Is there a way to see Notes and Metadata at the same time?
I don’t think so, the way I believe you mean it.
I’ve actually added a custom metadata text field to my documents (“creatively” called Important Notes), which I use for this purpose. Not as convenient, but it works. I’ve also assigned a Text color that really makes it pop, so that’s a plus.
As an aside, kudos to these LL peeps for a great job with metadata. The more I use it, the more I find myself asking why haven’t I been using it more.
Anyway, hope this helps.
Yes, there is a way: just open the same document with a Quick Reference Window; you’ll see that there’s a drop down box on the right hand side, from which you can choose to show any of the Inspector Panels as a split with the editor. You can then use the real inspector panel for the ‘other’ element you want to see.
The disadvantage is that you have to do this for every document, but it’s the only way of seeing more than one inspector panel at once.
The screenshot is from the Mac version, but AFAIK, it’s the same in the Windows Beta.
If you want to be able to flick through documents quickly, then you’re probably best setting up an outline with the columns you need for the custom data, and have the Inspector Panel set to Notes.
HTH.
Nice. I remember (now) learning I could see inspector panels in a QR, but hadn’t thought to use it quite this way.
Thanks for enlightening us.
You can also view various metadata values in the outline view in a split editor while viewing a document’s individual Document Notes field. I can’t install the Win beta at the moment, so I’m assuming that feature is implemented and working at the moment, but I can’t verify.
Thanks all. Yeah, the metadata is great!
In fact, the metadata is so useful, it has become crucial to developing scenes for me. But the problem is, both metadata and notes are crucial. Opening one of them in a separate window is a decent workaround for now – thank you.
If metadata allowed a more full-fledged text area that could use bullets and returns, then I’d toss the notes in there, but it doesn’t.
Do you know about the ‘Automatically open selection in other editor’ editor function?
Essentially, this allow you to have an outline in one editor and a linked document in the other: as you click on / scroll through the list in the outline, the document in the other editor (and the Inspector) changes accordingly.
If you combine this feature with the ability to use metadata as columns in the outline, I think you can get fairly close to what you want:
Here, I have an outline with the metadata (MD1, MD2 etc), the Notes panel and the current document all visible at once: if I click on the next document down, the document editor and notes panel will follow suit.
The ‘Automatically open selection’ icon is the small box with an arrow I’ve highlighted in the outline footer. Click on it to toggle the feature on/off (blue is on, of course).
You can fit as many metadata fields into the outline as you want (though obviously you’ll have to scroll sideways after a certain point. Of course, you can have the screen split horizontally as well as vertically if you prefer, or have the outline on the bottom and document on the top, etc.
Once you’ve got it set up the way you want, save the layout (Window > Manage Layouts) and it will be there for you in future. On the Mac version at least, you can assign a shortcut to your layout.
The screenshot is from the Mac version, but I think the Windows beta is functionally the same.
Does that help?
I do now, and this totally works in the beta. Thanks!