I’ve just gone to look in a folder that recently had many folders and subfolders, and all I can see in it is five text documents, one of them empty. No Trash icon, no Draft folder, no Research folder. Most of the files that were in there are gone, and all of the folders.
Can I undo this? It contains records of work, and current work, so it’s important.
I opened another project, which should have about 100 book reviews and lists of books I’ve requested from publishers, phone numbers and emails of publishers, etc, and it shows only six cards on the Corkboard, nothing in the Binder. This is looking nasty.
Oh wait, got them back. I don’t know what it’s for - but I clicked an almost invisible little flower-shaped icon on the bottom right of the Binder, and it brought back the folders and files. Whew!
But what happened?
I can only think you mean the gear with the contextual menu, but that shouldn’t have had any effect. Was the binder striped when you had the problem? It sounds as though it may have been in a search. It might be good idea to refresh your memory of the Tutorial, or go over the introductory video and some of the other tutorials here:
I noticed your question about label colours in the other thread, too, so I definitely think refreshing your memory of some of the more common elements of Scrivener (such as labels, status, searching etc) could help. I hope you don’t take that the wrong way - it’s just that the help materials do explain some of this stuff and although I am always happy to do my best to help, the Help files, tutorial and video tutorials are where I’ve explained many of these things the best I can. The tutorial and introductory video also goes over some of the interface elements you’ve been asking about.
All the best,
Keith
Had you done a search?
Sounds like you ran a search, which hid everything not part of that search, and then negated it, letting all your files be viewed again.
Yes, I think Caradee has the right answer here, as the ‘X’ button could be describe as being somewhat like a flower. Did the button disappear after you clicked it? When you do a project search, the Binder is temporarily hidden and displays only the search results. To dismiss search results, you click that ‘X’ button (or clear the text out from the toolbar).
I suppose I should look at the tutorials again, but they’re kind of endless, and I tend to doze off after a bit. If they were broken up into tiny tutorials on specific things, it might be easier.
I couldn’t see what the thingy was that I clicked on - it was almost completely invisible against the white of the Binder.
No, the binder wasn’t striped.
Sorry, but it’s really not fair to expect myself or other users to walk you through using the program if you can’t be bothered to go consult the Help materials yourself. They are not “kind of endless”, and there is a search function in the Help file. As I said, simply going through the tutorial project (which takes less than an hour) or viewing the introductory video tutorial (which is all of 13 minutes) should get you up and running. Please don’t ask questions without trying to find the answer yourself first. Once you have gone through the tutorial again and viewed the video I suggest, let me know if you’re still having problems with this or the labels issue.
Regards,
Keith
OK. I went obediently to the Videos and Tutorials page and clicked on the ‘large’ link for ‘Setting Up Your Writing Environment’. It briefly showed the QuickTime logo, then cleared.
Five minutes or so the page told me it had loaded. It showed the Scrivener logo and the word ‘Importing’. And that was all she wrote. No movie.
Ah, wait, that’s the one above it. The way it’s laid out, it looks as if it’s the ‘writing environment’ one.
“Less than an hour” to watch the video tutorials? That’s two-thirds of the length of 12 Angry Men! No human being, as far as I know, wants to watch any tutorial for an hour.
Right, I’ve tried three times to watch that movie, but even when I change the screen resolution (which made the broswer crash three times), I can’t see it; it’s too small. I’ll try downloading it and watching it as a Quicktime movie…
No, less than an hour to go through the interactive tutorial, the one that teaches you how to use the program and learn all its main features - the project available from the Help menu. The video tutorial I directed you towards - the first one, the introductory one - is a mere 13 minutes, as I clearly stated. None of the video tutorials are very long, and excepting the introductory one they are all broken up into specific topics so that you can refer to them only if you want to learn more about a particular aspect of the program.
The only required tutorial is the interactive tutorial project available from the Help menu inside Scrivener (Help > Tutorial). Once you’ve been through that, you should know most of what you need to use Scrivener. Everything else is supplementary. That is the one that takes “less than an hour”. And I would say less than an hour to learn the main features of the tool you use for your writing, something that you do every day, is hardly unreasonable - especially if it will save you hours of posting on forums asking questions you wouldn’t need to ask had you been through it, and using hours of other peoples’ time to get answers already readily available. 
I tried to watch the tutorial on setting up your writing environment, and had two problems with it (apart from the multiple crashes as I tried to set the screen to a size where I could see it).
The first problem was that even when I downloaded the tutorial and ran it as a QuickTime movie taking up most of my screen, I could not see what the mouse cursor was doing. It’s probably fine for people using 32" screens; I’m using a 13" MacBook.
Even so, I did get some useful tips for the first couple of minutes. After that I was lost. It just had too much detail, too fast.
I’ve watched the introductory tutorial several times over the year or two that I’ve been using Scrivener, and have found the same problems - it’s probably great for someone who already knows the program well, but I honestly do not find it helpful.
I’m not saying this in any spirit of hostility, but as the plain truth.
Repeatedly asking users to watch tutorials that they do not find helpful, and scolding them for asking for help when they don’t find help in the helpfiles are not strategies that will make people use the program to its best advantage.
I do not readily ask for help, in fact; I asked the question about the corkboard because someone else who also uses Scrivener felt that she’d been sent away with a flea in her ear when she asked about it. The other questions I have asked this week have been ones that were not answered in the helpfiles.
I will certainly not rush to ask any further questions, and since the tutorials are of virtually no use to me - I can’t see them, and they don’t answer my questions either - I won’t have any way of getting help, apart from asking other users on other fora.
I’m sorry you don’t find the tutorials useful - a lot of thought and work went into them.
Just to clarify (again), the best way of getting familiar with the program to begin with is not the videos, but the interactive tutorial project (Help > Tutorial from within Scrivener itself).
I’m closing this thread as I feel it is not going anywhere, and sadly it seems that you are determined to dislike the Help files and tutorials no matter what. I’m afraid that as a team of only two, we are unable to offer one-to-one tuition which is why we do our utmost to provide extensive help in the forms of an interactive Scrivener project, videos and Help file, and we have never had a complaint of this magnitude about the accessibility of any of these sources of Help before. Obviously these user forums exist so that you can get help and support from fellow users too, but it is only fair to other users to try to find answers on your own first before asking for help.
All the best,
Keith