I was hoping to be able to use writing tools to specify the resources that I use in my work, as it just has very generic search sources like Google and thesaurus.com. After much research I find there is no way to add relevant writing tools. Is this correct?
I also added an external link (wordnik.com) and when I tried to activate that, it created a pop-up window in Scrivener, which immediately lost focus as my browser fired up to load a Google ad server. These then continue to load relentlessly, stealing focus, until you delete the link, quit Scrivener, and reload everything. Seems very clunky!
Would really appreciate a means of specifying specialist search tools for technical writers, as the current options are essentially high school and not fit for professional projects. Even the external links workaround is bust.
I am a professional and have used Scrivener for years on technical writing. Sorry you donât see a way. Probably best you use something that integrates with the âextrasâ you want to use.
I donât really follow - thesaurus.com and Google search are not specialist tools as I see them. They are more general search engines relating to the broadest category of specialisation (all words, and all information on the internet, respectively).
I think you must have missed my point; I was pointing to two separate issues - the inability to add specialist search tools and the bug that hijacks your browser when you attempt to create a workaround.
Iâm sorry if you found the use of âhigh schoolâ offensive, but are Google Search and thesaurus dot com adequate for your technical writing? I can assure you my subject is poorly served by such generic search tools.
Modern computers are generally very good at multitasking. I just open as many windows as necessary for whatever tools I need.
If opening a link launches an ad-heavy page, thatâs the responsibility of the link owner and out of Scrivenerâs control. My browser reports that the specific site you linked loads nine trackers and two ads just from the home page.
Iâm reporting the bug because it hijacks the browser through Scrivenerâs code, and I thought the developer would prefer to know about it. It only underlines the point that something is broken. Obviously I wonât be using that âworkaroundâ until it is fixed, so thereâs no problem here - this is really just a matter of courtesy.
Youâre really missing the point. All pages these days have ads, but the ads hijack some of Scrivenerâs internal code, and that probably needs addressing because itâs a potential security exploit. I am basically saying âI found a bug that you might want to know about.â
The wider issue remains. The current writing tools are fine for high school projects but not much use to specialist writers. The ability to add new search tools and send the highlighted search term to your search engine of choice to open in the browser is great - and it is actually present on the Mac version of Scrivener, so clearly somebody thought it was a useful addition and not too unreasonable in terms of functionality. Yes, I could just open a window in my browser, navigate to the site, and type in the search term manually. I could also just write by hand, but the point is that functionality exists to save time and reduce repetitive tasks.
Itâs still a bug, even if as you suggest, it can be avoided by doing things differently. You seem to be saying that if the software has a bug, the âexpected behaviourâ is to not do the thing that provokes the bug. I have literally said that I will do that, but that I am reporting it because (usually) a developer would prefer to know that there is a bug so it can be fixed.
I think you are just arguing for the sake of being right. You are literally arguing that I should do exactly what I have stated I did. Weird.
If you are referring to the convenience list Scrivener itself provides (now in âReference Toolsâ on the Mac), then it is much the same, and there is no customisation. You might be referring to some system level look-up tools or services that are being provided to most software.
As for the general feature request to make this submenu something you can customise, there are already threads on that in the forum. It is something we have acknowledged we might address in the futureâprobably no sense in having that conversation all over again from scratch.
We do provide settings to disable such attempts to access the Web (in fact the factory defaults inhibit it). You can turn them off, but the user manual does indeed state doing so at your own risk, as weâre using off the shelf web kit here with no cookie management, ad blocking, privacy tracking blockers or anything else. I would never recommend letting anything other than a browser touch the Web, but I understand everyone has different comfort levels.
That aside, your description of what happens sounds a little different from what should be happening. What is the precise mechanism you are using to store and trigger the link, as there are multiple ways of doing so?
Also, what settings do you have engaged in the Behaviors: Navigation tab? It sounds like you might be allowing JS to open windows, for example.
If I put an external link in as a project bookmark and send it to wordnik.com (this was the first place I tried), it began to spawn Google ad server pop-ups in my browser. I havenât changed anything from the default installation settings as I only installed Scrivener today.
Thanks, and to use the bookmark, are you double-clicking the icon to send the URL to a browser (technically to the system URI handler, but that is where an HTTPS link should go), or are you clicking the âLoad Web Pageâ button?
I tried the latter, as that would most likely make a mess, with my port monitoring tool enabled. Loading the page requested access to several different servers, trackers, ads, etc. For the sake of experimentation, I granted them all 5min access through the port filter. I didnât get any popups though. Other than the traffic being monitored and now datamined, I donât see immediate evidence of the root processing being compromised.
Can you double-check the settings area I mentioned, and try again with all checkboxes off?
Not sure if this helps, but Iâve just tried adding http://wordnik.com/ as a project bookmark and opening it from the QuickReference panel and I get the same issue. It opens one chrome tab for a page at adtrafficquality.google.com then periodically opens a new tab for a page at safeframe.googlesyndication.com
As long as the site remains open in the panel, itâll periodically keep opening new browser tabs and calling that same safeframe page.
Iâve also tried with linkedin.com and that opens three tabs at accounts.google.com. This L&L site doesnât open any other tabs (but does say itâs not supported in the QuickReference panel).
Welcome @HadeanStars. Not directly related to your requests, but as a related suggestion to consider, many folks use Keyboard Maestro to help ease connectivity between applications. We all typically have a number of favorite applications and these shortcut keyboard macros can be really quick and useful to bridge them. Although it will never be as nice as something fully integrated into a particular application, you may be surprised at the utility it offers. I donât know if KBM works on Windows, but it or something similar might be useful to consider.