firstly please can I say that Scrivener is the most amazing brilliant intuitively sufficiently complex fantastic piece of software, and having discovered it realise I cannot do without it, Thankyou sooo much.
Now I know the philosophy behind trash first. I do get it. I have probably hundreds of documents in my trash, and searching for something I remember I did is great and realise I might want it after all. I probably need to manage my trash better. But it would be good to have a keyboard shortcut for instant delete. I am willing to take the hit for team self-responsibility ! bw
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While this doesnāt directly address your request: in case you donāt know about it, there is a way to clean up your trash without discarding everything. If you select stuff you know you absolutely donāt want, right-click on the selected items and use the āDeleteā command from there.
Combine that with switching to Outliner mode, adding modification date as a column, and sorting by it, you can probably get rid of a bunch of ancient stuff you donāt need without spending too much time on it.
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FWIW all the menu items are available in Scrivener to subserve a keyboard macro for this.
A) Select document in Binder for incineration.
B) Invoke kbd macro to operate the following menu items:
- Documents > Move To > Trash.
- Navigate > Reveal in Binder.
- Edit > Delete. (You will get an āAre you sure?ā)
- Personally, I think āinstant deleteā is not a good idea. You have volunteered to be responsible for the mistakes you would make with it yourself, but will you also take responsibility for the pain and suffering of all the people who would accidentally delete portions of their lifeās work?
Maybe just empty the Trash sometimes? Or just donāt worry about it?
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Iāve created myself a folder at the bottom of the binder. I named it āKept just in caseā.
When I right-click move a document to trash, if worthy, I rather move it to this folder. (The folder is accessible from the right-click menu. More often than not, since I donāt usually move files this way ā via this menu ā, it is the one occupying the āmove to [ā¦] againā spot. So quickly accessed.)
Doing this, I have no issue with simply emptying the trash folder blindly every now and then.
(I donāt honestly think LL will ever implement such a request. Way too on the potential user error side.)
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thanks All ! I am a process fiend. Minimise unnecessary steps. Stay concise. If itās still in your project itās still there to distract, a bit like those tendrils of guilt that Douglas Adams talks about. I would still preferā¦ If in doubt, Trash. If committedā¦ Option (whatever) trash = delete (with warning prompt, itās still one decision, one time). One step to either keep the distraction just in case or commit to the decision, Then what is left is fewer distractions. Is my way of thinking. When you then delete trash later, you have to make the decision all over again, with less immediate context, more chance of error at the end of the process. and more search results to check in the meantime, because if its in the trash and youāre not going to look at it anywayā¦
If by āsearch resultsā you mean Project Search, you can set it to Exclude Trash Documents.
While I actually agree with this point, after following L&L all these years, I know they will never implement something like Instant Delete, because what a customer support nightmare that feature would be. If I felt strongly enough about that functionality (I donāt) Iād implement a keyboard script as per @grās suggestion. I suggest you DIY if you feel strongly enough about it; the end result should give you your Instant Delete with one key combination and one confirmation prompt.
Best,
Jim
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Thank you all. especially for the macro tips. I think we may have to agree to disagree. I guess that people write in different ways. Many may write in long chunks. I tend to think for a few days, then sit down and it all comes tumbling out in a flow. I chop it up, rearrange, and some stuff is more clearly destined to go forever at that point, and some may be useful later. I would love to be able to make the decision once, when I am in the flow and focused to be able to make the best decision. Trawling through clutter later is where greater error lies, at least for me.
I am not asking anyone else to change their work flow, and L&L is fab at corralling us into a good backup ethos, and I am sure we all do this well. It is quite hard accidentally to invoke a more complex specific keyboard alternative than the one you meant to do. And then still delete it after a prompt anyway. Other software I use has this function. Perhaps the option could be absent at default, user-definable (clear demonstration of specific intent if invoked), or a systems preference opt in. thanks you all for the contributions.
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Postscript:
I am surprised to learn that people actually go through their Trash folder before they empty the trash! I would never do this in my kitchen and I donāt do it when I empty the MacOS Trash, and I canāt imagine endeavoring to do it before emptying the project Trash in Scrivener.
When I put a document in the Trash its life is forfeit. When I empty the project trash (not often) I do it with a clear conscience and donāt give it a second thought.
My project Trash is not an opportunity to second guess what Iāve thrown away. The only reason I ever go into the project trash is when I realize I did something stupid and am there to retrieve a specific doc.
Best Wishes!
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Yeah, this got a laugh out of me. Thanks for that!
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There are people who use the project Trash as a repository for deleted scenes and other stuff they might like to save.
Personally, I do not recommend this. There are a variety of circumstances in which you might want to bulk-delete the Trash without sorting through it first. Usually because you accidentally imported a bunch of problematic files, Scrivener is choking, and you need them gone but now.
Scrivener will let you create as many folders in the Binder as you want, including one for deleted scenes. Save the Trash for actual trash.
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OP anonymized at their request.