Is there a possibility to quickliy, easily open a doc or folder in e.g. OpenOffice, LibreOffice , or so to edit it there?
As stated, what does this have to do with Scrivener? You can easily open those apps by, say, opening those apps in Windows. Even faster you can set these apps as default for their file types, and double-click the file in Windows Explorer.
If you’re trying to open a document from a Scrivener project, you can use the Sync with External Folder command to share files with other editing tools.
But if you want to right-click on an item in the Binder and open it in LibreOffice, the answer is (1) no, you can’t, and (2) why do you want to?
As stated, what does this have to do with Scrivener? You can easily open those apps by, say, opening those apps in Windows. Even faster you can set these apps as default for their file types, and double-click the file in Windows Explorer.
Sorry for my confusion. What does “As stated” mean here? What apps? Opening in Windows?
what does this have to do with Scrivener?
Well (I think I’m completely misunderstanding the question), as such a doc or folder is created and used in Scrivener I would think there is a connection to Scrivener here, so that is what this would have to do with Scrivener, I would say.
If you’re trying to open a document from a Scrivener project, you can use the Sync with External Folder command to share files with other editing tools.
OK, that sounds great, where can I find that command and what do I have to do to open a doc or folder with it and edit it then?
It means, “as you stated in your question” which had few details, and nothing about Scrivener and what/how/why you are doing something–needed for good responses from the experts here.
Menu: File → Sync → With External Folder … Details for how to use are surely in the “Scrivener Manual” so I won’t repeat here. Others may wish to elaborate here.
which had few details
Sorry, what more would be needed?
and nothing about Scrivener and what/how/why you are doing something
Excuse me, what?
I want to edit these docs, folders outside of Scrivener, in other programs because I cannot get to work some things at all I needed in Scrivener.
Details for how to use are surely in the “Scrivener Manual” so I won’t repeat here.
Yes, of course, or surely on the Internet or somewhere else. Many thanks!
How would I in Scrivener get a doc, folder open in an external program?
How would I find that doc, folder in the sync folder to open it with another program?
Does Scrivener automatically sync the files, folders after they are edited outside or do I have to do it each time manually?
Like… what exactly? Maybe we can help you get it to work inside Scrivener. 
In the External folder you defined yourself in setting up the process, you wil find numbered RTF-files you can open and edit in other programs. Scrivener will sync the changed files in the External folder on opening the program.
Thank you. Yes, that would be great. The lists for example. I cannot find a way to get more than one items together to the next or another hierarchy / level. Instead I had do move each single item manually.
E.g from https://i.imgur.com/6OSi7Jf.png
to
https://i.imgur.com/gYeGQB3.png
And I all the time get link foramating in different docs, folders. Do not know why.
Some screenplay formating I cannot get to work, respectively I cannot get these screenplay templates to work at all, e.g. getting the different formats (dialog, NIGHT / DAY, etc.) is extremely uncomfortable here.
And, since the last update, all the time / very often when I click a bookmark or a folder Scrivener greys out (“No response”), is not accessible anymore, I have to close it by clicking the red cross a few times or with the Tast Manager and restart all the projects. Is there a way to always start special projects with a single click or two or so (instead of having to open each one manually one after the other)?
I wanted to set references / links in texts that leads to other text in the same doc, folder or to phrases in other docs, folders in Scriv.
Or I have the same text in different docs, folders. And if I edit one of them the other(s) shall be adapted automatically.
And so on.
In the External folder you defined yourself in setting up the process, you wil find numbered RTF-files you can open and edit in other programs.
Yes, but how do I know what the content is as the files do not have common names / the same names they have in Scrivener? How do I find them. I obviously can set the option that Scrivener names the files with the titles they have in Scrivener, but it seems that might cause some confusion or another order within Scrivener?
Scrivener will sync the changed files in the External folder on opening the program.
So it is not synced immediately after editing?
Scrivener uses the numbers assigned to the items to determine the Binder order. So no, giving the files their Scrivener titles won’t mess anything up.
How could it? Scrivener is closed, right? When you open it, it sees that the Sync with External Folder option is enabled, then goes out and looks for changes in the External Folder.
How could it?
Sorry, I do not have any idea of coding. I would say by programming a function that would allow this.
Scrivener is closed, right?
No, it is not, why would it? I need the projects to be open.
When you open it, it sees that the Sync with External Folder option is enabled, then goes out and looks for changes in the External Folder.
And what if it is open and I edit a doc, folder outside of Scrivener?
Hi @Martyy,
If it were me, here’s how I would learn this new Scrivener feature:
- Read section 14.3 Synchronized Folders of the user manual.
