hi,
I’m new to Scrivener and suspect I’m missing something obvious, but I can not figure out how to open a page in a new window. Surely it must be possible? (I have a dual-monitor setup and would like to view one page in the second monitor while I’m working on a different page on the primary monitor).
Not as such, though are you aware that you can split the editor pane into vertical or horizontal views and load two different things at once?
Hi,
As AmberV says, you’re missing nothing obvious - currently it’s not possible to open documents in separate windows. Something like this is coming with 2.0, though.
All the best,
Keith
I think one of the concepts in Scrivener that gets confusing is that it is a workspace focused application, not a document focused app. In document focused apps, each document is a separate entity independent of all other entities unless EXTERNALLY associated to another entity. In scrivener the documents are intrinsically related and exist within the context of the workspace (aka project) and have reduced identity outside of the workspace context.
What all that means is that the individual files in a project should really not be seen outside the context of the project (think layers in an image editor, or discrete tracks in audio, the sleeve of a shirt). The document as an independent entity model has been popularized by Word processors such as Word, Pages, Open Office, while the workspace model is seen easiest in Excel, Numbers, Keynote, Power point, and IDE platforms (developer tools).
All that to say, KB (the guy who makes all this magic happen) has been using the standard presentation method for workspace focused apps. Based on his reply it looks like you are in luck.
Thanks for the quick replies. I am aware of the split screen capabilities, but I like taking advantage of the extra real estate of the second monitor. I look forward to seeing this in v. 2 then.
(I think one way to ‘hack’ it would be to make a copy of the entire document— which is really a directory— then open the copy as well as the ‘real’ document. That allows two windows to be open at once. Obviously you’d want to make sure you don’t start editing in the wrong document).
Another thing you can do, if you computer can handle it (some get bogged down), is enable the option in Full Screen to keep the main editing window open. You can set up full screen on your primary monitor and leave the Scrivener project window open on the secondary monitor giving you up to three once it is split. Like I said though, this could cause typing lag if your computer isn’t top of the line (and even in some cases if it is, with Snow Leopard).
One other trick I’ve seen used is the Scratchpad. It’s default size is ordinarily rather small, but it could easily be resized. Just paste a document in there and use that as your separate reference window. Others have increased the Inspector to maximum width (hang it off into the second monitor) and use the document notes as a temporary reference area for pasted documents. With use of the Saved Layouts feature, you can contort Scrivener into these odd postures and quickly get back to a more normal interface.
Thanks- those are both useful tricks!