… when in outliner with Quick Reference window open. Yes, I searched.
I write synopses in the outliner, with a QuickReference window of the document open. It would be great if I could use the dictionary/thesaurus under these conditions when I find a word I don’t like, or think there is a better word. Also, spell check doesn’t work in the outliner. It would be nice if it did.
I am not having any difficulties pulling up entries on words in the outliner or anywhere else, but it might be you are using a different method than I am. I press Ctrl-Cmd-D on the current word, or the word I’m pointing at with the mouse, and the Mac displays the standard dictionary overlay.
As for spell check, that should be working better in the future.
Yes, that works by invoking the Mac Spotlight search function, not the built-in Scrivener dictionary. I consider Spotlight to be a form of spyware, and avoid using it.
Scrivener has no built in dictionary. You are probably referring to Dictionary.app—the tool that comes for free on your Mac. That utility, the simple popover where you can click through to more information, is a service provided by Dictionary. If you scroll down to the bottom of the definitions you’ll see an “Open in Dictionary” link. It’s the same information, just packaged in a slightly more convenient form.
It is not a function of Spotlight. I am in the same camp you are, but even further, I have Spotlight completely shut down on my system. All functions that depend upon it do not work—like Finder searches (good thing I don’t use Finder much either!). Yet this tool works fine.
If you are getting network pings while using it, check your Dictionary.app settings—you might have Wikipedia enabled or similar.