How could one add the titels (of a doc / folder shown in Scrivener) to the file names of the rtf files or let Scrvener rename “content.rtf” to “title xyz.rtf”?
To do that, they would have to make some serious changes to the internals of Scrivener, so the reason for doing so must be very good. Why would you want this ability? The RTF files are not meant to be directly accessed by the user, so why would you want custom names for them?
If you want this so that you can more easily edit the files outside of Scrivener, the supported mechanism is the Sync with External Folder command.
Yes, I assume that is not usable for me.
So it is not possible?
No, it’s not possible to change the name of the files within the Scrivener project folder. Again, though, the question is really, why do you want to?—that is, what’s your goal in doing this? These files in the project folder are meant for Scrivener’s internal use, so the filenames the application uses shouldn’t normally matter to you. If you want to access the files outside of Scrivener, there are ways to do this in accord with the program and they do use the document title as the file name.
File ▸ Export ▸ Files...lets you select one or more items in the binder and export them as individual files following (as closely as possible) the same binder structure. See §25.1 in the user manual for more on this.File ▸ Sync ▸ with External Folder...sets up a folder outside of Scrivener to which it will export a copy of specified text documents from the Scrivener project in a way that they can be edited in another application, then copied back into the project, updating the original project documents (rather than acting as a new document, as if you were to import a previously exported document on your own). This is covered in §14.3 of the manual.
If this is referring to the the external folder sync, note that this is not the same as syncing with the iOS version of Scrivener. Without knowing the particulars of what you’re trying to do or your setup, I’ll just say that this is intentionally a very general tool that allows you to work on Scrivener documents in other contexts. It could be the sort of thing where you create the external folder in Dropbox and use that to sync the files to an Android phone and make them available to an app there, or it could be that you’re just working with the files locally on the computer but using a different editor, such as a syntax-highlighting text editor to work on some documents that contain code.
I want to quickly, easily find / search for files / file names in more than one project (e.g. in 3, 4 different projects). And I just want to edit the docs with another program then on the same drive.
File ▸ Export ▸ Files… lets you select one or more items in the binder and export them as individual files following (as closely as possible) the same binder structure. See §25.1 in the user manual for more on this.
What is that good for. For what purpose?
File ▸ Sync ▸ with External Folder… sets up a folder outside of Scrivener to which it will export a copy of specified text documents from the Scrivener project in a way that they can be edited in another application, then copied back into the project, updating the original project documents (rather than acting as a new document, as if you were to import a previously exported document on your own). This is covered in §14.3 of the manual.
What if you (accidentally) edit the same document in Scrivener and outside of Scrivener? Can Scrivener automatically sync one document eacht time e.g. 2 secondes after it was edited?
I am on Windows.
Why are you using Scrivener? Your description sounds more like you are looking for a general purpose file manager.
Windows should be able to search inside a Scrivener project. Search for the file content, rather than the file name. Or use the Sync with External Folder command, as the External Folder will use the Binder titles.
As noted, the Sync with External Folder command is designed to allow you to edit the contents of your project with other tools. If it’s a folder on the same machine, I would recommend closing Scrivener first, but there shouldn’t be any “lag” because there’s no need to involve the internet.
Why are you using Scrivener?
For writing, I would say.
Your description sounds more like you are looking for a general purpose file manager.
To be used what for?
Or use the Sync with External Folder command, as the External Folder will use the Binder titles.
So when Scrivener uses the titles there why doesn’t it do it for the internal files?
As noted, the Sync with External Folder command is designed to allow you to edit the contents of your project with other tools.
Why does it do it with external folders? Why not with the internal files?
If it’s a folder on the same machine, I would recommend closing Scrivener first,
Why? To do what?
but there shouldn’t be any “lag” because there’s no need to involve the internet.
Sorry, what lag?
Because the project is a complex web of interlinked files, and even adding a single word to a document creates changes elsewhere in the structure. So, if you edit one of the content files with some other app, the changes will not be reflected in the other internal files and your project will be corrupted.
Sounds very dangerous, respectively sounds like a faulty construction. Much too error prone, I would think, too risky then, why should one use such, why should you take such a risk? Actually I just want to write, not to care about how to handle / when to open / close Scrivener and open / close / save files in another editor, etc. Would think such do not make any sense at all. And it sounds quite uncomfortable. One has to open / close Scrivener all the time to edit files of a project with another editor, one has to sync again and again, making sure everything happens in the right order. Somehow sounds like the opposite of destraction free writing.
