Scrivener

Using Scrivener As Your Reference Library

Scrivener is a powerful writing tool. I write about it weekly with tips and usage ideas. To read more of my posts click the Scrivener tag or category at the end of the page.

The Inspector in Scrivener hides a number of useful features. Previous posts on Archer’s Aim regarding the Inspector include:

Inspection! What Scrivener’s Other Bar Does

Strategic Usage of Snapshots in Scrivener

Keywords & Project Searches in Scrivener

Lost Your Scratchpad? Here It Is In Scrivener!

Duly Noted In Scrivener

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This week we continue with use of Document References from the Inspector.

Just as a refresher, the Inspector is turned on by clicking on View in Scrivener. Slide down the menu to Layout and click on Inspector in the fly-out menu that is displayed (for keyboard command enthusiasts use CTRL + Shift + I).

Scirv Turn on Inspector

The Document References are accessed using the second from the left button located at the bottom of the Inspector.

Scriv Doc Refs Highlighted

To toggle between Document References and Project References click the up-down arrows.

Scriv Doc Refs Toggle

There are several other controls for the Document References. To Add/Remove references click on the +/- buttons. The + button reveals a menu that allows adding internal references from the project as well as external references (Look-up and Add or Create), all of which are pictured below:

The Add Reference Menu

The Add Reference Menu Displayed

 

Add Internal References Menu Displayed

Add Internal References Menu Displayed

 

Adding An External Reference Displayed

Adding An External Reference Displayed

Personally, I’ve been using Document References of late when writing posts. If I start researching aspects of my post then I add the references that I find which are usually external. So when I add the external reference I give it a title that makes sense and the web link to the page. This way I can access the information or add the link into a post. To add the referenced web link to your document, double click on the reference to open it. Then copy/paste the page link that’s opened into the your document via Scrivener’s link command.

Using references can also be used in various types of writing besides blog posts. The internal project references are also very valuable for larger projects, especially those involving research.

the-bow-of-destiny-by-p-h-solomonPlease share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my Contact page for that information. Interested in more of my writing? Just click one of the retailer banners on the sidebar to see more.

IMG_4154-EditAbout the Author

P. H. Solomon lives in the greater Birmingham, AL area where he strongly dislikes yard work and sanding the deck rail. However, he performs these duties to maintain a nice home for his loved ones as well as the family’s German Shepherds. In his spare time, P. H. rides herd as a Computer Whisperer on large computers called servers (harmonica not required). Additionally, he enjoys reading, running, most sports and fantasy football. Having a degree in Anthropology, he also has a wide array of more “serious” interests in addition to working regularly to hone his writing. The Bow of Destiny is his first novel-length title with more soon to come.

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Just as a note: I am not affiliated with Scrivener in any official capacity. For support questions, pricing and other concerns please contact the vendor. However, I am working on becoming an affiliate for Scrivener ads since I like the product so much. I’m not required to write about Scrivener to be an affiliate; I just like it that much. For more about my FTC statement see my sidebar.

Privacy Policy

This blog does not share personal information – including email addresses – with third parties nor do I store any information about your visit to this blog other than to analyze and optimize your content and reading experience through the use of cookies (which is a WordPress.com function and not mine).

You can turn off the use of cookies at any time by changing your specific browser settings.

I am not responsible for republished content from this blog on other blogs or websites without our permission.

This privacy policy is subject to change without notice and was last updated on July 2nd, 2015. If you have any questions feel free to contact me directly here: ph at phsolomon.com (replace the “at” with @, it’s written that way to avoid spammers).

 

Scrivener Collections Pt. 3: Getting at the Facets of Your Writing

Scrivener is a powerful writing tool. I write about it weekly with tips and usage ideas. To read more of my posts click the Scrivener tag or category at the end of the page.

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Diamond photo courtesy Morguefile.com free section.

Diamond photo courtesy Morguefile.com free section.

Just as a gemstone must be cut, so it is with a writing project. There are a variety of ways to approach editing any book. Fortunately, Scrivener’s Collections allow you to organize the various stages of your editing and help you get to the final version of your writing project that is your diamond.

If you’ve been reading my Scrivener posts the last few weeks you’ll know I’ve been discussing the use of collections. For those who may have missed the other posts they are here & here. Today, I continue with collection usage and approaching my current edits for my second novel in The Bow of Hart Saga, An Arrow Against the Wind.

My first round of editing covers structure whereby I’m adding necessary chapters and scenes to the book. To that end, last week’s post covered creating a collection and schedule for this editing. While I’m certainly not finished with that round of editing, I’m going to discuss the next type of structural editing that I can schedule now using collections.

For those who are wondering, yes, multiple collections can be created for any number of reasons. So my next collection will cover style. The chapters and scenes will address different ones to those added last week as well as some saved searches I expect to use during this editing phase.

If you need instructions on creating collections, please refer to the last 2 Scrivener posts linked above in this post. From this point, I’ll assume if you’re reading you understand what I’m doing. In the following screen-shot, you’ll note that I’ve create a second collection named Structural Edit – Style as it appears in the list of collections.

Scriv Struct Edit_Style 1

As I mentioned earlier, the chapters and scenes for this collection are different since I switched to deep POV during the time I wrote this draft. So I’ve identified the chapters that need to be edited to deep POV style. Note the chapters are different between the two collections.

Scriv Struct Edit_Style 2

Similar to the first collection, I’ve edited the meta-data for Status and Labels and I’ve applied them in similar fashion to the first one. I’ve learned to edit for these changes previously, so I’ve created some searches based on these so I can use them in the chapters to I can quickly make basic changes before making more specific ones. This makes editing the chapter or scene in question much quicker.

