Is it possible to set items in a certain group or folder to always open in a specific editor?
For example, in my current project, it would be helpful if items in the Draft folder always opened in the left editor, while items in the Research folder always opened in the right editor. Then I would be able to navigate in both folders easily without having to think about what I’m doing.
I tried locking one of the editors in place, but it doesn’t really work how I’d like, as it doesn’t allow navigation in that editor without unlocking it.
Yes, locking is more of a workflow tool than something for one-offs. For that, try holding down the Alt/Option key on your keyboard, when clicking on anything you want to load in the split it otherwise wouldn’t load in.
Another workflow level tool are the options in Navigate ▸ Binder Selection Affects. But these are again toggles, and not something that would change depending on what you click on specifically. So I don’t think that will be useful to you for this, but they are certainly good to know about.
For the current project, I’ve also found that using the navigation button/menu in the Header Bar of the right editor also works well if I view the items I need in Research in Scrivenings mode. Then I’ve collapsed that folder in Research in the Binder to make it less likely that I’ll try to navigate to those items using the Binder. And then I have the Binder set to affect the left editor.
Though I still think it could be a useful feature in general to be able to set a preferred editor for items in a certain group or folder.
A neat trick there is that if you toggle to Outliner view in your right split (Ctrl3 or ⌘3), and then arrow key or mouse select where you want to jump, using the shortcut to load Scrivenings will scroll you to that spot. All three view modes are navigation-coupled in this way when you switch between them. I use this capability a lot, as I have very large outlines and tend to keep the binder collapsed down to only the topmost levels. Most navigation I do is within the splits or between items as Bookmarks.
Though I still think it could be a useful feature in general to be able to set a preferred editor for items in a certain group or folder.
I suppose if any arbitrary folder could have that designation, it would make more sense. As originally put, it wouldn’t really work well with the design of the software. You can have hundreds of top level folders that aren’t the Draft. Research is almost more of a suggestion, or usage prompt, than a feature.
Overall though, it feels like a lot of overhead for something that can become habitual, or second nature, with alt-clicking. Speaking for myself anyway, my brain just tells my finger to hold that button down when I want to reference something, wherever that something might be. Having to set it up, and then tear it down when I’m no longer wanting it to work that way, would be more work.
I can see that. I think for me, it would be on a per project basis, and in some projects I might not use it at all.
The current project relies on/reuses a lot of content and data from a previously finished Markdown project that I had finished years ago outside of Scrivener. I had been referencing it using another app over the past week or so.
But today, it occurred to me I could easily import into Scrivener under Research. It’s worked really well so far, and I no longer need to switch back and forth between apps. The organization of the two projects is pretty different, which why navigating through them separately is helpful.
Learning all these tricks is making it smoother. Thanks again.
