There are various posts about compile issues, but I’m listing some here in case any are not filed, and also because I list some workarounds which may help others. These workarounds took hours by trial and error, so maybe this will save others some time. I copied the Manuscript Courier format in Compile so I could edit its settings.
By checking the Add Front Matter box, I can add a title page or a dedication, but not both. I found no workaround other than combining them into one document.
On the Metadata section, the Title, Abbreviated Title, and Authors fields should be part of the project properties. I can’t be the only one working on multiple novels at one time (one in final polishing, one 3/4 done, and one in the planning stages). I got burned forgetting to change the title. When you work on a project, there should be a way to title that project outside of the compile routine. As for the Authors field, some writers use different pen names depending on the genre of the current work.
The compiled text was not double spaced. While editing the format, in Section Layouts, I selected the layouts I wanted to use, I highlighted the sample text for the layout, and set it to double spaced. I also set the lines between paragraphs to 1 to get rid of the blank line between paragraphs. I checked the box to override text and notes formatting.
The font was Courier Prime. In Section Layouts, I selected the layouts I wanted to use, I highlighted the sample text for the layout, and set the font to Courier New. When checking the output in Word, I saw the font was Courier. The title page was Courier New because it was set to As Is. I didn’t understand why the quotes looked odd until I saw the Prime font beyond the title page.
Between scenes, there was only one # sign. In Separators, I set the settings for Section Text and Chapter, but then I had page breaks between each scene even though the settings looked right. I set the Section Text and Chapter to use the defaults (the small list at the top), and then they worked properly.
Smart punctuation was not replaced. In Transformations, the check box Convert “smart” punctuation to “dumb” punctuation does not work. The workaround is to copy the open smart double quote and paste it into the Replacements (editing the format). Do the same for the close smart double quote, the open and close single quote, and the double dashes. Note that the open and close quotes look identical in the Replacements field, but they do replace properly.
Headers are always left justified. There are other posts about this. I found no workaround other than to edit the Word document and edit the header.
Page size was A4. In Page Settings, the Page Settings… button provides no choice for 8.5 x 11" paper size. It does have a choice for Letter. I missed that the first time scrolling the list.
The top, bottom, left, and right margins changed. The margins were okay at first, but when I changed the page size to Letter, they changed. I made the mistake of editing the section layout text margins to fix the margins. That was wrong and really screwed up the margins. The Page Settings… button lets you change the margins, but even when that showed 1 inch all around, the margins were still wrong. Use the Margins button in the Page Settings section. That works.
The Compile Manuscript dialog opens under the compile window, so it isn’t visible. For much of the compile process, the Compile window just sits there seemingly doing nothing. I only found the dialog tabbing to other windows. The second progress dialog when creating the Word document does show, but by then it closes at 4% when it finishes.
Thanks,
Miik