I just saw that it’s possible to organize the corkboard into a timeline – on Windows.
Is this possible on Mac as well, or do I have to stay on Plottr?
Mac Scrivener supports the Corkboard Label view, but neither Mac Scrivener nor Windows Scrivener supports a true timeline view.
Aeon Timeline works with both Mac and Windows, and integrates with Scrivener projects.
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When in Corkboard view, there is a button in the footer bar (right hand side) for “Arrange by Label.” Enabling this gives you a “swimlane” view of your index cards where the lanes are determined by the label assigned to your docs. As kewms says, not a timeline, but might be of interest to you.
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Hi kewms,
Thank you for your reply. As you can see in this YouTube video @1:53, Scrivener for Windows has a Timeline view which is activated by clicking a ‘thread’ icon.
The function looks very much like that of Plottr’s – but I can’t find it in the Mac version.
Oops, forgot the YouTube link – here it is: Scrivener 3 for Windows: Top 10 Best New Features - YouTube
This is not a true timeline.
What I mean is that the left right position is determined by binder order, where the up/down position is by label. Just like it has been described before.
An out of place document (a flashback out of chronological position in the binder, to put it this way) wouldn’t find its proper place in this “timeline”.
But it is close enough for a writer’s need if you ask me.
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Ah okay, thank you gr! This may be what the YouTuber means…
The YouTuber describes it as a “Threaded Corkboard,” which is a more accurate description than “timeline.”
And yes, Mac Scrivener has this feature as well. Use the View → Corkboard Options → Arrange by Label command, or the icon at the bottom right of the Corkboard view.
For future reference, forum users (like me) with little shields next to their names and Scrivener-icon avatars are Literature and Latte employees. We aren’t perfect, but we do tend to be pretty knowledgeable about major features.
Thank you, Vincent_Vincent!
Agree, as long as all documents are color-coded and in chronological order in the binder, the results should be quite similar to Plottr.
There’s no option to name each timeline or to insert cards directly in the timeline, but it’s definitely usuable. 
The lines are based on assigned Labels, which you can name in the Project → Project Settings → Label List pane.
Double-clicking on a line will create a new card with the appropriate label at the clicked position.
The YouTuber describes it as a “Threaded Corkboard,” which is a more accurate description than “timeline.”
Here’s how the YouTuber describes it: “This organizes my corkboard into a timeline”
Double-clicking on a line will create a new card with the appropriate label at the clicked position.
Thank you, just tried that and it works. However, it can’t be undone.
But perhaps that’s just in my version (if you’ve seen the other thread I started a few days ago, you’ll know that there are some Undo bugs in my version of the app).
Thanks for sharing that video.
The YouTuber first describes the Arrange by Label feature as a “threaded corkboard”. That is an accurate description of the feature.
Later the YouTuber verbally describes the feature as a “timeline”. This is accurate only if the documents in the Binder happen to be arranged chronologically.
Best,
Jim
Creating a new card equates to creating a new document in the Binder, which is not an undoable action. If you decide you don’t want the new document/card, just delete it.
I didn’t watch the whole thing, but “timeline” is not – on either Windows or Mac – an accurate description of the feature.
Thank you, JimRac – yes, it was the word ‘timeline’ that got my attention, because this is something that’s really important to me as I’m used to working in timeline-based apps for both movies and music.
But again, since I’m going to use Scrivener entirely in a chronological fashion for one literary file at the time, this is going to work fine for me.
Agree, but as other users suggest it’s actually pretty close, at least for my purposes.
So I’m guessing that I’ll be able to keep everything – plotting included – within Scrivener, which would be really helpful.
I just want to be very clear about what to expect. People have yelled very loudly in the past when what they thought was a true timeline turned out not to be.
It’s a shame the Label threads aren’t labeled in the display. You have to mouse over them to see a tool-tip with the name of the label. It would make it easier to use if the lanes had a persistent legend. (Mac version)
You can turn on the option to “Show Label Colors Along Edges” under View → Corkboard Options if that helps.