Best way to manage different versions of same scenes / sequences?

[Biff]

What is the best way to manage different versions of same scenes / sequences?

[krastev]

Snapshots.

[Biff]

So just to manually make a snapshot of each document / folder after some time / amount of words or so?

Suppose one has three (slightly) or more different versions of lines / phrases a person speaks. One of them will be the one being used at the end. How could one manage such different versions the best? Different versions of momologs / phrases, etc. of different persons. Doing it with snapshots does not seem to work very well, doesn’t it?

[legacy_rdale]

You’re going to have to unpack what you mean by “manage”, because it sounds like you want to alternate between one version and another, depending on compile setup? You talk about a specific phrases, and using versions of them in different parts of your project… I’m kind of lost as to what you’re trying to do.

[Biff]

You’re going to have to unpack what you mean by “manage”, because it sounds like you want to alternate between one version and another,

Yes, yes, that is right. Alternate between two versions or more.

depending on compile setup?

No, no, depending on what the best version for the actor is for example.

You talk about a specific phrases, and using versions of them in different parts of your project… I’m kind of lost as to what you’re trying to do.

Very sorry about that.

Example: there is a line in a scene in which an actor / the role R.D. says:
I’m kind of lost as to what you’re trying to do.

But may be he better should say this, an alternate version:
I’m freaking out because I do not understand what you’re trying to do.

Or this:
I’ll kick your brain, if you don’t tell me what you’re trying to do.

And so on.

So how could one handle / dsiplay / manage these three versions R.D. might say? Just write them next to each others? Or should one write the less preferred ones (for now) some where else?

[legacy_rdale]

@Biff

You’re going to have to unpack what you mean by “manage”, because it sounds like you want to alternate between one version and another,

Yes, yes, that is right. Alternate between two versions or more.

depending on compile setup?

No, no, depending on what the best version for the actor is for example.

So you’re only keeping track until you decide which version goes into the final output? This set of alternatives is only until you can decide which parts to delete from Scrivener before producing output (a compiled script)?

@Biff

You talk about a specific phrases, and using versions of them in different parts of your project… I’m kind of lost as to what you’re trying to do.

Very sorry about that.

Example: there is a line in a scene in which an actor / the role R.D. says:
I’m kind of lost as to what you’re trying to do.

But may be he better should say this, an alternate version:
I’m freaking out because I do not understand what you’re trying to do.

Or this:
I’ll kick your brain, if you don’t tell me what you’re trying to do.

And so on.

So how could one handle / dsiplay / manage these three versions R.D. might say? Just write them next to each others? Or should one write the less preferred ones (for now) some where else?

Display to whom? Just to you? Or are you trying to produce a script that gives the actor 3 alternative phrases to choose from in the compiled script? How is this different from how you want to handle alternative documents?

Are you trying to mark these things so that you can say “this phrasing/entire document has succinct dialogue, this one’s verbose, and this one is profane… now I want to compile a version of the script for each kind of phrasing, for all of the phrases I’ve created along these 3 lines…”?

If you’re trying to just keep up with alternatives until YOU choose the one you want, that’s different from marking text so that when you compile, it’s clear to an actor/director that you have two scenes that are interchangeable, or 3 phrases that say essentially the same thing in alternative ways.

[Biff]

So you’re only keeping track until you decide which version goes into the final output? This set of alternatives is only until you can decide which parts to delete from Scrivener before producing output (a compiled script)?

Yes. that is right. May be there is a chance to output the variations as well, but at the moment I would not think so.

Display to whom? Just to you?

Yes, to me, in Scrivener, while editing / writing, etc.

Or are you trying to produce a script that gives the actor 3 alternative phrases to choose from in the compiled script?

No, this is very unlikely I would think now. But if need be, may be. But for now, I would not want it.

How is this different from how you want to handle alternative documents?

Sorry, what alternate documents?

Are you trying to mark these things so that you can say “this phrasing/entire document has succinct dialogue, this one’s verbose, and this one is profane… now I want to compile a version of the script for each kind of phrasing, for all of the phrases I’ve created along these 3 lines…”?

At the moment I would think that is very unlikely. I should be the only one using, needing the variations before the script is outputted. So the sript usually should be outputted only in a single version, not in different ones.

If you’re trying to just keep up with alternatives until YOU choose the one you want, that’s different from marking text so that when you compile, it’s clear to an actor/director that you have two scenes that are interchangeable, or 3 phrases that say essentially the same thing in alternative ways.

Yes, I understand. So the 3 prhases are only for me, so this is right: “you’re trying to just keep up with alternatives until YOU choose the one you want”
To show the alternates others is very unlikely, I would think in the moment.

[legacy_rdale]

Okay… so what I would suggest for alternative phrasing would be easier in the beta, but I assume you’re not using that. Inline annotations are good for storing alternates. You just type in the alternate phrase, highlight it, and then mark it as an inline annotation. I forget the exact menu/keyboard shortcut ,but this kind of thing is covered in the manual and likely in the interactive tutorial. During compile, there’s an option to strip out inline annotations from the final compiled document. You can then select the current phrase, making it an inline annotation, and then select one of the phrases that’s currently an annotation to strip away the annotation property, making it appear as normal text.

If you are keeping up with entire alternate documents, and you’re not going through heavy editing, then version 1 of Scrivener for Windows’s snapshots should be sufficient to keep alternative documents tucked away. Unfortunately, showing differences between a snapshot and its document wasn’t implemented in version 1–that’ll have to wait until you’re able to upgrade to version 3. You can name your snapshots, and you can swap out what’s in a snapshot for what’s in the editor, creating a snapshot of the editor’s contents in the process.

Neither of these solutions lets you flip a switch to swap alternatives out; you have to do it manually, as described above. Hope that helps.

[Biff]

Okay… so what I would suggest for alternative phrasing would be easier in the beta, but I assume you’re not using that.

Yes, I have:

Ah, yes, great, that helps very much, many thanks! Annotations. All questions answered for now. I will try using / implementing them in the everyday life, work flow, using the snapshots as well.

Thank you very much, again!