Syncing Issues / Responsiveness

[elf]

Platform & OS Version

Platform: Mac
OS Version: 10.15.7
OS Language Setting: English

App Version

Version: 3.07
Application Shell: 3.07

Problem Description + Screenshots

I have synched this project with Scrivener…

It does not seem possible to highlight multiple levels of narrative folders and events beneath (for example, Book, Part, Chapter, Scenes) in order to (for example) mass-assign them to a Story Arc. I think I found a work-around:

In attempting to use filters to accomplish the same thing, I filtered by item type (event) then selected the subsection of events and assigned Story Arcs to bulk events.

So far so good.

Then, attempting to clear the filter the narrative folders (Book, Part, Chapter) are still missing in the spreadsheet view. I’ve tried saving and quitting and relaunching, no luck. They are gone.

They show up in the narrative view, but not the spreadsheet. Perhaps that’s intended behaviour? Perhaps the spreadsheet view is not intended to show the narrative folders?

On that point, is it intended that one cannot see the duration of a Book or Chapter in the timeline view? Just events? This is a departure from version 2.0 I think, where you could have scenes parented by chapters and chapters parented by parts, and parts by Books (arbitrary folder hierarchies). Is that gone now?

Finally, I believe I’ve seen elsewhere as well that responsiveness is quick sluggish. I have to echo that concern. Changes can take several seconds (3-5) to register. Switching views can take several seconds (3-5) to register.

My project is quite large (850 events spread over a multi-book series) but the responsiveness still seems very slow.

[Serabale (Юлия)]

Hi,

@elf

They show up in the narrative view, but not the spreadsheet. Perhaps that’s intended behaviour? Perhaps the spreadsheet view is not intended to show the narrative folders?

You can find narrative folders in Outline View.

Here you can read about difference between chronological and narrative order

Chronological vs Narrative Order - Aeon Timeline 3 Knowledge Base

But there is a way to see narrative folders in timeline, which I use

@elf

On that point, is it intended that one cannot see the duration of a Book or Chapter in the timeline view? Just events?

Just imagine that one chapter can include a simple scene, a flashback and flash-forward.

You also can set such filter as Narrative.

I hope it will help you

[matt]

Hi elf,
I don’t think this conversation is well suited to the “bug report” category or format, given it is in part a collection of usage questions, so I am going to move it into the Mac/Windows app category.

I have also edited the title to mention syncing, and stripped out the unused bug report template instructions, just to make it easier for other users to find and read.

@elf

It does not seem possible to highlight multiple levels of narrative folders and events beneath (for example, Book, Part, Chapter, Scenes) in order to (for example) mass-assign them to a Story Arc.

Yes, this is something we need to tidy up. You can select a number of items and mass-assign a relationship to them, but only if they are all of the same type.

This really should allow any relationships to be assigned that are shared by all types.

@elf

Then, attempting to clear the filter the narrative folders (Book, Part, Chapter) are still missing in the spreadsheet view. I’ve tried saving and quitting and relaunching, no luck. They are gone.

They show up in the narrative view, but not the spreadsheet. Perhaps that’s intended behaviour? Perhaps the spreadsheet view is not intended to show the narrative folders?

As Serabale has mentioned, this is intentional. The article she has linked to is the best reference for this.

In short:

• Narrative View shows items in your narrative structure/order. Certain item types (Narrative Folder and Exposition) only appear in your narrative and not anywhere else.
  • Outline View is basically a spreadsheet view for your narrative structure
• The rest of the items are automatically added to your chronological order (i.e. spreadsheet) as soon as they are created (provided the settings say they can go there).

The next answer is also relevant to this.

@elf

On that point, is it intended that one cannot see the duration of a Book or Chapter in the timeline view? Just events? This is a departure from version 2.0 I think, where you could have scenes parented by chapters and chapters parented by parts, and parts by Books (arbitrary folder hierarchies). Is that gone now?

It is intentional that there is a specific Item Type, Narrative Folder, that is designed to exist inside the narrative but nowhere else.

However, you don’t need to use the Narrative Folder type.

Events can be nested inside other events in the narrative, and those events can still be labelled as chapters and scenes within that structure.

So if you have something marked as a Narrative Folder, but you want it in your Spreadsheet, just change its type to something else which is allowed in the spreadsheet (e.g. Event or Scene).

Matt

[matt]

@elf

Finally, I believe I’ve seen elsewhere as well that responsiveness is quick sluggish. I have to echo that concern. Changes can take several seconds (3-5) to register. Switching views can take several seconds (3-5) to register.

My project is quite large (850 events spread over a multi-book series) but the responsiveness still seems very slow.

Thanks for reporting this.

Would it be possible for you to email your timeline file to us at support@timeline.app? It might be helpful for us to view the file for ourselves and see if we can work out why it feels slow, and if there is anything further we can optimise.

[elf]

Alas, no. I have to keep this file private. I can perhaps try to recreate the problem with a custom file and will attempt this over the weekend.

Matt: Thank you for the product. We have been very happy with v2.x and are looking forward to putting 3.x through the paces once the (minor) issues are smoothed out.