Compile questions

Scrivener Scrivener for macOS
1

Hi everyone,

I have a specific task I’d like to accomplish, and I’d appreciate advice before I start typing! I think the answer is to do two separate PDF compiles with separate settings, so the question is probably, “What structure and compile settings do you suggest?”

I am creating a series of manuscript-editing instructions. We are taking our old genealogy manuscripts and transforming so that I can read them with my own software to create genealogy databases. Therefore, each manuscript needs an extremely-picky human edit so that my software can reliably pick out the right details.

I have a list of edits (transformations) to perform, each with examples. I want to create two documents - one with just the short edit description to serve as a checklist, and second, the full text to serve as an instruction manual.

For example:

1. Change “they” to specific names.
Change: They are divorced.
To: Larry and Nancy are divorced.

2. Move extra information to separate sentences.
Change: He m. SUSAN (perhaps) SPENCER, a widow.
To: He m. SUSAN SPENCER. Susan was a widow. SPENCER marked (perhaps).

I would then want to do two compiles. The first would create a single PDF page, the checklist:

The Checklist (See … for details)

  1. Change “they” to specific names.
  2. Move extra information to separate sentences.

The second compile creates a PDF document with full texts, color highlighting to show what is transformed, etc.

I think the answer is to create each edit-instruction as a separate document, so it’s easy to change their order and add to the list. The document title is the instruction, and the document body contains the full text with formatting.

Am I on the right track? Could you fill in the details for me?

Best regards.
Ed Barnard in Minnesota USA

2

I would say that this is definitely the best route. Also, don’t include the number in the title - you can add that at Compile time using a title prefix (e.g. "<$n>. " as the prefix). That way, you can move instructions around and not have to renumber them manually.

In the “Formatting” pane of Compile, you would then choose only to include titles for one of the compiles, and for the other you would include titles and text. (You could save your compile settings as presets, too, via Format As > Manage Compile Format Presets…, so that you can load either as and when you need it, rather than having to tweak the settings every time you need to go back and forth.)

Remember that the “Formatting” pane of Compile allows you to specify different settings and formatting for different levels of document, too, so if your checklist is buried inside a folder, you could have different settings for that than for surrounding documents.

All the best,
Keith

3

Thank you, Keith! That supplies the missing pieces. Saved me a bunch of time.
Ed