One of the things I like best about Scrivener is the flexibility. There’s rarely just one way to do something. But when it comes to quick reference windows, I sometimes feel like there’s so many options on how to view them that the options overwhelm my distracted brain and I end up not being able to remember any of them.
Well, I finally found the quickest, easiest way to pull things up when I just want a quick look and don’t want to lose my place in my writing.
Back Up
What’s a quick reference window, you ask? It’s a small window that floats above the window you’re working in so that you can see your research (or another section of your writing) while you’re writing. It looks like this:
Sweet. Show Me How
It’s so simple. I can’t believe it took me so long to figure it out. Just drag and drop the thing you want to see in the pop-up window to the little icon at the top that looks like a pad of paper with a pencil.
To really use this trick like a pro, don’t click on the thing you want to show in the pop-up window. Doing that will jump you away from what you’re working on. Just drag and drop. Bam.
Like a Boss
That’s pretty much it for today, but as a parting shot, here are a few more tricks you can do with the quick reference window function.
If you think better with all your material spread out for you to see, take heart, you can open as many windows as you want. There’s probably a limit, but I haven’t found it. Just keep dragging and dropping and windows will keep popping up:
If you’re curious how I got a whole webpage to show up in my research section, you probably missed this post on how to embed a website. (Also note that if you’re using Mac OS Mojave 10.14.4 you this trick is currently out of commission. I’ve heard that fixes are in the works.)
This reminds me of using layouts. I used to have a lot of different ones saved but I haven’t used quick reference much because it seems to be in the way. I used to use the project notes for this but now. . .It’s been changed to the bookmark thingie. I use it but not sure I like it .I’ve tried the bookmarked document feature but the font is very small so I’m thinking I’ll give quick reference a try again.
Hi, Livia,
I haven’t played around much with the bookmarks. There are so many different ways to do some things in Scrivener, which is good, but sometimes it cane feel overwhelming. I’ll check it out. Thanks for sharing.