A file handler in iTunes?
This isn’t something that’s going to be added, sorry. The projects screen makes sense in iOS because, as Katherine says, there is no file system on iOS, so you need some way of accessing your project files.
macOS and Windows, however, have file systems, and it is absolutely crucial that users understand those file systems and know where their projects are. If we put a projects screen in Scrivener that showed either a list of projects from certain folders or scanned the disk using Spotlight or something (which would slowdown startup), it would put yet one more remove between the user and the file. That’s not a good thing. Many users already have problems knowing where their files are. A project page in Scrivener would encourage users to think the projects are all managed by and contained in Scrivener, in the same way they are on iOS. (On iOS, remember, if you delete an app, all of its files are deleted too.) It would result in users losing work, because they would think that just copying Scrivener to their new computer would be enough, without realising that they need to copy all of their projects across too.
A projects screen is also far from standard and would go against UI conventions on desktop platforms. iTunes does not have a file system. iTunes is a shoebox app that contains all of the music inside a single iTunes library - the music is not scattered across the disk wherever the user wants it. For document-based programs, it is standard across macOS and Windows to have a “Recents” menu and a file open browser, leaving it up to the user where to store files - the same as Scrivener works (because Scrivener uses standard desktop conventions).
On iOS, every single app is essentially a shoebox app, because the files are all placed within a single container dedicated to that app. So apps that deal with files need their own browser for that (Scrivener’s project screen). A projects screen in Scrivener on the desktop would be misleading, making users think that Scrivener was managing all of their files when it was not. The only way it could work would be to remove the ability for users to save projects anywhere and turn Scrivener into a shoebox app that automatically stored all your projects in a single, opaque library, and I really wouldn’t want that.
All the best,
Keith
This may be a dead idea, but for what it’s worth I’d love it (I was about to post this as a suggestion and found this post first).
I understand wanting to avoid creating a Scrivener implementation of Finder or executing a file system scan at startup. To solve those problems, I’d be satisfied if the option was to “Show Favorite Projects at Startup” - where I’d get a screen that lists the project I’ve explicitly favorited so that I can quickly open one of those.
There’s only a half dozen scrivener projects I open with any regularity, and it’s annoying to drill into menus to open a favorite or to find it on the file system. In this regard, I enjoy the iOS experience more.
File -> Recent Projects
Alternatively, Finder supports saved searches and tagging. You could tag your projects, create a saved search based on those tags, and configure Finder to have the resulting window open at all times.
(If this is too hard, then a Scrivener Project screen would inevitably lead to data loss for the reasons Keith discusses upthread.)
Katherine
In the sense that the post directly above yours is the developer saying no to the request—yeah, it’s dead. 
That’s the kind of the thing the OS, and third party programs that specialise on these tasks, already do a really good job of. It doesn’t even take any of the newer approaches with smart searches and tagging either—you can use ancient methods like creating a folder on your Desktop called “Favourites”, and dumping aliases to the stuff you use most frequently within it. Drop that folder into the Dock, and now you have a two-click launcher for all your hot files.
Beyond that I’ve always been a fan of third-party launchers. The Dock is all right, but I was using DragThing[size=80][1][/size] before OS X introduced the “one dock approach” way of working, and then QuickSilver came out, and once I found LaunchBar I never looked back. I have all of my current WIP files quickly indexed in this system and I can get to anything at all with a few keystrokes—all without having to beseech each developer of every program I use to add a Favourites Management Interface. 
(And then learn how each and every one of them work, and then just find myself wishing they all worked the same or that developer X did something that Y does better or, or…)
It just makes sense to delegate management to even whole programs that specialise in management—and I bet you can find tools and methods that are every bit as streamlined as the bare bones approach, necessary to do basic file management on iOS, too.
[size=80][1] To be clear, it’s a bit long in the tooth these days—never even updated for Retina, and with an aesthetic that still harks back to OS 9. Although he is keeping it running. I’m not recommending it—just paying homage to what was once one of the great productivity tools of yesteryear.[/size]
Exactly what I do, but in Windows. When I see requests like this, it always makes me wonder why folks are asking for features the OS already offers, and not innovative & cool shiny things. 
And Windows does the same thing the Mac does. If you have a program pinned to the task bar and use the other mouse button to click on it, you get all the recent projects right there in a tidy list. So for those that work in a smaller rotation among a few <10 files, you don’t need anything more than the thing you use to launch the program anyway—and that basic concept is incidentally half of what the iOS version does on the iPad with the tiles thing.
In addition to File > Recent Projects, there is File > Favorite Projects for your designated favorites.
If you’re on MacOS 10.13.x, and like me you launch apps using Spotlight—tap Spacebar, type ‘sc’ … it’s probably enough—and you’ll get a window which will list apps and other things on the left, but on the right a list of about the last 5 projects opened by Scrivener. I get different lists depending on whether I select Scrivener 2 or Scrivener (3 as default) on the left. Just click on the project you want and it gets opened.
Mark
Hello Keith, thank you so much for your time and efforts.
- I’m very messy il my way of working, and I work on lots of projects simultaneously. It would be nice (for me) to have some kind of “projects browser”, that shows all the projects in the main folder, with some kind of content view.
- We have to name the project before writing, but very often the content changes and we want to change the title. We can “save as”, then go delete the original folder, but a way to rename a project would be very nice and less error prone…
Thank you
(sorry for my poor english)
(and I’m on Windows, if it matters)
The “browser” you’re looking for is File Explorer, the default file management system for Windows users. Keep (save/move) all your projects in a common folder you create, like Scrivener Project in the Documents.
In File Explorer, you will now have all your projects listed in a common folder as folders – only applies to Windows again – with a SCRIV extension. With Scrivener closed, rename any project folder to a new preferred name. Then open it by double-clicking on it. Among the list of files will be the project file (with a SCRIVX extension) of the folder you renamed, though still with its old name. (Don’t worry about that.) Double click on the SCRIVX file and it will open with the new name you allocated to its SCRIV parent folder.
This meets both your requests, managed by Windows, and neatly tidies up your workflow.
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Please refer to this post above for the official response to this request. This thread also has a lot of discussion on how to use Finder/File Explorer or other system tools more effectively.
Regarding renaming, you can just do that in your file manager (on Windows, rename the folder, and be sure to keep the “.scriv” on the end, the software will rename the file your double-click on to load it, automatically, to match the folder name). Using Save As actually creates a whole new copy, which may well be contributing to the confusion.