I REAALLLY love the QuickRef windows, but I was unclear about this bit from the manual…
[size=85]QuickReference panels use the floating system attribute, which means they will hover
over all windows on your system, including other applications. This makes them useful
as collection bins while researching. It also means that you can leave QuickReference
windows open while in Full Screen mode, giving you access to your entire Binder while
in this otherwise focused writing environment.[/size]
They definitely float over other applications, but only if your active window is Scrivener–if you go to another application for reference, the QuickRef windows disappear – but this manual bit seems to suggest they’ll float as “collection bins” while you research, (like Stickies or something)… they do come back when you activate Scrivener as your main window, but that’s kind of awkward for researching.
Am I miss-reading this, or is there a way to make them float over other apps while researching?
I just discovered that both the Scrivener Scratch Pad and the Project notes windows DO float while you’re looking through another app or browser – but the QuickRef windows do not.
Is that how it’s supposed to be, or is there a way to make QuickRef windows float while you’re looking through non-Scrivener apps? It’s weird to see the QuickRef windows appear and disappear so abruptly, while the other windows don’t…
Nope, this is a mistake in the documentation. QuickRefs do not float over everything in the universe like the scratch pad does. Sorry about that! They do float over the entire Scrivener interface though.
That’s too bad, it is kind of distracting to see them disappear/reappear like that – though they’re definitely great for full screen Scrivener writing.
There’s always the scratch pad (which I notice stays on top of everything at all times), and the project notes (that stays open, but behind the open window of choice.)
But I have to say – I love the QuickRef windows–very nice and usable feature.
Yeah, I’ve already updated that paragraph; thanks for pointing it out. In a way it would be nice if they stayed on top—but consider the extreme cases. If you had a lot of these open, it would get really annoying if they were floating around on top of everything like that—in the same way that Apple’s Help window perpetually gets in the way and makes you never want to use it again.
I love QR windows too. They are great for lots of stuff, even just flipping a label over for a document without having to open the inspector.
Quick question – can you set the QuickRef windows so the pulldown menu thingies aren’t on it, making the border so thick? Can they be “hidden” like the ruler bars and whatnot? They take up a lot of wasted space, especially if you have a bunch open…
I do love that you can change the QuickRef note colrs – cool!
