Updating/saving Compile presets

New forum member. I’ve searched for this topic in the Wishlist forum and haven’t found it yet. (Apologies if it has already been discussed.)

Concerning Compile presets in the Windows version: If a customized Compile preset is in use and is altered, [color=Blue]Save and Close retains the newly updated settings but doesn’t seem to update the preset itself. After save-and-close, if one reloads the preset, it is unchanged.

Ensuring that the updated settings are “fully” saved requires using [color=Blue]Save Preset. This calls for re-entering the preset’s name. If it’s a long name, a typing error could create a new, similarly-spelled (but unwanted) preset. There is no way to “browse” the directory in question from the [color=Blue]Save Preset dialog (\users[i]myname[/i]\AppData\Local\Scrivener\Scrivener\CompileSettings) and quickly select the preset in question. That’s a long path to locate either in Win Explorer or at the command line. (I can make a simple script that switches instantly to that directory and copies the desired .INI file’s base name to the clipboard. But then, I write gazillions of shell scripts and am entirely comfortable doing so. If most users don’t care to get into that sort of thing, I wouldn’t blame them.)

Therefore I’d hope that one or both of the following could be added to the Windows version:

  1. If a user-created Compile preset is in use and if the user has altered its settings: clicking [color=Blue]Save and Close would produce a dialog in which the user is asked: do you also want to update the current custom preset? (yes/no/cancel).

  2. If a user-created Compile preset is in use and if [color=Blue]Save Preset is selected: the current custom preset’s name would appear by default — perhaps highlighted — in the dialog’s editable text field. The user could then immediately update the existing preset by simply clicking [color=Blue]OK – or could type a new name into the text field, if need be. (If there were no user-created custom preset in use at the time, the editable text field would be empty.)

This would not be good, as it would be too easy to accidentally overwrite presets with settings that were specific to a single project. “Save and Close” is purely intended to save the Compile settings for the current project.

As for the rest, there will be an “Update” button added to the compile presets panel in 2.0, which allows you to select the preset and update it to use the current settings. This is how it works in the OS X version.

All the best,
Keith

That sounds good! Thanks.