I would like to permanently highlight search results all at once. For example, if I do a search to find a particular word, Scrivener will highlight all instances of that word, which is fine. But as soon as I start editing, all the highlights disappear.
Now what I want is to be able to, all at once, highlight all the instances of that word in blue. Then do the same for another word and highlight it in yellow, and so on. That way I can “visualise” repetitions or spot specific problems all at once.
I could export the text into Word and do it there, but I’d much rather do this directly in Scrivener.
Try disabling “Typing clears search highlights” in the top-left of the Editor preference pane. This will not make highlights permanent in the sense like using the highlight tool, but they will persist for as long as you are in search mode, no matter what you do (and you can always return to search mode at a later time to see the highlights again, try opening the Collection interface so you can switch between tabs more easily).