How do I go about changing the name of the project, the novel’s name, and also the name for the backups? I sit day after day working on a project that has the wrong title at the top. It’s probably very straightforward but I’m afraid of doing something wrong.
The backups and title bar simply use the Scrivener project’s file name, which is also the default “project name” used when compiling. To change it, make sure the project is not open in Scrivener, then use Finder to edit the filename, ensuring you leave the “.scriv” extension if it’s visible. If needed, you can first open the project in Scrivener and choose File > Show Project in Finder to locate the project; just close it in Scrivener before renaming it.
This will make your new backups use the new filename, but it won’t do anything about your old ones, which will also then not get overwritten by newer backups, as happens if you’ve left the default setting of keeping only a set number of backups. You can rename them yourself in the same way (if they’re zip archives, you’ll only be renaming the archive, not the project inside it) or just leave them as they are and delete them in the future if you no longer need them.
When compiling a project, if you prefer not to use the file name as the title, you can set something different in the metadata field of the compile pane. That title will be used in the compiled document anywhere the <$projectname> or <$projecttitle> placeholder is used (e.g. as part of the header information in a compile preset). This alone isn’t what you want in your case, since it won’t affect the name appearing at the top of the project window, but it can be handy if you prefer to name your project something other than the book title.
Or simply Save as… with a new name, which makes sure that your old project remains as it is and the new version with the new name will have its own backups etc.
Thank you both. ‘Save As’ works for me because it puts the right name at the top of the project as well as saving backups with the new name.