The new project is now taking life in the arms of Scrivener 2. I'm more focussed on writing a book than learning software. So there are still many new features in this version I don't understand or haven't tried. But sometimes you come across things through serendipity...

One of the drawbacks of Scrivener 1 was trying to deal with different windows of information. You could split the page between two parts of the book (which I never found comfortable). But not much more than that. With Scrivener 2 though we now have QuickRef screens which are utterly wonderful. Watch...

<!--more-->Select a document in the Binder on the left.

<a href="http://davidhewson.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/screen-shot-2010-11-16-at-08-37-29.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6303" title="Screen shot 2010-11-16 at 08.37.29" src="http://davidhewson.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/screen-shot-2010-11-16-at-08-37-29.png" alt="" width="270" height="51" /></a>Then hit the space bar -- nothing more. You get a quick look, much as you do in Finder. Like this...

<a href="http://davidhewson.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/screen-shot-2010-11-16-at-08-38-16.png"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-6304" title="Screen shot 2010-11-16 at 08.38.16" src="http://davidhewson.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/screen-shot-2010-11-16-at-08-38-16.png?w=640" alt="" width="640" height="360" /></a>The window floats above your main document. If it's text you can edit it, label it, see a word count, do pretty much anything you could if it was in the normal big window. If it's a pdf or an image you have a quick reference to your research. You can add notes and comments and read ones you've made earlier. The window can be dragged around anywhere and is visible in full screen view if you want it.

Scrivener 1 had an annoying habit (for me anyway) of forcing you to flip around from document to document trying to discover what you wanted. With this you can keep notes and other linked scenes easily available for instant reference. Magic... But before you ask this is a Scrivener 2 feature, Mac only -- don't look for it in the Windows beta.