Running multiple instances on same machine

I’d like to run two instances of scrivener on my machine, so that I can work on two entirely separate projects simultaneously and have more screens for editing. But each time I click on Scrivener icon, it apparently wants me to use the existing running instance.

This is quite frustrating. I would be willing to do anything to run two instances of Scrivener. For example, would installing a beta allow me to run both versions simultaneously?

Thanks,
Kai Neumann

With one project open, go to File->Open (or Recent Projects) and choose the other project you want opened. If it doesn’t exist yet, then go to File->New Project and create one.

Hi kaineumann,

The key here is that once Scrivener is running, clicking on the same Scrivener shortcut that launched it will return you to that same instance, rather than spawning a second one.

So the easiest way to open a second project is (as Robert said) through the File menu, where you either launch a Recent Project, or create a new one. Either of those will create a second instance.

Alternatively, it IS possible to launch a second instance from a shortcut, but instead of that shortcut pointing to Scrivener directly, it has to point to a Scrivener project file, which is the project.scriv file inside the project’s folder. Clicking that shortcut gives the same results as going through the first instance’s File menu.

I have multiple project open a good deal of the time (as many other users do too, I suspect) and it’s a great way to work.

It would, but in a somewhat different way. In this case, you’d be running not a second instance of Scrivener, but a completely different version, which Windows sees as another program entirely. There’s no advantage in doing that, though, unless for some reason you wanted to compare the two versions side by side.

HTH