Since I had quick success with my first question…figured I’d try to get a second in while the fire’s still hot.
Was wondering if anyone could explain to me how exactly the Auto-Complete List works in Screenplay mode? Been trying to accomplish two things via the Edit > Edit Auto-Complete List… fuction:
When writing dialogue have character names automatically alternate on tabbing or at least prompt me for auto-completion after having typed the first few letters of the character’s name.
Have specific scene heading elements (e.g. Moments Later, (O.S.), (O.C.), [Driving], [Mid-Air], etc.) auto-fill or be prompted for completion after typing the first few letters.
As I understand it these lists are unique to each script/project so I’d have to tailor them to each one. That’s fine. However I’m finding that even though I’ve added a ton of names and scene elements to to the Edit Auto-Complete List… I’ve never seen an auto-complete prompt for any of my custom words I’ve added. So right now I’m stuck typing out each character name in full each time I change characters.
So I have to ask…what am I doing wrong in my case? There’s gotta be a better way. Any suggestions on getting something close to workable in this regard?
Thanks again in advance to all who can offer tips/help!
As noted in the other thread, you have to make sure that this option here:
…is enabled; by default, it is not. This lets you have separate auto-complete lists. The one in the pictured tab will add words for all projects in the Scene Heading mode, while the one in the Edit menu is project specific, but universal to all entry modes so long as you have that option enabled for them. So it follows, you also have to enable this for all of the text modes that you wish to impact. The image above shows the Scene Heading entry mode. For Characters, you’ll need to select that mode in the left list and then enable the same option as show above. That global list ought to be empty by default (Scrivener doesn’t assume any common names for all users; though in Scrivener 2.0, it will supply some common short-hand defaults, such as (O.C.) and (CONT’D). For now you’ll have to add those by hand if you want them).
As an aside, you should already have “MOMENTS LATER” available for the Scene Headings type—that is one of the available defaults. You might also need to enable “Automatically show completions” in the Text Editing tab of Scrivener’s preferences. With that off, no automatic suggestions will ever be made, and you’ll have to access the list using the keyboard shortcut, Opt-Esc.
Thanks so much AmberV! Again my apologies for not doing a more thorough search. I was searching for more along the lines of an alternating-character/dialogue feature and I guess somehow never stumbled across the other thread you were alluding to. My bad. Also meant to say AT THAT MOMENT rather MOMENTS LATER…
Anyhow thanks so much for the screenshot and clear explanation. It was exactly what i was looking for. Now I have autofills coming out the ying yang…sometimes even when I don’t really want them to pop up!
e.g. In instances where two similiarly-worded names exist in the custom character List (e.g. POLICE OFFICER and OFFICER CUSSACK) you get prompted twice in the Character field and if you don’t ESC out of the second prompt you end up with POLICE OFFICER CUSSACK after auto-complete is said and done. Same deal with scene headings… AT THAT MOMENT often ends up to be AT THAT MOMENTS LATER.
Be careful what you ask for I guess…Lol. Can’t wait to see how v2.0 improves on the screenwriting functionalities of an absolute essential writing app nonetheless. Thanks again.
p.s. I also tried to use the Load from Final Draft FDX… in the lower-left manage drop-down but it didn’t seem to work the way I thought it would and didn’t import anything thing from the FDX.
Not a problem, I was actually assuming from the way you phrased the introductory paragraph, that you were just referring to the other thread on auto-completion that was going on, but it really is a kind of out-of-the-way feature to describe and search for, so no worries. I didn’t get that you were actually asking for automatic-alternating and not completion. As far as I know, Scrivener does no such thing and there isn’t any way to emulate it, save for completion.
Glad you have it working now! Even if in over-abundance. If anything 2.0 will allow an even greater amount of abundance, for those that want it.
I can’t really help you with your postscript, unfortunately I don’t have a copy of FD and so really have no material with which to test the various conditions with. Hopefully one of the screenwriters on the forum will notice and jump in here.
Again my apologies for not doing a more thorough search. I was searching for more along the lines of an