I’m still pretty new to Scrivener, so this is the first time I’ve tried to have image files in Scrivener. I added some jpg files (since normally they’re buried and hidden in my harddrive), but I’d like to have the option to edit them after putting them in Scrivener, so I started looking for a way to do so.
Scrivener seems to be able to let me do this via the Open > Open in External Editor, but when I click on it nothing happens. No message, no other programs open, etc. Is this normal or am I just doing something the wrong way?
Let’s test the other way this can be done, the menu command is a longer way of doing this anyway if you’re going to be reaching for the mouse (it’s mainly there for the keyboard shortcut). If you’re going to use the mouse, you might as well use the button in the footer bar of the editor. You should see it on the right-hand side, it looks a bit like a generic “application” with an arrow indicating to send the picture to this generic application. If you click that, does anything happen?
I tried that, and it worked. And now the way I was trying to use works too. So problem solved I guess.
Though are psd files supposed to show like jpg files or does Scrivener not support psd files? Is there any way to choose what program files are opened in or can Scrivener only open them in the default one?
PSD files aren’t supported in the editor, so these will need to be opened externally. At the moment there is no way to specify the external program from Scrivener–it just uses the default per your Windows setting–but down the road this is something we’d like to add.
MM, do you mean you guys want to add the ability to pick what program, or do you mean you want to add picking which program and previews for psd files? I know Scrivener editing psd files won’t be added, that would be a bit silly since there’s lots of other programs that already do that, but just seeing a preview or thumbnail would be nice sometimes at least in my case.
Either way, I agree choosing which program would be a nice addition when there’s time.
Sorry, I meant adding the ability to pick which program to use for opening a file externally. There are no plans at the moment for adding the ability to preview a PSD file, though it may be something that could work in (much, much down the line) depending what utilities are necessary to make it possible. I don’t have Photoshop installed, which presumably would affect this–are you able to preview the .psd files in Windows Explorer?
No, you can’t preview .psd files in Explorer, even with Photoshop installed. Apart from other Adobe products, such as Bridge, other art programs like Gimp and Autodesk, and Quicktime, most programs are unable to preview .psd files.
OP, my work around for this is to open the .psd in Photoshop, save a flattened version as .png or .jpg, and then transport that into Scrivener and stack it with the link to the .psd. You should be able to create an action to do this automatically - if you don’t know how, I can probably whip one up for you (depending which version of PS you’re using).
It’s complicated, but I had to do the same thing in Word and other writing programs if I wanted to include the .psd image anyway.
Actually, yes PSD files can have a thumbnail in windows explorer, you just need a 3rd party program to do it. Adobe got all bridge happy and decided to try to force windows to not show the thumbnails that are saved within the PSDs (to try to make people “need” bridge). Instead adobe tried to make windows use the logo, but (as far as I understand) these third party programs work by telling windows where the thumbnails actually are in the files. I don’t know how complex these programs are, but since the one I use installed from small files and doesn’t effect my computer’s performance, they can’t be that big.
I don’t think having PS on the computer in question is the issue. For example, Picasa (and its image viewer) can see a thumbnail if the PSD was saved with max compatibly on. Picasa is made by google, and I’ve read online about other people who don’t have PS but have PSD files that have thumbnails in Picasa.
I know that I can make simple actions to save out png/jpg/etc. from PS to try to get thumbnails, but I don’t think doing so is worth it.
