independence, latency,emergence) and then I want to select multiple items as befitting the section or chapter to which I’m attaching that metadata.

Same for characters list (Thelma, Louise,Jimmy,J.D.,Hal) or in my case, (Einstein,Darwin,Bohr,Boltzmann,Shannon,Susskind,Carol,Aaronson,Schrödinger,Carnot,Turing,Gödel,Dawkins,Hawking,Brooks,Whiley)… obviously i want to be able to attach multiple characters as metadata to any particular document.

Sure, one can do this with keywords but a simple misspelling or alias or synonym will really screw up the works.

Also, and correct me if I am wrong, but it doesn’t seem that metadata applies to text selections within a document? Does it? It should if it doesn’t.

Thank you, Randall