# A Windows convert to Mac OS Scrivener: basic question

**URL:** <https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/a-windows-convert-to-mac-os-scrivener-basic-question/33090>\
**Category:** Scrivener for macOS\
**Tags:** support\
**Created:** [April 7, 2016, 2:50pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/a-windows-convert-to-mac-os-scrivener-basic-question/33090 "2016-04-07T14:50:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![lometogo](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/lometogo/32/16383_2.png) [@lometogo](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/lometogo)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 2:50pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/a-windows-convert-to-mac-os-scrivener-basic-question/33090/1 "2016-04-07T14:50:36Z")

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Dal posted this on the Win Scrivener side: — In Scrivener, under Tools-\>Options-\>Editor, you can set up your preferred font and paragraph settings. Then you can select any item or items in the binder and go to the menu Documents-\>Convert-\>Formatting to Default Text Style.----

That’s exactly what I want to know how to do on my Mac Scrivener. When I open up a blank folder, it must be using a preset template which picks font, font size, line spacing, indentations, etc.

My question: how/where do I find out the attributes of this BLANK document template? And how can I go to it and make my preferred changes so I can then save it as the BLANK document template and have it work my preferences into all future documents?

Hope I have made that clear enough.

thanks, all.

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**Author:** ![PJS](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/ad7895/32.png) [@PJS](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/PJS)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 3:54pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/a-windows-convert-to-mac-os-scrivener-basic-question/33090/2 "2016-04-07T15:54:35Z")

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I think what you want is

Scrivener\> Preferences \> Formatting \> Options that take effect for new documents

ps

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**Author:** ![gr](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/gr/32/38680_2.png) [@gr](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/gr)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 2:24am UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/a-windows-convert-to-mac-os-scrivener-basic-question/33090/3 "2016-04-08T02:24:14Z")

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I think pjs has the right of it.

You /can/ define custom text doc templates for various purposes – and these are represented as template docs in scriv, but the one default text doc template to (under)rule them all is not represented as a doc template: it is just a set of preference settings.

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**Author:** ![kewms](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/kewms/32/15720_2.png) [@kewms](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/kewms)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 4:50am UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/a-windows-convert-to-mac-os-scrivener-basic-question/33090/4 "2016-04-08T04:50:02Z")

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To be a little more precise, formatting can be defined in three different places:

- Via Scrivener’s Format menu. These settings only affect the selected text within the current document.

- The Project -\> Text Preferences pane. These settings apply to all new documents within the current project. Many of the supplied templates include settings at this level.

- The Scrivener -\> Preferences -\> Formatting pane. These settings apply to all new documents Scrivener-wide, _except_ when overridden by a particular project’s settings.

Katherine

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**Author:** ![lometogo](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/lometogo/32/16383_2.png) [@lometogo](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/lometogo)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2016, 3:35pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/a-windows-convert-to-mac-os-scrivener-basic-question/33090/5 "2016-04-09T15:35:49Z")

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Thanks all. Very helpful.