New version of Windows manual but not software?

[logician1989]

The manual for Scrivener for Windows 1.9.7 says that the Scrivener project used to create the manual is available for download, and I thought I could learn a lot about Scrivener by seeing how experts had used it, so I tried to download the Scrivener project. I discovered that the Scrivener project is NOT available, and that there is a manual for "Scrivener for Windows 1.9.8" in PDF form. "Check for Updates" however tells me that my 1.9.7 is still the most up-to-date version. I downloaded the 1.9.8 PDF anyway, and it's evident from the title page that the manual has been changed, but I haven't attempted a side-by-side comparison to find out what the changes were.

I'm supposing that the work to update the manual wouldn't have been undertaken if a version 1.9.8 wasn't actually being developed. May I assume that the manual was prepared in advance of releasing the software, but that a 1.9.8 version for Windows is soon forthcoming? Can you suggest a time frame, and perhaps give users a summary of what changes they might see, when the new version comes out?

Thank you!

[JimRac]

There’s no 1.9.8 software, nor will there be. And there won’t be a Windows Scrivener v2. L&L is currently working on v3, which is currently in beta, and will have feature parity with the Mac version.

I can’t speak to why the manual is called 1.9.8. It is certainly an opportunity for confusion.

[logician1989]

The manual available for download on the web site is definitely a different document from the manual that was included with the 1.9.7 version of the software. As I said, I haven't done a side-by-side comparison to find all the differences, but the difference is already evident on the title page (it has 1.9.8 as the version number). So what you're saying is that someone prepared and released a manual for a software version that was never released and is not intended to be released. That seems like poor planning on someone's part.

I was hoping for an authoritative response from someone involved in the development of Scrivener, who might be able to explain the situation, but I realize that you are probably correct in saying that the next release of Scrivener for Windows will be 3.x. I hope it will be soon.

Thank you.

[kewms]

The manual available for download on the web site is definitely a different document from the manual that was included with the 1.9.7 version of the software. As I said, I haven't done a side-by-side comparison to find all the differences, but the difference is already evident on the title page (it has 1.9.8 as the version number). So what you're saying is that someone prepared and released a manual for a software version that was never released and is not intended to be released. That seems like poor planning on someone's part.

I'm not involved with documentation, but my guess is that it's a mis-numbered manual for the Win Scriv 3 beta.

I can confirm that the next Windows Scrivener release will be version 3.

Katherine

[JimRac]

So what you're saying is that someone prepared and released a manual for a software version that was never released and is not intended to be released.

No, that's not what I'm saying.

I'm not involved with documentation, but my guess is that it's a mis-numbered manual for the Win Scriv 3 beta.

And my guess is that the prod 1.9.7 manual needed an update after release, and the version was bumped, perhaps inadvertently. I'm pretty sure I noticed the 1.9.8 rev out there a long while back. I couldn't say how long, but it feels like late last year. And the 1.9.8 rev is dated Oct 2016, for what it's worth.

Perhaps the manual team (Ioa?) will come along and solve the mystery.

[Major Major]

It's v. 1.9.7.0 that came out in Oct. 2016, at least according to the "About Scrivener" item in my help menu.

[JimRac]

Yes, and so did the v 1.9.8 manual published at the L&L site.

[Major Major]

Yes, and so did the v 1.9.8 manual published at the L&L site.

Ah. I misunderstood what you wrote.

[JimRac]

[AmberV]

Sorry for the confusion! As I recall the only difference between the 1.9.7 manual and .8 is… the cover page. It is from the NaNoWriMo version from last November—I missed the memo that it wasn’t meant to go up on the main site just yet, and a few weeks after that, the wild chaos that was the 3.0 launch happened, so the matter had been forgotten.