Hi,
I have been trying to compile a word document of several chapters that I have written in Scrivener. I have never had a problem compiling a draft before today. Initially, the problem I was having was that no matter what I did the formatting from the Scrivener files would not transfer (I tried checking “keep format” in the compile window, I tried clicking preserve format in the inspector, I tried clicking override formatting in the compile window, I tried changing my document preferences). I tried restarting my computer. I tried searching for any software updates. Then I thought I’d just try compiling an entire draft of my novel and see if that would somehow be different. When I went to open the Word document, Word told me that the file was either invalid or already in use and could not be opened. None of these things have ever happened before, and I have never had to go to any of this trouble to get my compiled drafts to look exactly how they look when I type them.
I wouldn’t be freaking out so much, except I have a Dec. 1 deadline to meet and I’d like to edit the compiled draft without having to go back in and re-do all my formatting by hand.
I would try compiling an RTF document instead and see if that works for you. That can sometimes solve problems with the DOC format.
And yes, if you want to retain the formatting as seen in the Scrivener editor, you’ll want to leave “Override text formatting” turned off in compile. The Keep Formatting flags on individual documents is irrelevant with that option turned off. They are only checked when it is turned on, then individual documents can be set to set to display their internal formatting while the rest is converted to a uniform format.
The .doc format has certain problems, in that it doesn’t retain line spacing for instance. This is an OS X bug - the standard Mac .doc exporters just aren’t very good.
RTF is by far the best format to use, as Amber says. However, if you export to .doc and include a header or footer, or some footnotes, or even an image in the text, then Scrivener will use RTF “under the hood” so in these cases it shouldn’t make any difference whether you use .doc or RTF.
But as Amber says, try exporting to RTF and see if that fixes things. Otherwise, e-mail me on support AT literatureandlatte DOT com and send me the problematic project (zip it up first) and I’ll take a look. Remember that I’m on UK time, though, so if you’re in the US then I’ll be between five and eight hours ahead of you, so if your deadline is tomorrow then the earlier you can send it to me the better.
All the best,
Keith