Dear Keith,
I work with two vertically split panes. I write in the right pane so I have set up the Binder so the Binder affects the left pane because I use the left pane just for searching and looking at the text. So far no problem. If I point at the document in the Binder it affects just the left pane - perfect.
Lock up in place function.
Why is there a lock up in place in function when this works just fine ?
Different behavior with reference documents under the Inspector
What I dont know why is there a different approach with the references under the Inspector in comparision with documents in Binder ? Can you explain me that ? If I point at the reference it does not automaticcaly affect the left pane. What is the reason ? I affects usually the right pane right pane or ihe demolishes the split setup. In your Reference Guide you write
quote
If the file is an internal reference (that is, a reference to another file in the project), depending on your Preferences it will either open in the current editor or it
will create a split and be opened in the alternate editor. If the file is an external reference, it will be opened in the default application for its file type.
unquote
It seems to me there is a different approach of behaviors of:
Documents in Binder
Internal references in Inspector
External references in Inspector
Sometimes when I point at the reference it does not want to show up at all.
I circumvened this by putting the reference in Research in Binder - it works fine but I would like to know how it should be done correctly.
Please let me know the reasons behind in layman’s terms so I can understand.
I have read the Reference Guide and searched the forums but I understand it only partially.
I have posted this question for Keith as the main author of Scrivener but any comments or reply from other moderators or users are very welcome since I have to finish my project under Scrivener very soon.
Thanks!
Because not everyone uses splits all of the time, and not everyone who uses splits likes the Binder Affects feature. I generally don’t like it. I prefer to target which split the Binder will impact intuitively (I do use it sometimes though). Lock is for all of those times when you need to explore in the Binder without upsetting your editing session. It will become even more useful in the future, as the Binder acquires more methods of exploration.
The Binder displays elements which are components of your project, and References store items which are auxiliary or beneficial to broader understanding of each component in that project. It’s like a flow of information moving in a right-ward fashion through the interface. The Binder loads components, the components reveal references, those branch out of the project and into the system, Internet, etc. That they can store links to other project items in Scrivener is incidental, and it doesn’t mean that the flow should suddenly reverse, making a “second Binder” in the Inspector pane. That is why loading of references in the editor is a very intentional action, and it is a component centric action. If you double-click a reference from the “affected” side of the split, it shouldn’t open in that split, impacting the current editor because you ostensibly opened that link to support the component that it is in reference too—hence it opens in the right pane even if “Binder affects” is switch on for the left.
The Binder supports the project
The Reference pane supports the document (and so shouldn’t replace the document ever)
Thus it is only natural that information flow will act different between these two. One will respect the project and the other will respect the document.
That is what you should do if you want information to always flow “rightward”. References were never meant to be auxiliary Binders. If you want “sub-items” in your text documents, then make child documents for them.
Thanks a lot for your explanation, I really appreciate it!
Very nicely said:
The Binder supports the project
The Reference pane supports the document (and so shouldn’t replace the document ever)
This works perfectly when I “civilize” the external reference and make it an internal reference by dragging the external reference to Research placement (and after that I can drag the “civilized” document from Research back to the reference placement under Inspector and all of the sudden it behaves correctly
But why are there two centers of reference materials ?
One is Research and the other are references under the Inspector. I understand in Research you create the “civilized” internal documents which you integrate nicely and fully into the project work.
The other center (references) you have external and not integrated documents like pdfs files, html files etc and internal references too which are connected to concrete doucment. But you have references for the whole project and at the same time you have research documents which are intended for the whole project too. The only differeence between them is that you cannot have pdf and html documents directly in Research area. Is that so ?
You wrote “rightward” did you mean correctly ? thank you very much fror answering my difficult questions Rocco
The “Research” folder in the Binder is just a casual arrangement. You can call it whatever you want, and make other folders in the Binder as well to store information.
For very large projects, it can sometimes be beneficial to store only a sub-set within the project, for space reasons, and storing the majority in References.
Similar to #2, some people already have elaborate arrangements either using another program, or just in the Finder itself, and they want the Scrivener project to act as a “hub” to that, rather than copy everything into the Binder.
This is an important concept, which I think you already grasp based on the way you described it. When you put things in the Binder they are copied there from your system. This makes it easy to package up everything you need and take it to another computer, for example. But some prefer to externally link to files because it is easier to edit them from the Finder, or they don’t want to remove the original and end up with duplicates in the project.
So it gives you a little flexibility in how you choose to organise your research. Some people like to link to the Web so that when they click on a reference it is always up to date when loaded in a browser. Others like to import the web page into the Binder so that they can keep an archive that won’t disappear if the original owner deletes their web site.
Apologies for the ambiguity. I mean it to be strictly directional, as in: the Binder is on the Left, so when you click on something there it opens to the Right of the Binder, and then References are to the Right of the documents in the Inspector.
There is probably no “right” way to do all of this. The best thing to do is to see how the program reacts and find your own perfect method.
and all of the sudden it behaves correctly