I primarily work in Windows, but bought both versions of the software so that I can also work on these documents on my Macbook.
Yesterday I opened one of my projects on my Mac and now the formatting is weird when I open it in Windows. I can’t size any of the sidebars and the Menus appear as floating windows rather than connected to their main topics.
Any ideas how to go back to the Windows version? If this is how it is, I’d rather stick with my Windows computer.
Thank you.
Cary
It is not unusual for the font to change when switching platforms, that can even happen between Mac and iOS; that’s a problem that goes back decades as nobody can agree on how a font should be referred to, basically. Best option there is to experiment with fonts and see which ones stick. I recommend picking about half a dozen or so, that you like, putting them all into one text entry in your binder, and then transfer the project back and forth, making sure to edit that file so that each platform changes it. That will help you find which will stick round-trip.
As for the rest, that sounds way beyond the realm of what is normal. I do see window layouts sometimes not changing in a fashion that I would expect, but never in a way that would cause the menus (are we using the same word for that, the strip that has “File”, “Edit” and so on along the top) detach, or splits to get jammed.
You should try using the File ▸ Close Project and Clear Interface Settings menu command, on Windows.
Otherwise, for the more routine layout shifts, I use saved layouts on each platform to reset the window to how I want it there. In most cases I want it slightly different anyway on account of different screen sizes. You can read more about this feature in §12.3, Saved Layouts. It’s very useful for way more than just correcting platform stuff!
P.S. You titled this post as related to iOS, which wouldn’t under any circumstances change your Windows layout, that’s impossible. However your post content indicates all of this has to do with Mac/Win transfer, so the above mainly addresses that.
Thank you - and I apologize for the confusion. I did not mean iOS - I always say that when I actually mean just the Mac interface.
I don’t mind the font switching - that does not concern me at all. When I saved the file to a new file from the Windows computer again, the problems went away, so I am using that version. But that isn’t a viable long term solution.
I am not seeing the File > Close Project and Clear Interace Settings menu option on the Windows version. All I have File > Close Project and File > Close All Projects.
The biggest problem I can see at the moment is that the menus (yes, the File, Edit, etc.) now appear to be floating (until I save from the windows version using another name). Not only are they floating , but they are locationally disconnected from the top level and hard to get to.
I am very committed to Scrivener - I love it. And I have a history in software, so if you want me to send you a document with how to recreate this, I can attempt to do so.
I will look into the Saved Layouts also.
Thank you for the quick response.
What version of Scrivener are you currently using on Windows? The latest is 3.1.5.1, which you can verify from the Help menu, via “About”. I don’t recall when that troubleshooting command was added, but all that does is delete the “ui.ini” file from within the Settings subfolder of the project, which needs to be done with the project closed. That will restore all of the project’s layout settings to factory default.
I don’t mind the font switching - that does not concern me at all. When I saved the file to a new file from the Windows computer again, the problems went away, so I am using that version. But that isn’t a viable long term solution.
I don’t quite know what all of that means in terms of menu commands used and such. What “file” is being referred to here, the whole project folder? If so, how was that saved? I don’t know what interface-causing gremlins wouldn’t transfer from one project to another if you duplicated it, but maybe you’re referring about something else.
It hasn’t been added to S3 for Win yet—probably implemented in the next version awaiting release.
No, according to my records it has been in the software since beta.
However, I did just notice that if I use the mouse to click on the menu, rather than using AltF, then it doesn’t show up unless holding down the Alt key to click.
Go it (with its own shortcut). Thank you.
Sorry for the confusion - you’re right that my use of the word file was very confusing.
I could explain more, but I don’t think I will. I will find a workaround so I can keep using the software. Probably will just stop opening the same file in multiple operating systems.
Update: I just Alt-F to find the option to clear the interface settings and did that.
Then I opened the file on my Mac (It is a huge file - 125,000 words), made a change and saved it.
Then went to my Windows computer and opened it there and it was fine. YAY!
Who knows - maybe it was a fluke. But thank you so much for the quick responses!
I’m not surprised! On the whole we have pretty good feedback on cross-platform usage. There are certainly things that could be improved (like for instance if you don’t ever use toolbars and hide them to reduce visual clutter, you will find they always come back after editing on Mac, which is infuriating to me), but wild interface-breaking stuff—you may be the first to report such a thing.
Anyway, glad to hear it is working better now. The Layouts trick I shared may still be useful to you, as will throwing a keyboard shortcut on the Documents ▸ Convert ▸ Text to Default Formatting... menu command.