- Create a new blank test project and copy in a few folders and items from the binder of my main project.
- Follow the instructions in 14.3 to set up & sync File > Sync > With External Folder for this test project.
- Using my third party tool, edit the test project files outside of Scrivener
- Follow the instructions in 14.3 to sync the test project files back into Scrivener.
- Open the test project in Scrivener to confirm that my changes were correctly processed.
- Come back here if I still had questions.
This is the approach I recommend for you.
Best,
Jim
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The programming could be done, but L&L has to weigh who would benefit from the changes against how much time it would take to program the changes. It is technically possible to write a background service, separate from the Scrivener program, that would monitor the external folders and sync files when changes were made, similar to how Dropbox, Google Drive, and other services work. But my guess is the effort to complete that programming is not worth it considering the few people who would truly need that kind of performance.
Hello Jim,
Many thanks, yes, that really looks like a very good approach.
But if it turned out before that using this option is not useful for me, that for example in order to edit outside of Scrivener I each time would have to close Scrivener, all projects or the one in question, using this sync folder option would probably not be considered in the first place and testing wouldn’t be necessary at all.
Yes, this is definitely a very common approach to programming, I would guess.
Well, if you do step #1 and read the 10 pages of 14.3 Synchronized Folders in the manual, that would answer this question and probably many of your other ones as well. My guess is that would take less time than you waiting for someone to answer you here.
Best,
Jim
It is not necessary to close the project in order to use this feature. You just want to be sensible about not editing the same item’s text in two different places at once, but that should go without saying. Refer to the subheading, Bringing Changes Back to the Project, in §14.3.2. There are two easy ways to sync whenever you want: via menu command (and thus a shortcut can be added) or by toolbar button.
In this case we do not offer anything like this because although Scrivener does use industry standard formats to save its data, we do provide a number of features that aren’t standard, and some that have been done in non-standard ways given limitations in the toolkit. Styles, for example, cannot be implemented the way styles normally would be, and instead use custom Scrivener codes you can’t see in Scrivener. Inline annotations and footnotes, inspector versions of the same, internal hyperlinks, images linked to the disk or to resources in the binder, and a few other things are tools that don’t exist in other programs or are done in other ways.
Opening a Scrivener .rtf file directly in LibreOffice could very well damage it, or at the least be confusing to work within, especially in heavily styled texts. There is also an opportunity of inserting unsupported formatting directly into files Scrivener assumes it manages itself, which could cause it to become unstable. When you import (or sync), these sorts of problems are weeded out and fixed. Even being very careful about it, you’ll run into constant problems with the search index getting out of date since LibreOffice knows nothing about editing Scrivener projects correctly and safely.
Folder sync on the other hand gives us an opportunity to make the file standard. That does mean if you make use of Scrivener’s extended feature set, you may find some things get “lost” in the translation. If you use for example, inline annotations and inspector comments, all will become one or the other upon syncing, because other programs do not have two different ways of adding notes. These issues are itemised in the Limitations subsection on this feature.
It is not necessary to close the project in order to use this feature. You just want to be sensible about not editing the same item’s text in two different places at once, but that should go without saying.
I wouldn’t actually think so. There must be (many) programs that can handle that, I would think. Especially when it is possible to let different people work on the same project.
So I quickly, easily could open the item I want to edit in another program within Scrivener? Eidt it, close it and go on editing the same item in Scrivener? Without having to start a snychronization? Or anything else?
Opening a Scrivener .rtf file directly in LibreOffice could very well damage it, or at the least be confusing to work within, especially in heavily styled texts. There is also an opportunity of inserting unsupported formatting directly into files Scrivener assumes it manages itself, which could cause it to become unstable.
So in no case one should edit, or even open, a Scrivener file with a word processor, if I understand correctly. I wouldn’t have thought.
That does mean if you make use of Scrivener’s extended feature set, you may find some things get “lost” in the translation.
That somehow sounds very unpleasant. What is Scrivener’s extended feature set?
Well, if you do step #1 and read the 10 pages of 14.3 Synchronized Folders in the manual, that would answer this question and probably many of your other ones as well. My guess is that would take less time than you waiting for someone to answer you here.
Yes, thank you, a good approach as well. The waiting time would not be that important here (more like efficiency), in that time I can do what I need / want to do (instead of just waiting). The time in which I have to be active to solve problems with Scrivener would be the time that I was missing, in which I cannot do what I actually wanted to do.
