Siamese twin sections

[marguerite]

Hi, Steve:

I decided to split one section in my novel, imported from 1.5 into the Tiger version of 2.0.1. I selected some text and cut it, moved to the chapter where I wanted the new section to appear, added a section, named the section, and copied the text between the section markers. So far, so good.

 

Then I looked at the Project View and realized Storyist had given my new section the same name as the old section. I renamed the new section. Both the new and the old sections changed their names. I repeated this several times with the same result. Then I set the window to display the collage for each twin and tried deleting the attached section sheets. If I deleted it from one section's collage, it disappeared from the other's and vice versa.

 

The text in the two sections is different, but in Storyist's "mind" they are clearly linked. I suspect there is a no longer functioning section title at work here, since I notice that if I select all the text in a section and paste it into the separate manuscript where I keep deletions, the new, untitled section takes on the original name.

 

Any ideas for unlinking the sections?

Thanks,

Marguerite

 

P.S. I did eventually find a rough-and-ready solution by deleting the carriage return after the preceding section separator, which deleted the section (but not its associated text), and then retyping the carriage return and reformatting the first paragraph as Section Text. At that point I could rename my "Untitled Section" without affecting the original section. So that does suggest that I inadvertently copied something invisible when I cut and pasted the text.

[Steve E]

Have you tried the Link/Unlink Selection button in Split View?

 

Of course you did.

-Thoth.

[marguerite]

Have you tried the Link/Unlink Selection button in Split View?

 

Of course you did.

-Thoth.

The button was always unlinked, but thanks for the thought!

 

Also, when I closed the file and reopened it, I couldn't navigate to either of the twinned sections. I had to go to the sections above or below and use Page Up/Page Down, presumably because Storyist didn't know which of the two locations I really wanted.

Best,

M

[Steve E]

Try it linked. See what happens.

 

Sounds like you may have caught yourself a bug.

-Thoth.

[marguerite]

Try it linked. See what happens.

 

Sounds like you may have caught yourself a bug.

-Thoth.

Probably more a feature than a bug, just one with unexpected consequences. It does let you keep your original section names without retyping, which is cool except in the present circumstances.

 

I'll test later to see if the link button makes a difference.

Best,

M

[marguerite]

More information: I just copied the ending paragraphs of a section and stashed them in a new section in my "Deleted Text" manuscript. When I pasted the text, Storyist again renamed the section to match the original section from which I had copied the text. But this time it did not link the sections, so when I restored the title I had previously given to the new section, it did not change the original one.

 

Link button still set on "unlink."

 

This is not a problem, except when the two sections become inextricably intertwined. I actually like the feature on the whole, but I pass the information along because it's clearly not as simple as a hidden section title, since these paragraphs were from the last third of the section, not the top.

 

This should be quite reproducible. It may even work with v2 manuscripts (but perhaps not, unless automatic section-sheet creation is turned on).

1. Open any 1.5 file in v2.

2. Copy part of the section text from a titled section.

3. Create a new, untitled section.

4. Paste the text and see the new section given the same name as the original.

Best,

M

[Steve E]

I think I'd like to see a more detailed explanation of this "feature". What are the rules? What are the variations? I'm not getting a sense of it from the V2 User's Guide. A screencast of how Storyist "thinks" about this might be in order. (When you cut and paste a section, what comes with it?)

 

- Thoth.

[Steve]

P.S. I did eventually find a rough-and-ready solution by deleting the carriage return after the preceding section separator, which deleted the section (but not its associated text), and then retyping the carriage return and reformatting the first paragraph as Section Text. At that point I could rename my "Untitled Section" without affecting the original section. So that does suggest that I inadvertently copied something invisible when I cut and pasted the text.

 

Hi M,

 

Thanks for the report. There is a bug in 2.0 and 2.0.1 that causes the section titles to be duplicated if you paste text copied from one section to the start of another section.

 

The work-around is as you describe.

 

Fixed for 2.0.2.

 

-Steve