I want to customize the format bar. For example, I would like to include buttons for things like Strikethrough and such, so that I don’t have to press the hotkey or select it from a menu.
How can I customize the format bar? I see how to customize the toolbar, and, strangely, a few formatting options are available there (like increase or decrease size). But surely there must be a way to customize the format bar in the way specified, similar to how the toolbar can be customized, by adding button shortcuts?
I am surprised about this. I haven’t been able to figure it out, and that’s surprising too.
I have a bat and am prepared to swing it. What are we whacking?
Scrivener is NOT a layout/word processor in designed for final formatting. Most users that need that level of control while inputting text to scriv either use MMD or custom shortcuts (OSX allows manages this, not scriv). Give the latter a shot. It might be what you are looking for.
OK, fine, but the thing is this.
The formatting options are there in the format menu (and via keyboard shortcut, some of them). So it would be great to have these things also available on the format bar. There is a format bar.
The other menu bar is customizable, so why not also the format bar? It’s a great idea.
I’m a total fan, I’m just offering a suggestion for improvement.
For example, on the menu bar, there’s the option to make text bigger and smaller. It might be more logical to put that on the format bar (it is, after all, accessed via the Format menu).
There are so many customization options. It only makes sense to also be able to customize the format bar. Believe me – I’m in no way asking for more formatting options than scrivener already has. But it would be great to have more (or most) of the formatting options available via the format bar.
The hold-up with this specific aspect of the software is not a conceptual one. I don’t think anyone would be able to produce a strong argument for saying the Format Bar should not be customisable, it’s just that it can’t easily be, given its underlying technology used to create it, and providing a format bar that is customisable would require more work than would really be worth the effort (as nice as it would be, so that should put into perspective how much work we’re talking about).
In fact, the Windows version does have a fully customisable format bar, with buttons for nearly all of the main formatting commands. So again, it’s not that there is a conceptual opposition to the problem, it’s that on the Mac, this is a somewhat fragile manipulation of the built-in formatting controls provided by the text engine.
This is also, incidentally, why there are bizarrely out of place formatting commands in the main toolbar.
Update: I stand corrected, it is apparently common for some formatting commands to be in the main application toolbar, but not all. I do not attest to being a toolbar expert, myself.
