I’m returning to Scrivener after a long absence. (Basically the comp I had it on crashed, but also Smashwords convinced me life would be easier using a Word clone: Open Office/Libre Office.)
I and a friend work as mutual editors for each other’s work. She has also recently expressed interest in moving to Scrivener.
So for example, when I’m working on editing her work (in Libre Office) I track changes and use one color for additions, another plus strikeout for subtractions, and I bracket Comments, Suggestions, Questions and so forth.
What I don’t want is to overwrite her original work. I just want her to be able to SEE the changes I am suggesting.
Is there an efficient way to do this in Scrivener?
No track changes, but colored Revisions, Comments with Suggestions and Questions, Inline Annotations. You can color and strike through text and have the color removed and strikethrough text deleted in the Compile proces.
You cannot edit at the same time in the same Project.
In addition to AntoniDol’s suggestion, you might also use Scrivener’s Snapshots tool.
It allows a writer to compare stored versions of individual documents in the project. It will highlight additions and subtractions in the document.
However, it is not possible to tell which writer made the changes unless the two writers use the “Take Snapshot with Title” option and add their initials or names.
Add to above, snapshots by default include date and time. Also could change revision color where for revision one is baseline with collab 1 and use custom shade of red for collab 2 so would know who added revision and color family would tell who added. Could each have unique comment color as well.
Other users have already provided good opinions, but let me contribute further. The Snapshot feature is particularly useful for tracking changes. However, as someone else mentioned earlier, it can be challenging to identify the editor using this method.
Instead of seeking entirely new approaches, I suggest sticking to the methods you’ve used with LibreOffice. Since I’ve followed a similar approach when working with editors at different publishers. While the specific forms may differ slightly among publishers, they all share similarities. Getting accustomed to this consistent approach is beneficial.
The Style function simplifies changing letter colors in regular word processors, but the Format > Revision Mode significantly streamlines this process in Scrivener.
Beforehand, decide which Revision Color you and your coworkers will use. And then, just turn on Revision Mode when you made some changes. This feature allows you to easily insert ‘text of a specific color’ anywhere in the editor by just enabling Revision Mode. Later, you can swiftly remove the formatting if needed.
My English isn’t perfect, but I hope my explanation was helpful.
Just to add my ½p as someone who has spent years working collaboratively with Scrivener, both of you give yourselves plenty of backups (25 as a minimum) and set Scrivener to backup on open and close. That way you both have it preserving the state where it was left by your collaborator and how you left it before they made any changes.
I’d also suggest snapshots with names in their title, but it’s very easy to forget to take one, so the backups give a further record of process.
