I need clarification. Is there only one binder per project?
I have large outline which I’d like to break up into major parts of a book. How would these sections be different than folders? Within these sections would be chapters and all this info is now in folders in an outline hierarchy.
How do I do what I’d like to see this book organized?
Thank you in advance
Lots of people just create Part folders, aka “Book” or “Act” folders for organizing. They can be excluded from the compilation process if don’t want these folders to be part of the structure of the finished book. It may require a little tweaking to how the section types are automatically assigned, but that’s easy enough to do.
The Binder – as Scrivener uses the term – is the sidebar that lists all the components of your project. There is only one. (Although you can create alternative ‘binders,’ which are called Collections.)
Within that sidebar, you can build whatever hierarchy you want. So you might want a folder for each Part, then sub-folders for each Chapter, then ordinary documents for each Scene. For instance.
If you haven’t already, I’d recommend taking a look at our Interactive Tutorial, available from the Help menu. It’s a good overview of fundamental operations like this.
Think of it like the windows explorer where all the folders on the computer are in one place. That is the scrivener binder to everything inside and you can put folders inside folders inside folders just like the windows explorer heiarchy. Your novel should stay inside the draft/manuscript folders as acts (if want) then chapter inside and scenes inside chapters.
Yes, there is only one binder, but what you choose to put into it, whether it be one essay or 10 books in a series, is up to you.
A feature that may help you out is the “hoist” function, used with the View ▸ Outline ▸ Hoist Binder menu command. Select the main part folder you create, use that, and now your binder is focused exclusively on the contents of that folder. It’s not meant to be something you would use semi-permanently—obviously you might want to jump back out and see your research. So it may be something you want to turn on to focus on writing for a bit, and memorise the keyboard shortcuts so you can more easily toggle it.