When navigating between documents within a project, it would be helpful to have a setting that would allow page focus to be retained after navigating away from and then back to it. When I am working on a particular document that is multiple pages long, and I need to refer to another document (or two or three), I would rather not return to the top of the original document upon returning to it.
This is how the forward/back “browser” buttons at the top left of the Editor pane are supposed to behave. Are you seeing something different?
Yes, I am seeing something different - when I leave a document with the cursor on the 3rd page, view some other document, and then return to the original document, the focus is at the beginning as opposed to where I left it on the 3rd page.
Are you specifically using the “back” button, as opposed to selecting the document from the Binder?
What version of Scrivener do you have, and on what platform?
Yes, this is a very old problem that has numerous different facets (there are about three pages of notes on what all isn’t working right). In short any form of navigation, including creating new sections with Ctrl+N or whatever, should keep the cursor exactly where it was. So you should be able to have it in a custom metadata text field, flipping from one item to the next, or the synopsis card, or the snapshots list, the main editors, etc. Instead the focus vanishes into nowhere and you have to use the focus navigation shortcuts to get back to where you were.
For the editor that is often most conveniently the top entry of Navigate ▸ Move Focus To, which cycles between the binder and the two main editors. I changed this shortcut to Ctrl+Tab which makes more sense to me than the default.
Thank you Amber - a question because I’m not sure I’m understanding. All I want to do is, when I’m (for example) working on page 5 of a text doc, and then I navigate away from it (just to look at another text doc in the same project) - when I return to the original doc, instead of navigating to page 5, where I left off, I’m navigated to the top of page 1. I see now that in this case, when I’m returned to the top of page 1, the cursor is not there and I have to click on the editor pane to navigate through the document.
What I’d like is to be navigated back to page 5, even if the cursor is not there, rather than having to scroll through 5 pages to get there every time I click away and then come back.
This is why I asked how you were getting back to the document. Clicking the Binder moves the cursor focus to the Binder. Using the “browser” buttons leaves it in the Editor.
Oh okay, that’s kind of a separate issue that has another ticket open for it. I presume you are using Scrivenings mode, as that is where this problem is most obvious. It should be remembering where you left off and return to it, when using the history buttons, but it currently does not.
But this overall focus issue does compound with what you’re looking for—since the cursor isn’t in the editor when you return, it can be easily lost since most people think to click with the mouse, which also moves the cursor. The focus shortcuts I mentioned will avoid that problem (again, not entirely with Scrivenings mode), as will the Ctrl+J shortcut, which scrolls the cursor into view if it is off-screen for some reason.
Oh, also Page View doesn’t scroll correctly, if you mean ‘page’ literally. That is indeed one case where Ctrl+J comes in handy after moving the focus back to the editor with the keyboard. The cursor or selection is indeed where you left it, but it always scrolls back to page 1.
Can I make a suggestion? When you navigate back and you see “page 1” instead of “page 5” (are you using Page View” or do you merely mean 5 screen-lengths down?), rather than clicking in the editor to start to scroll down, have you tried merely tapping the left-arrow key?
If your cursor, which you can’t see, is actually where you left it, clicking with the mouse in the editor will set the cursor to where you clicked; on the other hand, clicking the left arrow should move it one space to the left and scroll down to bring it into view.
I’m a Mac user and have never had your problem, but that is what I would try.
Mark
Sorry, I answered that via email instead of here. I am using the “browser” button to get back to the document (assuming you mean the < > buttons at the top of the editor pane, just to the left of the title of the current doc). I’m using Version: 3.1.5.1 (2073405) 64-bit - 06 Jul 2023 on a Windows laptop.