In Xcode 4.5, why can't I select any file for the right-hand pane from 'Manual' in AssistantEditor?

Question

Longtime Xcode 3 user. New to Xcode 4.5. When using the new AssistantEditor (Split-pane window) feature of Xcode and I choose 'Manual' as the content, sometimes it lets me navigate down from the root of a project so I can get to any file I want. However, sometimes 'Manual' only shows me a single file.

For instance, below for the right pane, I can only select MainViewController.h and nothing else in my project, regardless of where the selection is in the Project Navigator or what's open in the left pane. This is really frustrating that something so basic is not clear.

For a pseudo-work-around, I changed my preferences to the following which lets me Option-click a file to open it in the other pane. A little better, but still frustrating.

As an aside, I personally find it really frustrating it's not smart enough to know if your focus is in the second (rightmost) pane and you change selection in Project Navigator, change that pane, not the first. It would be so much easier to reference disparate files side-by-side that way.

Update: Duh!

Well apparently I'm blind. Turns out you can have it follow the focused editor. (And I was just there too!)

While this doesn't answer my question of why the 'Manual' item is seemingly broken, this is actually how I prefer to work anyway. Still, I'll leave this open in case someone figures out that issue.

Answer 1

You can display the assistant editor:

and change the mode to Manual:

Then you can quick open a file using Cmd+Shift+O and then hit Enter to open it on the left editor, or Alt+Enter to open it on the right editor.

You can do a similar thing on the project navigator: click a file to open it on the left editor, or Alt+click to open it on the right editor.

And you can also use tabs:

Hope it helps!