Scrivener remembers cursor position, but doesn't display it when reopening the document

[mcoti]

This may have been asked before, but i can’t find an answer so…

When I edit a document, close it, and reopen it later, what I’m presented with on the screen is the end of the document. I then have to scroll up to find where I stopped editing and, lo and behold, there’s the cursor, right where it was when I ended the last edit. What I don’t understand is why I have to go looking for it when Scrivener already knows where it is? Is there a setting I’m missing, or a “Go to last cursor position” option hidden on some menu?

I understand that everyone has a different preference for how they want to resume their editing or writing; I prefer to pick up where I left off, ,and invariably that’s where the cursor was when I closed the file. This is really just a minor annoyance. My low-tech workaround is to leave a marker I can search for ( like a row of asterisks), but that becomes tedious after a while. There must be a better way. What am I missing?.

[Vincent_Vincent]

I use the keyboard’s arrows.
Up then Down.
Or Left then Right.
→ No need to drop a marker.

If the focus is not on the editor it doesn’t work. In that case, click in the editor’s scrollbar first.
Downside: if you had some text selected, you’ll lose the selection.

I had this issue in the past, and for some reason it seems like a good while since it didn’t happened. You just made me remember.
I don’t recall having done anything special to make it stop misbehaving.

[Vincent_Vincent]

Have a look at this old post of mine:

Cursor out of displayed range of document when opening a project.

I think I figured out what the problem is : If before saving my project (or simply closing Scrivener) I move the focus to another document in the binder, then the initial document as it’s displayed range right upon reopening the project. In other words, it seems that for some reason, Scrivener doesn’t “memorize” the very last scroll position when saving a project. (It rather keeps going back over and over to the last one it has. So, even if you tweaked a document, and even a lot, as long as it…

The thread is about that very same issue you described.

But as I said, it stopped doing it wrong for me, at some point, on its own.
Long enough ago so that I wasn’t thinking of it anymore.

[mcoti]

Thanks Vincent, but I only work on one document at a time so it’s not a question of accidentally being in another window. There’s only one edit window open at all times.

What baffles me is that Scrivener KNOWS where the cursor is, but makes me go look for it when I open the document to resume editing. I’m not sure what the point is of saving the cursor position if you’re not going to use that information to position the document properly on the screen when you open it again.

I’m using Scrivener 3.1.2 (64-bit) on a Wndows 10 computer, all files saved locally. I know 3.1.3 is available, but I’m a ;little wary of upgrading after reading the problems some folks here have had with it.

[Vincent_Vincent]

@mcoti

[…] but I only work on one document at a time so it’s not a question of accidentally being in another window.

I said no such thing.
And you’ll see in the other thread I linked to that this is actually where the problem comes from.
(The project loading on the same document you last worked on.)

@mcoti

What baffles me is that Scrivener KNOWS where the cursor is, but makes me go look for it when I open the document to resume editing.

It is a bug.
Rarely encountered (you might be the second user, me being the first – I don’t know), and clearly unintended.

[mcoti]

@Vincent_Vincent

I use the keyboard’s arrows.
Up then Down.
Or Left then Right.
→ No need to drop a marker.

Thank you! Just tapping the left arrow key worked for me. No more markers!

[AmberV]

@Vincent_Vincent

If the focus is not on the editor it doesn’t work. In that case, click in the editor’s scrollbar first.
Downside: if you had some text selected, you’ll lose the selection.

The shortcut for Edit ▸ Find ▸ Jump to Selection is meant to be the optimal way to return to where you left your selection/cursor in that you don’t need to know if it was a selection or not, it simply scrolls the view until that spot is reached, without disturbing it.

[mcoti]

Thanks, Amber. I knew there must be a command hidden in the menus somewhere, but I never expected it was this one because I hadn’t actually made a selection. Victor’s solution works as well.