Split screen into three or more panes?

Scrivener Scrivener for macOS
1

I’d like to look at two different folders in two different panes while having another text file open to jot down ideas that are represented in cards in each of those folders. In other words: two panes would be note cards from different, and a third pane would be a text file to grab the best ideas from the other two folders.

Does anyone know if it’s possible to open three or more panes in Scrivener?

Thanks,
Jeremy

2

Not quite three panes, but you can use a quick reference panel to do this.

  1. Split the main pane into two.
  2. Right click on the document you will be using for notes.
  3. Select Open>As Quick Reference.
  4. Go back to the main window and select your two source documents in the splits.
  5. Sort out your screen layout so you can see everything you want.
  6. Take notes.

And if you are feeling really greedy you can have several quick reference panels open.

3

Bravo! That’ll work. Thanks much. :slight_smile:

4

Thank you, that also worked for me.

I will take the liberty to bump this thread though, to request it as an official feature. Having a 27" screen, I’d love to be able to split both horizontally and vertically at the same time, effectively providing me with 4 writing windows at the same time. :slight_smile:

5

There are also the “copy holder” panes, which gives you two full-featured editor panes (can display 1 doc, scrivenings of several docs, outline, and corkboard), and up to two copyholders (can only display one document each). The copyholder would be one place to jot your notes.

Yet another place: Project Bookmarks. Open your inspector to the bookmarks section, and then switch the view to “project bookmarks” if it’s not there already. Then drag your notes document into that pane. You can then edit that document in the inspector pane below the list of project bookmarks, and it will remain persistent no matter which documents you load into the other editors.

With a big monitor, that means you can have a large binder (if you’re prone to longer document titles, that’s nice), two primary editors side-by-side, and the inspector bookmarks pane, dragged open to the size of a full editor… plus copyholder(s) below one or both of the split editors. Oh, and also quick reference floating windows.

Speaking of QR windows, you can use the Window menu to gather all QR windows into a single tabbed window. Combine that with a utility like “Magnet”, which you could set up to automatically make the combined QR window be 1/4 of your screen’s width, and Scrivener to be the left 3/4, your big screen could have a plethora of editor windows from one project.

6

This is exactly what I’ve been looking for! Thank you so much!
FYI for Windows users: The ‘Options’ Button is the ‘Alt’ button on PC.

7

For those following along, this is only available in the Windows beta, not the current Windows release.

8

Another note for those following along: this feature is fully described in the Windows beta tutorial, along with many other goodies. See the Going Further section, as well as the Tips section. Many of the features I find most useful in Scrivener are hidden in these sections.

(My apologies for putting this Windows public service message in the Mac forum.)

Best,
Jim