Confusion About Section Types

[pmichalski]

I have gone through the tutorial and even read a Scrivener book, but I remain confused about section types. I have owned earlier versions of Scrivener, but confusion about structuring and types is what kept me from actually using it. Trying again with Version 3.
Specifically, I want to be sure I am structuring my work correctly from the start.
–The Scrivener non-fiction template has different section types for Chapter and Chapter Heading? What is meant to be the practical difference?
–The template also has Heading, Headed Section and Sub-Heading types. Can anyone explain the intended functionality and differences?
–If I want headings for sections of my chapter, should I have a separate element Section Heading before each Section element?
–If a Chapter has a quote at the beginning and a summary at the end, I am assuming it is best to have separate types for each of those to permit formatting differences?

Ideally, I am thinking a structure like this. Is that an unnecessary use of separate heading elements?
Part
Part Quote
Chapter Heading
Chapter Quote
Section Heading
Section Text
Section Heading
Section Text
Chapter Summary

Many thanks.

[RuthS]

Hello pmichalski, and welcome to the forum.

You’ve asked an excellent question about why Scrivener offers so many section types and how someone might use them effectively. The forum has some discussions on this topic, like this one or this one. Reviewing them might be helpful for you.

It also might be helpful to think of the documents in your project in terms of groups. Those groups will be based on having documents at one level of your project sharing formatting, while documents at a different level will have their own formatting.

In this screenshot, I’ve marked my Part 1 folder with a yellow arrow. Let’s say that I want Scrivener to compile every folder at this level of my outline so that the folder’s title becomes a heading that is centered on the page. But, I do not want any text from that folder. I would assign all folders at this level of my project with the same section type. That would allow me to just get their titles as headings.

The folder marked with a blue arrow would get a different section type so I could turn it and all other folders at that level into chapter headings. In the “Why This Topic” folder, I actually have text written, which I might or might not want to include in my output file.

Items at the red arrow level would have a different section type so I can get their titles as section headings and their text in the output file. If I wanted headings from their subordinate documents, I could have those subordinate documents use the same section type. Or, I could use a different one if I only wanted the text but not the titles.

I could continue adding new section types as needed to get the headings/text in the output file the way I’d like. And, on the main compile page, you’ll see when you click into the “Assign Section Layouts” area that you can assign a different example text to each section type you’re using. That example text demonstrates how all the documents at that level might look in the output file.

Those section types can also be customized so that you can change the size of the headings for each group of documents, include or exclude notes or synopses, and so on.

Does that information help you to see how the section types are being used?

[pmichalski]

Thank you for this–very helpful. I had found the first link but not the second–which led me to the helpful ScrivenerVirgin blogs! It is hugely helpful to know that whether or not Titles show is part of compile. I guess the greatest flexibility lies in more parts rather than fewer–have a separate “Header” element for any Section or Subsection that I might want to format differently from the section text down the road.

I am curious why, in your image, there is a “Section” two below the red arrow at the same level as the “Sub-Section” above it rather than at the same level as as the “Section” at the arrow.

[RuthS]

That section vs. sub-section item you pointed out is user error. That is, you’re right that the item marked “Section” should be at the same level as the section above it, rather than the sub-section level.

This screenshot is from a sample Scrivener project that I put together and use for testing different bug reports. Clearly, I didn’t arrange my different levels as carefully as I should have.

I’ll update that test project to ensure it doesn’t cause confusion again if/when I use it for screenshots like this.