As a student I am requesting the following advanced Indexing features to be built right into Scrivener 2.0, as I am in dire need of:
***The ability to generate automatic Indexes (the following lists are specifically for Index-generation): Simple Creation and Editing of Entries:
• Ability to add & edit entries
• Ability to save phrases that I can insert in entries with a single keystroke
• Ability to instantly recall and duplicate any entry or part of it
• Ability to flip (exchange) headings at any level
• Ability to drag and drop text and entries within Scrivener and between Scrivener and other applications (such as: FileMaker/Bento)
• Unlimited number of Acronyms Views:
• A full WYSIWYG view of the index as I work on it
• Complete control of page and column layout
• Complete range of index styles (indented, run-in, etc.)
• Single or multiple column formats
• Ability to automatically set headings in specified fonts or style
• Let me instantly display entries under particular headings Search and Replace:
• Let me search for any text
• Let me search among particular records (e.g., those made yesterday)
• Search for entries that refer to specified pages
• Search among specified headings
• Boolean searches
• Search for and replace text that matches a pattern
• Search for and replace type styles or fonts Groups:
• Ability to define convenient groups of entries (eg: for chapters)
• Ability to break an index into multiple sub-indexes Alphabetizing:
• Instant, automatic alphabetizing of entries
• Full range of alphabetizing options
• Sorting by page number Spelling:
• Check spelling in several languages
• Specialized dictionaries available Cross-References:
• Automatic placement of cross-references
• Automatic punctuation of cross-references (can treat See and See also differently)
• Automatic styles (italics, etc.) for cross-references
• Automatic verification of cross-references
• Generates automatic cross-references from authority
• Automatically convert See references to fully-qualified entries Locators:
• Let it seamlessly handle compound locators
• Automatically conflate page numbers
• Chicago or Hart’s rules for abbreviating references
• Automatically adjust page references
• Apply styles automatically to page references, or parts of them Printing:
• Complete flexibility of document layout
• Produces camera-ready copy directly Document Preparation:
• Directly embed index entries in Scrivener documents
• HTML markup
• Tag indexes for typesetting Import and Export:
• Import index records from FileMaker or Bento programs
• Export indexes as formatted documents (RTF, TXT, tagged text)
• Let me define my own document formats
• Le me export index entries as database records Statistics:
• Let me obtain counts of entries of different kinds
• Let me obtain general statistics and page counts Customizing:
• Let me set my own preferences for views
• Let me set preferences for adding/editing entries
I sincerely thank you for your time and energy, and look forward to hearing your decision soon.
Which is the polite Aussie way of saying, what the Red Lion`s intelligentsia would refer to, as : ‘Taking the Piss’, or, ‘Taking the Mickey’/'Extracting the Michael’.
OK, this is the wish list… but anyway, this post is breathtaking, I have to admit. In a nutshell it says “take the airplane you’ve constructed and turn it into a submarine, as I am in dire need of it”.
One wonders how all the other students get along without it…
Michael, in case you aren’t joking: Scrivener is a writing application, and not something to be used for the production of actual laid-out pages. Given that you need to export Scrivener projects in order to get them into “real” pages in the first place, I can’t see how indexing within Scrivener would work. This is something more appropriate for a word processor or page layout application.
Michael/Patmous - if this is a serious wish list, then I’m afraid very little of it is on the projected list for Scrivener. Scrivener really isn’t trying to become MS Word, and for indexes you will need to work with a different program.
The best way to write indexes is with relational database software that produces output for publication in various formats, from rtf to htm files. On the Mac, one may use either FileMaker or Panorama from Provue Development.
Yowsa Michael - That’s a mouthful and then some. Good luck in your search.
To me, there are two uses for indexing. Classic would be the index we would expect to find in the back of certain types of books. And this functionality, beyond the scope of Scrivener, as someone noted an index in a formatted and published project would have little or no relationship to the working document in Scrivener. The second type of index is simply one that helps you find what you’re looking for in an electronic document – above a simple search function.
I realize my comment here is a bit off subject, though I thought I’d jump in and bring awareness to indexing functionality in another non-competitive app.
Anybody use Notebook (http://www.circusponies.com/notebook/features/ ) by http://www.circusponies.com/? This is not a writing tool, rather it’s what I call my digital moleskine - I collect thoughts, ideas, sketches, pictures, web pages/URLs and more. It’s a fantastic place to gather your far flung thoughts and those closer to you. Perhaps like DevonThink - though I don’t have experience with that app.
One feature perhaps even Michael will find intriguing and that I think is absolutely cool is its indexing. It’s interactive and multidimensional. They call it a Multidex. This is what it has automatically indexed for me in my own Digital Moleskine:
Text
Capitalized Words
Numbers
Internet Addresses
Highlighting
Keywords
Stickers (Notebook allows you to include Post it notes and flags on pages)
To Do Items
Attachments
Discarded Attachments
Creation Dates
Change Dates
Due Dates
should I go on?
The index links to the actual Notebook pages for each indexed item.
Now I’m not jumping on board with a feature request or assume the practically of such functionality in Scrivener, but I do find this feature in Notebook useful. And being aware of it certainly can’t hurt!
[i]BTW - I am merely a user of Notebook and have no relationship with the developer.
Thanks to MacMyDay (I have downloaded a copy and have been working on it for four hrs. now!) & Druid for the constructive feedback…as to the rest: better to hold your breathe!
My request was seriously for an Index Generator to be built-into Scrivener for the purpose of building an actual index for a certain book (later books)! I understand the propositions of certain individuals considering the actual function of S., and to a certain extent I agree; however, in my most humble opinion:
Since S., is on the one hand “created specifically for writers of long texts”, and yet on the other hand, for “research papers” written by “academics” and “students”, I absolutely do not consider my petition to be an unreasonable request but a sensible one! Therefore, this detailed ability would greatly enhance the usability and effectiveness of S. for particular purposes of certain kinds of writers, hence myself and the aforementioned request!!!
P.S. As to the remaining: please ANALYTICALLY READ before you respond with foolish and irrelevant discourse… THANKS!
Thanks for the feedback and list of requests. You have to remember that here at L&L there is only one coder (me), and although Scrivener is indeed intended for writers of long texts, including academics, it is squarely aimed at getting the first draft done (GFDD - I think I’m going to coin that!). It is not intended to be a be-all, end-all, as there already plenty of programs out there that can do the rest. Thus I focus on features that will help with the first draft, and leave it to programs to which you will export your work to handle things like bibliographies and indexes. So while I understand your wish to have everything together in one program, this is not Scrivener’s intended purpose and so is well out of its scope.
Pssst Keith… I think Andreas was being complimentary not ironic, but also hoping that you’d continue to get 2.0 out, rather than on the strength of this consider entering the Foreign Office i.e “chapeau” as in “bravo, hats off to you sir”, rather than “chapeau” as in, say, “condom”…
Thanks for explicitly stating what your “intended purpose” for S. is/was. I absolutely did not get that on the explanatory part of S. page (your exposition of S. seems more like a program for writers generally, of all persuasions, and not for “writers” particularly)! Wonderful program, well thought-out, and extremely usable, but had I at the beginning realized its purpose I would have chosen something else for my needs.
Thanks for all the hard work, energy, and time you’ve put into S.- Keep up the good work for “writers”.
