New feature scapple / scrivener

[FredBob]

I want a button/link in scrivener that will open a scapple, save it to a folder in the project, and be saved with the current scrivener project.

First time use will create the "scapples" folder.... Which can be renamed to protect the idiots, if any are lurking.

[kewms]

File -> Import -> File?

You can already put Scapple files in the Research folder of a Scrivener project.

Katherine

[FredBob]

Thank you for your response.

I do know this can be done. I am hoping to be to have it seamless.

I apologize for posting a feature in the wrong forum.

[AmberV]

Try putting a blank Scapple board into your Document Templates folder in the binder. If you don't have one of those yet, you can just create a folder somewhere outside of the Draft and use the Project menu to designate as a template folder. Anything you put in there will be available as a template from the Project menu. You can't get much more seamless than that, and it works for all kinds of files, not just Scapple.

[FredBob]

Thank you for your response.

And, thank you for the idea. How did I not think of that?

I am very looking forward to a new Scapple to equal the power of Scrivener.

And, is there a way, with the current beta, to add a Scapple's shortcut to the Scrivener menus?

What am i missing?

[AmberV]

I am very looking forward to a new Scapple to equal the power of Scrivener.

Ha! I wouldn’t be expecting that. Scrivener is very… big.

And, is there a way, with the current beta, to add a Scapple’s shortcut to the Scrivener menus?

Can it not just be pinned to your task bar? That’s what I do, whenever I need it I just click at the bottom of the screen (well, for me I tend to use a Mac, but there is a very similar approach there). But to answer your question: no there isn’t a way of modifying menus in general. But I suppose, if you do not use a bibliography manager, Scrivener does have a link point that can be used to launch another program with a shortcut. In the General options area, look for a place to specify a bibliography manager. It doesn’t really care what program you put here, all this option does is launch the program you specify. The command itself can be found in the Insert menu in the beta. (Actually, at the moment it looks like it is in the Format menu for some reason, that should be moved at some point.)

[FredBob]

Button
create scapple in the selected folder. auto named ,referred to folder, date and time.
add additional scapples, and name with date/time

Search:
find all scapples

Save / options
save scapples with scrivener save Yes/No
independent scapple save/backup settings.

[FredBob]

"Can it not just be pinned to your task bar? "

The fewer bits a user has to know about a UI the better. having all related bits inside scrivener (one interface) the better the for the user.

[pseingalt]

Try putting a blank Scapple board into your Document Templates folder in the binder.

How?
In Scapple, File > New gives you a blank board. I don't see a feature to export a blank board.
In Scrivener, I don't see an option to import a board either.

[rdale]

Try putting a blank Scapple board into your Document Templates folder in the binder.

How?
In Scapple, File > New gives you a blank board. I don't see a feature to export a blank board.
In Scrivener, I don't see an option to import a board either.

After you use File->New, save it as "Scapple Template" to your desktop (or anywhere you like). Then drag that into Scrivener's Binder, to the document templates folder you've set up there.

[pseingalt]

Can you modify a blank Scapple file within Scrivener? I'm not sure what the point of importing a blank Scapple template is.
What I've done is taken a screenshot of a displayed Scapple file and then imported the image into a Scrivener project for reference.

[AmberV]

Can you modify a blank Scapple file within Scrivener? I’m not sure what the point of importing a blank Scapple template is.

Just as you can modify any type of file that you put into the binder, yes.

As to the second question: that is what this thread is about. The request was for us to create a feature that makes it possible to generate new empty Scapple files directly in the binder. We already have that feature with Document Templates.

It is I think also worth noting that a “blank” Scapple file might be of value—seeing as how each .scap file stores a stylesheet and colour preference settings. I have different starter .scap files I use for different tasks, and having those files available as templates is quite useful (I use the external template folder feature so that they are instantly available to all projects and always up to date with my latest style tweaks).

What I’ve done is taken a screenshot of a displayed Scapple file and then imported the image into a Scrivener project for reference.

If you mainly need a preview inside Scrivener, then yeah I think on Windows that is the best option (and it could be combined with the original .scap file as well—say import the preview PDF as a child beneath the .scap in the binder). Hopefully some day Microsoft adds a global file preview mechanism that we can tap into, as that makes the storage of unsupported file types so much nicer.

I haven’t tried this to see how well it works, but it might be a slight improvement for you to use the import as shortcut feature. That way the original PDF you exported from Scapple stays on the disk somewhere, and you overwrite it from Scapple periodically as need be. That way you avoid having to trash and reimport every time the board updates.