“Many” might be a bit of a stretch. There are some that do, but they have universe of code to make that happen safely. Most things, if you edit the same file in two different programs at once, one of them is going to clobber the other. Scrivener has snapshots to help protect against that, so there is that. It’s not a fatal problem if you do it, as you can compare the snapshot with the synced text and merge the differences yourself with copy and paste.
Whatever the case, you should never just assume that a program can elegantly handle the problem of another program editing its data while you simultaneously work on that same data in the original program. Always read documentation and learn whether or not that is safe. Like I said, it should go without saying. But maybe it shouldn’t?
I mentioned the bulk of it in my post. If you use linked images for example, expect them to be embedded after you sync. I find this feature works best in the early phases of the project, but that’s just me. I use it with Markdown editors, since drafting in Markdown is a lot easier in dedicated editors. After a certain point though, I stop using sync and do all editing in Scrivener, once I want to use these features I’d rather not lose in the round-trip.
This really isn’t that shocking or unusual. Try going roundabout with an RTF file using two different word processors, and you’ll see stuff change and get lost or “flattened” all off the time. Most word processors even warn you about it when you try to save. It’s just something to be aware of, something to prepare for and work around, if you intend to do a lot of editing of one source material in different programs. The ideal is to keep it simple so long as you are working that way, and once you need specialised tools that do not communicate between tools, stop integrating.
“Many” might be a bit of a stretch.
I wouldn’t actually think that at all. Just the (again) many types of production/organizational software that exist, e.g. movie production software doing such. But, however, for anti stretching purposes just let us say there might be one or two other programs doing that (if at all). I guess, it would not even be required that Scrivener had such a feature (for me - especially if everything worked as I wished within Scrivener). I just want write some textes. Respectively fast, easily edit some docs, folders. And I would edit them by doing it either in Scrivener OR outside of it, not doing both together “at the same time” / editing session.
Whatever the case, you should never just assume that a program can elegantly handle the problem of another program editing its data while you simultaneously work on that same data in the original program. Always read documentation and learn whether or not that is safe. Like I said, it should go without saying. But maybe it shouldn’t?
Yes, yes, that sounds very right, false assumptions will never be good and reading the manual (or asking in forums or searching on the Internet or watching videos, etc.) to get information about a software generally might be a good idea indeed. Or designing software so that it can be used as intuitively as possible and make the use of it as save as possible.
Like I said, it should go without saying. But maybe it shouldn’t?
Like I said, (kind of) may be it shouldn’t (if you referred this to the sync function). So such a sync function should be save, may be give a warning message (like other programs do, e.g. Notepadd++), if it detects changes on the file of another program. And if referred to being sensible (when editing the same file in two prograns), I would say, yes, that sounds like a good approach.
So it generally would be good if a software would take safety precautions in this kind, I would guess.
That somehow sounds very unpleasant. What is Scrivener’s extended feature set?
I mentioned the bulk of it in my post.
Oops, so Scrivener’s extended feature set does not seem to be that extended. Okey. So inline annotations and inspector comments. But what are the other extensions?
Bringing Changes Back to the Project, in §14.3.2. There are two easy ways to sync whenever you want: via menu command (and thus a shortcut can be added) or by toolbar button.
So you each time have to do it manually (and not to forget it or not to get confused if you make different (similar) edits, which docs, folders are already synchronized and which are not, etc. So one had to concentrate on that task. Could be unnecessarily distracting.
If you use linked images for example, expect them to be embedded after you sync.
Okey, but I am wondering if one generally would expect such when using such a sync function. But as long as an edit can be undone (in the external program), this edit can probably be undone again (in Scrivener) without any problems after the next sync, I assume.
This really isn’t that shocking or unusual.
The syncing behaviour of Scrivener? May be a little shocking. Unusual? Don’t know. Well, maybe not optimal. Or so.
Try going roundabout with an RTF file using two different word processors
Well well, doesn’t that sound like a completely different starting point?
and you’ll see stuff change and get lost or “flattened” all off the time.
Well, well, yes, I guess, that is not the way they are supposed to work like that (and what a user probably also grasps intuitively). But if they had a function that made that possible, they should (savely) work in this regard. Respectively they should give a warning (like e.g. Notepad++ does).
The ideal is to keep it simple so long as you are working that way, and once you need specialised tools that do not communicate between tools, stop integrating.
Yes yes, keeping it as simple as possible might always be a very good approach. if editing lists, keeping formats, etc. would work in Scrivener here, I would not use an external program. So it would be great, if I could do it in Scrivener. It’s just an unfortunate, very impractical, aggravating stopgap measure. Or something like that.