Select text documents from a search result and then have those items still selected when viewing all items?

Scrivener
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Hi! I’ve been using (and loving) Scrivener for many many years, and there used to be a search-related workflow that no longer works any more in the UI… I’m wondering if something like this can still be achieved somehow.

It revolves around selecting results from a search/collection and then being able to have those items still selected when I exit the search. I use this so that I can view how my search results look alongside the rest of the manuscript. Does that make sense? Here is how it (used to) work:

  1. Perform a search from the binder. (e.g. Search for a keyword that represents a certain type of scene in my manuscript.)
  2. Select all the results in the binder/collection based on that search result. (i.e. Select all the documents/scenes that are connected to this search.)
  3. Exit the search so that the binder now shows me ALL DOCUMENTS/FOLDERS again.
  4. In the olden days, the binder would STILL have those documents selected. Currently, nothing is selected any longer.

I used to love this behavior because it could help me see the search results in the context of the whole manuscript, like this:

novel-search-results
novel-search-results524×676 35.9 KB

I would use this feature to help me address issues with consistency across the novel, and I happen to be at a point where I need this feature again. Does anyone have an idea of how to achieve anything like this today?

THANK YOU!!!

2

Once you come out of the search, having selected the search results, your editor should say “Multiple Selection” in its header.

image

Right click the multipage icon image → reveal in binder.

image

1 Like
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Wow! That is EXACTLY what I was looking for! Thank you!!!

1 Like
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Some hunch telling me that I had missed/forgotten a tiny chunk of it, I ran another test:
You actually don’t even have to come out of the search and go back to displaying the binder.
Just select whatever you are interested in from the search results, and right-click the editor’s header → reveal in binder straight away.
That’ll hide the search and display the binder for you. (So that’s one less step.)

5

Oh, that’s great. Thanks so much for the help!..