Scriv Struct Edit_Style 3

Now when I’m ready to proceed to this phase of my structural editing, I’m ready with a schedule and expected searches. If I need anything new, I’ll be able to add the necessary elements to the collection.

the-bow-of-destiny-by-p-h-solomonPlease share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. Interested in more of my writing? Just click one of the retailer banners on the sidebar to see more.

IMG_4154-EditAbout the Author

P. H. Solomon lives in the greater Birmingham, AL area where he strongly dislikes yard work and sanding the deck rail. However, he performs these duties to maintain a nice home for his loved ones as well as the family’s German Shepherds. In his spare time, P. H. rides herd as a Computer Whisperer on large computers called servers (harmonica not required). Additionally, he enjoys reading, running, most sports and fantasy football. Having a degree in Anthropology, he also has a wide array of more “serious” interests in addition to working regularly to hone his writing. The Bow of Destiny is his first novel-length title with more soon to come.

Sign-up to receive my free ebooks today.

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Just as a note: I am not affiliated with Scrivener in any official capacity. For support questions, pricing and other concerns please contact the vendor. However, I am working on becoming an affiliate for Scrivener ads since I like the product so much. I’m not required to write about Scrivener to be an affiliate; I just like it that much. For more about my FTC statement see my sidebar.

Archer’s Aim Digest mailing list

Privacy Policy

This blog does not share personal information – including email addresses – with third parties nor do I store any information about your visit to this blog other than to analyze and optimize your content and reading experience through the use of cookies (which is a WordPress.com function and not mine).

You can turn off the use of cookies at any time by changing your specific browser settings.

I am not responsible for republished content from this blog on other blogs or websites without our permission.

This privacy policy is subject to change without notice and was last updated on July 2nd, 2015. If you have any questions feel free to contact me directly here: ph at phsolomon.com (replace the “at” with @, it’s written that way to avoid spammers).

 

Working With Web Page Content in Scrivener

Scrivener is a powerful writing tool. I write about it weekly with tips and usage ideas. To read more of my posts click the Scrivener tag or category at the end of the page.

Clip Art Image Copyright by Microsoft. Clip Art Used by Permission of Microsoft

Clip Art Image Copyright by Microsoft. Clip Art Used by Permission of Microsoft

A while back one of the readers of this blog suggested I write a post about importing and saving web files. Honestly, I’d never thought about it since it’s just not something that I do that much. However, there are many writers out there that use features of Scrivener more often than I do writing non-fiction or using their research on a wide scale.

So here I am giving it a good try to describe how web files can be imported and saved in Scrivener. There are several points to understand about this process before we go much further and part of that is understanding what a web file is. Simply put it is a file which is encoded with html language for use on webpages whether these be public or private.

Next, why would anyone want to import a web file? Many people want to import their content to be edited and revised.

Last, why save content as a web file? Many people use this to make webpages for their websites. Personally I just copy and paste my blog content rather than compiling a web format – the WordPress.com tools are just more conducive to making the simple data transfer. I still have to add media but I’ve found that it’s easier than importing to my website. However, while many people use the WordPress software on their sites, they are hosted elsewhere so posting is different than what I do and it makes sense to compile a blog or page to html format first.

So why the difference? It has most to do with Scrivener’s editor which is admittedly not as robust as Word (Scrivener’s strength lies in its organizational and developmental features). The editor does not allow wrapping around photos like Word. So if you want to save the content as a web document and it has photos or illustrations in it you may still need to edit it in Word to get the wrapping effects that you prefer. I use WordPress.com’s features to wrap text so it makes sense for me to transfer to content and then add media.

So with all that in mind here’s how to save your content as a web document. First you must compile your finished document to html by clicking on File and then Compile to open the compiler:

Scriv Webpage Compile

Next, if you have multiple documents in the project but only want to compile one use ALT + Click (that’s press the ALT key and click) on a checkbox. Then select the individual document. Next, in the file format choose Web Page (.html) and click Compile. Select the location to save the file and there you have it.

It you have pictures and other media in the document but want them wrapped (or want to add them), just use word – you can edit a webpage from Word. From there you post your content/document according to your hosting requirements.

As a final note, you can import a web document as a .MHT which you must then save as a .PDF to view in Scrivener. To edit webpage content, it must first be imported as text. To do this, click on File, go to Import and choose Web Page as noted in this screenshot:

Scriv Import Menu

Next you have the Import window and here are screenshots of that with options for the available file formats:

Scriv Import Webpage                  Scriv Import_As Options

There’s a bit more to this that begins to relate to MML (Multi-Markup Language) which gets into a different subject altogether and too much information for this post.

Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. Interested in more of my writing? Just click one of the retailer banners on the sidebar to see more.

IMG_4154-EditAbout the Author

P. H. Solomon lives in the greater Birmingham, AL area where he strongly dislikes yard work and sanding the deck rail. However, he performs these duties to maintain a nice home for his loved ones as well as the family’s German Shepherds. In his spare time, P. H. rides herd as a Computer Whisperer on large computers called servers (harmonica not required). Additionally, he enjoys reading, running, most sports and fantasy football. Having a degree in Anthropology, he also has a wide array of more “serious” interests in addition to working regularly to hone his writing. The Bow of Destiny is his first novel-length title with more soon to come.

Sign-up to receive my free ebooks today.

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Just as a note: I now have a marketing affiliation with Scrivener. For support questions, pricing, licensing and other concerns please contact the vendor. As such a buy ad for Scrivener appears on the sidebar. I’ve started this program　since I like the product so much and want to offer readers the chance to obtain this software. I’m not required to write about Scrivener to be an affiliate; I just like it that much. You can also find my FTC statement on this site’s sidebar.