First post as a new forum member - have loved Scrivener for years and I’m only interested in helping to make it even better than it already is.
The Dialogue Focus feature in Scrivener for Windows is superb, but it only seems to detect single quotes. The standard here in UK (as far I understand it) is to use single (smart) quotes around dialogue, and double-quotes for nested dialogue (i.e. dialogue or text quoted within character dialogue), so Dialogue Focus isn’t working on my draft.
I’ve tried using different smart-quote options within text substitution panel but nothing seems to work.
Am I missing something, or is this a tiny, wee, bug-ette?
I have noticed that substitutions sometimes (or always) become active no earlier than your next start of Scrivener. So, try to define a substitution, close Scriv, start it up again, and then see whether it works. Hope that helps.
Thanks, the inability to detect single-quoted dialogue is a noted issue with the dialogue focus feature. I’ve bumped the ticket to see what the status is on it, since the ticket itself was marked as being on hold for another more complicated problem to fix (bullets not dimming).
Hello,
I also have problem with dialogues focus.
In Poland we use pause (—) around dialogues (as in UK they use single quotes), so me too Dialogue Focus isn’t working on draft.
Is there a chance to include this when making corrections? Or give you the option to choose from which character Dialogues Focus will work?
(If the problem is already resolved, I would be grateful for your suggestion on how to fix it for me)
Hi, my problem is the same one that Ondyna mentioned in which we use (—) for dialogs. I looked for a solution and didn’t find it. Is there any setting to change the focus?
Exactly. When dash dialogue detection is added it won’t be a “smart quote” in the sense that it replaces quotes while you type. You type dashes yourself normally, and the Dialogue Focus tool will be capable of detecting them.
I am still quite new to Scrivener 3 and feel I am getting to grips with it now. Just discovered Dialog Focus and find it very useful. However enthusiasm tempered a bit when using it in my first project. I understood the the UK convention was to use single quotes to identify dialogs. However this confuses the Dialog Focus when the dialog includes apostrophes. For example:
'Really? I don’t fancy doing that … ’
The Dialog Focus sees the apostrophe in “don’t” as the closing quotation mark, so displays the dialog as:
Hi @AmberV
2 years later yet no news for this essential setting when proofreading the manuscript.
please can the staff explain why it’s not taken into consideration please ??
We are a lot of people waiting for this since… so looooong
Hello ! When can we expect some good news about the implementation of “–” in dialog focus pleaaaaaase ? It’s been asked for years now for the Windows version…
“–” is yet the marker for modern dialog…
Hello !
Sadly it’s not doable for the windows version yet…
When can we expect some good news about the implementation of “–” in dialog focus pleaaaaaase ? It’s been asked for years now for the Windows version…
“–” is yet the marker for modern dialog…
Hi !
you said that it’ll come soon in 2021… we are in 2024 !
Come on please !
When can we expect some good news about the implementation of “–” in dialog focus pleaaaaaase ? It’s been asked for years now for the Windows version…
“–” is yet the marker for modern dialog…
We do not publish a roadmap with time estimates, so as I said elsewhere in response to your query, it’ll show up on a the website change list when it is added. I don’t know where I said the word “soon”, but maybe I said it was bumped to the list for the next big update, which it still is.
Because I started this thread and so feel partly responsible for any comments made in it - Amber, you certainly never said “soon” or committed to any other firm timescale.
Personally, while I’m impatient to see this new feature, please remember, folks, that L&L are a small company doing what they can, and remain one of very few companies that still offer a one-off payment (i.e. no costly commitment to ongoing subscriptions) for what’s widely-regarded to be one of the best novel-writing applications available.
yet… this need for the dialog focus has merged more than 3 years ago
and two years ago and last year, when asked, Ruth and Amber kind of told that it was on the to-do-list. And I am happy to know it’ll come one day.
BUT… 3 years waiting for a tool that should be working is desesperating.
Suggied sorry for having invaded your post… but since I had no news on the other closed subject…
And for the record, as a lot of Scrivener’s user, I am not from an english speaking country… thus I can’t read the whole website change list and keep a track of every bugs and updates
That’s why I ask (when I wait for too long and feel that this request may somehow vanish of the company to-do-list)
I was thinking more of using Ctrl+F in your browser to search for the words “dialogue” or “dash” when a release comes out, rather than reading the entire thing every time. This is how I look for fixes in software I use frequently, I don’t read the whole list.
But good to know it will come at some point.