Chapter Number and Name

Scrivener Scrivener for macOS
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1

When compiling my manuscript, will the Chapter Number and Title will automatically be added or do I have to add it at the top of each chapter?
I have not tried to compile yet as I am not finished with the first draft.
Thanks in advance

2

It can be automatic.

This is set in the compile format. (Left side of the compile panel.)

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3

Now is the best time to start then. You don’t need to be anywhere near finished to start getting your settings working the way you want. Compiling daily is a good way to keep your work in a static external form, but it’s also good in that you won’t be trying to learn everything about it all at once. You can figure out how to do this or that gradually.

But to answer your question, yes. And that is the best way to handle it. Putting the headings into the text itself is less flexible all around because changes require going back and fixing static text one by one. Say you change your mind about printing the heading along with the number. If you let the compiler handle that for you, then it’s a simple matter of selecting a different Layout for your chapters, one that just prints “Chapter One” perhaps. It will be numbering things for you, too, so that’s another thing you don’t have to worry about.

If you started from a template and followed its suggestions for how to structure your writings in the binder, it will likely do that without you changing anything. So you might as well at least try that. You can’t hurt anything by compiling, all it does is read your material and make a file out of it. You might indeed only get “Chapter One”, but like I say it’s easy to switch:

  1. After opening File ▸ Compile... scroll through the preview tiles in the middle column. If you started with the Novel template, to use an example, you’ll be using the standard Times New Roman manuscript format, and will find “Chapter Headings” are formated as stated above.
  2. Click the Assign Section Layouts... button below the preview area to change this.
  3. Select “Chapter Heading” in the left column of this window to choose a different layout, and scroll through the options on the right. When you find one you like (maybe “Chapter Title” or even “Chapter with Title” if you intend to write each chapter as one entry) click it to select, and save your changes. There you go.
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