Scrivener has a strange way of applying and remembering formatting choices. Look at this example, which is a problem that has existed for a long time, and is still a problem in the latest RC2 version. This kind of thing makes Scrivener frustratingly unusable to me. Steps to reproduce:
Start a new, blank project.
Paste some dummy text.
Ctrl + A
Change to a different font.
Hit ‘Del’ or ‘Backspace’ to delete the text.
Start typing some new text.
Notice that the choice of font has gone back to the previous font.
Now try doing the same thing in Word, for example. Notice that Word correctly remembers the font you chose for that paragraph.
This is likely due to Scrivener’s file format. The change in font is an entry in a rich text file. Given the choice of RTF as the file format, I’m not sure this particular problem is fixable. When you delete everything from the scene, you delete even the font choices you made (as near as I can tell).
And as for “correctly” – if the Mac version does it this way, then that’s correct for Scrivener. Scrivener is not a word processor. It acts kind of like one, sometimes, and can be used as one, but don’t expect it to behave the way a word processor would.
The best way to keep your formatting is not to delete all the text. Just start typing your new paragraph right over the selected old text. This should work fine and keep the new font you used (just tested it, in fact).
New documents are set up to begin with the default paragraph style, but a font change affects characters, not paragraphs. If you delete all the character changes you’ve made (fonts), you’re left with the default style.
All speculation, of course… I’ve no idea whether this is the true cause.
The change that elwrin describes in RC2 is possible only when you have an empty paragraph. In this case the format changes will stick.
In RC4 we will provide an improved version, which will allow changing the paragraph formatting, if the selection includes the start of the paragraph, or an empty paragraph as before.
There hasn’t been any change to this in RC4. The same problem still exists.
The example I gave in this thread is just one example. Trying to set formatting in such a way that it sticks in Scrivener is just an exercise in frustration.
By the way, another separate thing: With a blank document that has nothing but a blinking caret, select a different font from the dropdown in the toolbar. Where did the blinking caret go? Try clicking again a few times in the body of the document to try to get the caret to appear. Where is it?
There’s no attention to detail in the development of this application, unfortunately.
Start of paragraph formatting sticks for all paragraphs(but the very first) when you select the first character of the paragraph. It does not stick only for the first paragraph in a document due to technology internals. You can make it stick with the first paragraph, only when the paragraph is empty and do the formatting changes that you need.
So in summary, the issue I reported in this thread you won’t fix. I wonder why you posted other nonsense about being fixed in RC4 when the actual issue I gave repro steps for you didn’t actually plan to fix. I also see that you failed to get as far as reading the second half of my last post. So I guess we also add ‘short attention span’ to the woeful list of shortcomings in the development of this application?
Yes, I replied to your sentence: “There hasn’t been any change to this in RC4.” which is not true. You will not get further replies from me. From your posts I see you can fix everything with a space bar.
Yes, I’ve given up trying to get a useful reply from you, Tiho - you’ve proven that you’re unable to read past the first sentence. Maybe somebody else can read and respond to the other stuff I wrote:
With a blank document that has nothing but a blinking caret, select a different font from the dropdown in the toolbar. Where did the blinking caret go? Try clicking again a few times in the body of the document to try to get the caret to appear. Where is it?
Yes, obviously, but that’s missing the point entirely. The caret is supposed to tell you, BEFORE you start typing, where your typing is going to appear. Not to tell you something AFTER you’ve started typing blindly. The fact that you can’t even recognize and acknowledge this is telling. I think the Windows version of Scrivener would be in a better place if it were being developed by developers who actually understood such basic concepts.
If you feel the program is not meeting your needs (which you glad-fully supplied) then it is time to be looking elsewhere as obviously this program is ‘definitely’ not to your liking. Beta or not.
