Let me start by saying that, as a writer, you’ve really hit the nail on the head with Scrivener. It’s exactly what I need and I’m very happy with all the functionality that’s already been put into the 1.0 version.
That being said, I had one wish list suggestion for a 2.0 version should you ever get around to making one (I understand from your stickies that you’ve decided, rightly, to return your focus to your writing).
Would it be possible to change the Export Draft interface from a checkbox based system to something like the iTunes Smart Playlist ‘rules’ interface? Or the Mail.app filter rules interface? I’m a complete noob at developing for mac, so i have no idea how easy or difficult such a thing might be but I think it would be a powerful feature to add.
This would allow people to export drafts based on the keywords that they’ve set, or based on projects/labels. Heck, considering the statistics features you’ve provided, you could set an export rule that exports only files that contain the words ‘rush hour’ or ‘Oberon’ (or both).
It’s nothing like a high-priority feature request, but I think it would go a long way towards leveraging the great work you’ve already done with keywords and projects/labels. It is often useful to export files in much the same way that one can currently use the ‘edit scrivenings’ function to view a story ‘thread’. I might want to export only the story arc of one, or two, characters in my novel. Or perhaps I only want to export all the scenes/chapters set in Russia. This would give me that flexibility.
Thanks again for a great app! And good luck with your writing projects!
Someone else also suggested something like exporting by label, status or keyword, and I think ultimately this would be a great way to go. It would be a pretty big task, though, so this would definitely be more of a late 1.x/2.0 thing - something to think about when I come around to revising major features rather than adding smaller ones and tweaking. It would have to be done right, so it’s not just the development side of something like this but also the designing side.
Like I say, though, I do think this is a very good idea for a future version, so I’m adding it to my “for serious future thought” list.
I wonder if, perhaps an easier way of doing this would be to simply have the export sheet pull its data from the current QuickSearch results, when one is active, instead of the hidden Draft. Then you need not duplicate the UI work. Or rather, the selection drop-down at the top would have a special “QuickSearch Results” selected when you first open the pane, but you could still select from the Draft if it was not your intention to print the search results. The “QuickSearch Results” option could remain in that drop-down, though disabled, to help cue the user to the ability.
Another advantage is that it would allow the printing/exporting system to hook into the save search system. You could save work jobs; double-click on them; export and be off.
Some other UI elements could be used to help accentuate the ability. If it were dropped into the current design as it stands, it would be awfully obscure.
Amber, that sounds like a pretty good idea. The reason I proposed the ‘smart rules’ interface is that it also allows one to specify multiple criteria. So if searches could be defined either in the Spotlight query way (which already exists in 1.0) or by opening a more advanced search panel and defining criteria, that would be amazing. I’m not sure I understood that from your post, maybe that’s what you mean with the ‘Quick Search’.
It would indeed make sense to have a saved search/quick search function that could be accessed by the exports pane…but the multiple criteria aspect is what would really rocket this thing into orbit for me!
I’m wondering if I’m being at all clear in the previous 2 paragraphs, but I hope you catch my drift!
Thanks again for all the hard work you guys have been putting into an already brilliant app!
