Quick question: is there a way to hide columns in outline view? Right now I’m just dragging the columns I’m least interested in all the way to the right, but I wouldn’t mind getting rid of them.
You can deselect the columns you don’t want visible from View>Outliner Columns or via the little drop-down menu in the column header row, just above the scroller on the right. These work per-editor (and are remembered per-editor), so if you split the editor you could have just Title and Synopsis showing in one, for instance, and Title, Word Count, and Progress showing on the other.
Joy! Amazement! Happiness! What an incredible program!!! 
Jennifer, just to repeat - It would be REALLY helpful to have “Keywords” as an available column.
At present Outline seems to open with all available columns ticked (I may be wrong I tried to check but uninstall now leaves preferences in the Register so cannot check) .
Oh and another thing, meant to raise this as a seperate “bug”.
If you are in outline, and have drilled down a layer or two, then you go to editor, if you hit the back button, or go to previous, you lose your place and just go the default Outline view.
Probably not a bug but it would be a bit of programming that would be appreciated.
ATB
Steve
PS I think the Keyword thing should be in at 1.0 but maybe the going back to the right place could wait for 1.1 or so (not 2.0)
Keywords will be coming as a column, but I can’t say yet whether that’s going to make it into the 1.0 release. They’ll also be visible as color chips on the cards in the corkboard, so you’ll have access to them from all your views.
Thanks for the report on the outline view switching.
As I was planning to use them, not worried about color so much. The going back to where you were… is that going to come or will it always be back to a top level Outline view.
Once again you iz a star.
Well, with the color swatch there should be a tooltip so you can mouse over and get the actual text as well. Cards are pretty small, so this is the best way to display the information.
The outliner should remember which containers are expanded; that’s a bug, so it should be fixed for release.
Dear MM,
did I understand it right, that when I choose which things I didn´t want to have displayed in the outliner view and Scrivener doesn´t remember/save that, that this is a bug?
And if so, should I report it in the Bug Forum or is it already noted?
Thanks as always,
Sarah
Just to add my two cents, hoping I don’t muck up the conversation: I deselected all the columns I didn’t want in outline view, and then didn’t use it for a bunch of days. Now when I open up my document, all the columns are selected again. I seem to recall that when I was actively using the outline, the selections persisted, at least for that session. Whether or not it’s a feature or a bug, I would strongly vote that the default behavior be for Scrivener to remember which columns are ticked and unticked, and to save those preferences with a project and/or a user. It’s a drag to have to unselect so many columns every time. 
Yes, if your columns aren’t being remember in the editor, that’s a bug. The settings are project-specific and editor-specific, so setting you apply in one project have no bearing on another; likewise, settings made in one editor split won’t affect the other split. This means also that if you set up the outliner one way, then split the editor so that Split A is the one showing the outliner the way you like it, then maximize Split B (so there’s no longer a split) and view the outliner, you won’t have Split A’s settings. This lets you have two different outliner set ups for different needs, but if you’re just clicking around and opening and closing splits you might end up thinking you’d lost settings.
The settings should also be remembered with the project so that when you next open it, the outliner columns are the way you left them.
Ergo, if this isn’t the behavior you’re getting, then there is a bug and if you both could post the steps so I can reproduce what you’re seeing, that would be loverly. You can just post it here.
I think I’m understanding this better-- I notice that in scrivener, where there are multiple windows that can be navigated (outline, notecard, editor) I sometimes end up using a keyboard shortcut that leads to unexpected results. So I think it’s possible that I created all my outline view settings, and then lost them by opening a split. I will play with it and see what I discover. Can I ask you this: if I create an outline view that shows columns abc only, and then open a split, will the new window show abc until I change it, or does it automatically open as abcdefg? Because if that’s the case, I can see that it would be much too easy to inadvertantly wipe out your settings, but opening a split, and then maximizing the second window…
Yes and no. Let me try to explain this better:
Scrivener remembers each of your split settings even when the split is not open. Essentially, regardless of what you see, there is always Editor A and Editor B, and each of them retains its own settings for things like outliner columns, header and footer visibility, and the ruler when in document mode.
So let’s say you open a project and you’re just viewing a single editor. You set that up one way. We’ll call this one Editor A.