Thousands of us have been using Scrivener successfully for years to write books, both traditionally published and ebooks, as well as theses, academic papers and much, much more without any of your concerns.
I myself (I am Mac-based) have been using Scrivener for 15 years for my own projects, and, over the last 10 years at least, for sharing translation projects with a Windows-based Scrivener-using collaborator on the other side of the world with the number of conflicts we have had countable on the fingers of one hand.
So, if you are so concerned about the way Scrivener is structured and works that you are not comfortable using it, then the only thing I can suggest is that you should look for some other writing app that you are comfortable with.
2 Likes
OK, which would you recommend?
Scrivener. Of course. Best of breed.
1 Like
Scrivener is designed around the assumption that you’ll be able to accomplish most writing tasks in Scrivener, and therefore will not need to routinely open files in another tool.
Perhaps if you could explain what specifically you need to do outside of Scrivener, we would be more able to advise you.
—but only if one handles a Scrivener project the one way it is not intended to get handled, i.e. with an outside editor.
It might be helpful to know that on the Mac, where Scrivener startet, a project is a package. Which means it is actually the same folder and file structure as you see on Windows, but the user does see it like a single file in the system’s file manager and can open it like a single file. They can get access to its contents though, but that would require an extra step. This clearly indicates both “Don’t mess with the internals” and “Don’t bother about the internals”.
Windows, to my knowledge, has no such thing as packages which might be misleading how to handle a project.
You simple shouldn’t. The main concept of Scrivener is to keep everything belonging to a project in the project (with exceptions possible like huge research files that only get linked instead of copied into the project). And to work on the project from within Scrivener (with the exception of Open Externally of research material, however, a process started from within Scrivener).
While a project is best to be understood as single file, a core part of Scrivener’s technical concept is the ability to chop a text into as many pieces as wanted. This has many advantages as it allows to easily move these items, to interlink between them, etc. And is especially useful for syncing: Only the items changed (and the small internal files logging changes in the projects) have to get synced, not the whole, maybe huge project.
First, the External Folder comes from a time where there was no mobile version of Scrivener and back then it was the only way to work with some files on mobile devices. Since the external editor does not know anything about a project’s internals the Binder titles would be the only thing to tell the user which file is which.
Inside of a project there is the Binder. Which, unlike file systems, allows identical names of text or research pieces because their files names are not their Binder titles. Using a fixed file name for each item also speeds up linking items: If ten texts are linked to 1.rtf they will still be linked to 1.rtf after its Binder title had been changed from “Character Sheet Paul” to “Character Sheet John”.
The question unanswered remains:
Scrivener offers lots and lots of tools for writing, split screens, interlinking, versioning, customizing of the editor, etc. What is still missing for you so you prefer to edit from the outside? And if you’re missing some features that are crucial to you, why not stick with the other app that has them?
1 Like
As a Mac user, I have no idea what’s available for Windows, though I’ve recently discovered that Notebooks by Alphons Schmidt is available for Windows. It stores its files in a regular operating system hierarchy of Directories and files (.txt, .md or .html) and has a “compile” command, which I’ve never explored.
Many thanks for the explanations.
I would use Scrivener for the usual writing, I would say, nothing special. I once tried to write some screenplays, but I failed completely using Scrivener, didn’t work for me at all. So yes, I am just using Final Draft (for screenplays), it is absolutely OK still.
And as the lists I generally use very often, at the moment especially for a recipe collection, do not work (for me) I wanted to (quickly, easily, without ado) edit them with another program. That’s all.
I wouldn’t say - at the moment - there is missing any crucial (well, may be an option to have identical texts at different places that automatically update when one edits one of them or setting links that refer to special text in another or the same doc, folder, etc.) It would be enough for me, if the options / functions would work the way I imagine they should.
But the biggest problem - among some others - is that Scrivener greys out all the time, “No response”, for example when I click a bookmark. So I have to close all projects all the time and reopen them one by one.
Scrivener is usually pretty robust. If your experience is otherwise, feel free to open a support ticket here:
No, thank you very much!
Would <$include:item name> work for you? One file has the actual text, the other includes it.