Now you create a split. Editor A remains as it was, pushed over to make room for Editor B. Editor B either has its own settings from when you last used it or else, if you never made a split in this project before, it’s just got the default settings. (For the moment let’s ignore the fact that sometimes the beta updates made changes that reset defaults in spite of your having previously done something.) So at this point, although you’ve set up Editor A to only show columns abc in the outliner, Editor B is showing abcdefg.
If you maximize Editor B, so you’re back to a single editor, you’re still using Editor B’s settings, so you’ve got abcdefg in the outliner. However, you can open the split again and Editor A will still have its columns remembered. You can mazimize Editor A then and return to a single editor using Editor A’s settings.
So you don’t wipe anything by opening and closing the split; the settings are all still there, and you just need to switch which editor you’re using. Does that make more sense?
Perfect sense-- and than you so much for taking so much time to reply! It makes me almost afraid to ask a question, for fear of wasting your time! 
Two related questions:
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Is there a way to set default settings for columns? I only ever care about a handful of variables, and can’t imagine wanting to change them. The current default, which seems to be “all on” is time consuming to change.
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How do you know which editor you are in, a or b?
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(I lied) If you are sharing a document between two scrivener installations (laptop and desktop), do the outline settings travel with the document? (I now think you may have already said they do, but, just in case…)
THANK you.
No worries!
Agreed about the default; this will change so that only a few of the most commonly used columns will be on by default.
That said, the “default” is defined by the template you use, so you could create a custom template with the outliner columns set up the way you want and then use that for your new project. (You can also set up labels, binder items, whether keywords are displayed on index cards, etc.–all project-level settings.) I am noticing in testing this that the outliner columns don’t seem to want to stick straight away, which is buggy, but you should be able to make it work by switching the editor view to corkboard or document after you’ve set up the columns. It just seems not to save properly if I assign the columns and then immediately do Save As Template.
Anyway, to make your own template you can either start fresh with the blank template or one of the others you use regularly or make a copy of a project you’ve already customized and use that. Set up the project the way you’d want it to look when you first create a new project–so if you’re using a copy of an existing one, you’ll want to delete all the documents and text that are specific to that project (hence using a copy!). Then you can use File>Save As Template… and give your template a name and description, assign it to a category, and choose an icon for it if you wish. Your template will then be available from the start-up menu, and you can even use the Options menu to “Set Selected Template as Default”.
And just a teaser, there will be a Layouts feature coming later that will let you set up different layouts and save them, including which columns are visible in the outliner, so you’ll be able to easily switch between different settings in all your projects.
You look to see which columns are visible in the outliner. 
In all seriousness, the differences that distinguish “which editor you are in” really are just the settings applied–it has nothing to do with the documents that you’re viewing–and so that’s how you tell them apart. There’s not an actual Editor A or Editor B label. I suppose maybe something could be added that would show you a list of the current settings for each split all grouped in one place and perhaps show you which settings you’re using, but that’s probably got limited use and I’m not sure how it would fit in the interface or how doable it would be. Once the Layout Manager is implemented, that will probably alleviate the need for this, though, since what you’d really want is not so much to know which group of settings you’re using (presumably you’re only wondering because they’re not what you expected) but to make those settings instantly what you wanted them to be, and that’s what switching layouts will do for you. You’ll be able to just load your saved settings and be exactly where you want to be.
Yes, the information is saved inside the project itself so it will travel. I won’t swear that this is working perfectly yet when working cross platform with a Mac, need to double-check (it should be, if it isn’t), but any combination of Windows and Linux should be fine.
Dear MM,
thanks so much for explaining in detail how the outline thing works.
I didn´t understand that before and thought that the outline wasn´t saving the selected options. Now I see, that it does save right.
Thanks,
Sarah
I observed the following:
Settings for the outliner are always reset to default if you don’t use the outliner while working on your project. Try this:
- Switch to outliner view and customize your settings.
- Switch to corkboard view.
- Close Scrivener.
- Reopen the project and immediately close it again.
- Open the project again and switch to outliner view. Settings should be reset to default…
This affects both editors.
Aha! Bug. Thank you!
Dear MM,
I tried what Nemesis said and Scrivener did the same. I´m on Windows 7 (Laptop), if you need this information.
Thanks for all the work the Scivenener team is doing .
Sarah
Me, too. THANKS. Your descriptions were thoughtful, and thorough, and I have bookmarked this thread so I can come back to it when I get confused, which I surely will.