Hi,
I don’t know much about layout stuff. I have managed to create a specific style ‘Preset’ for my side notes (document notes). Smaller font, 1.0 gap between lines. etc.
However I cannot see where to get rid of the extra gap for a ‘return break’, is that a paragraph break ? so I have to Ctrl+return each time.
Is it in the preferences somewhere ? (guess that it is and I just can’t spot it)
All paragraph spacing is handled in the Format/Text/Line and Paragraph Spacing… menu. This can also be pulled up from the line-spacing tool itself, just pick “Other…” at the end.
I can only find the second option. It seems set to ‘12’. What is the right setting for standard line gap ?
Sorry, I meant the Format menu, not “Font” menu, I’ve fixed the original post.
As for standard, I don’t really know of any, it’s up to whatever you think looks nice, especially since it is just for notes. A setting of 0 would of course remove all spacing.
Thanks for that. There must be a number that corresponds to that between two normal lines, I would have thought.
Metrics are nearly always expressed in terms of points, which are fixed typesetting units. Hence, a “12 point” font, and so a 12 point padding space below a paragraph would add an amount equal to a line of text in between paragraphs (assuming a 1.0 leading factor, naturally).
But like I say, for something like this, just pressing the up or down clicker buttons until it looks good is probably fine.
If what you want is the typewriter style `single spacing’ then you want to set your paragraph spacing (in the panel AmberV pointed you to) to 0.0 points before, and 0.0 points after. You also want line height multiple to be 1.0 times, and inter-line spacing to be 0.0 points.
In typography land, it is commonly held that `beautful’ printed books will use a leading that is somewhat greater than the point size of the font in question. Parhaps 20% greater (so a 10-point font would have a line height of 12 points) but there is a lot of differences in what printers like. So, the best advice I have for you is to open up that panel on some selected paragraphs, and change things, look at the results, and see what looks best to you. It really is a matter of personal taste as well as the kind of book you are writing. (For example, classic children’s chapter books will have large fonts and extra-large relative line heights; technical books have small fonts and tight lines, and so on).
– asotir
AmberV: Thanks for that. I didn’t realise the 12 was the size of the ‘additional gap’ I understand your explanation fully now I believe … so ‘0’ is what I need. Tks.
asotir - I agree with what you say. But I wanted this specifically for the notes window where I want to make it tight and dense, taking up as little space as possible with reference info. I understand exactly what you are saying about aesthetics, and that will certainly apply to my actual writing content. Tks for that.
Back again guys 
Ok I have reviewed my writing and done a bit of web research to find that on eBooks the bet choice is to have no skipped lines between paragraphs, only an indent.
So … I have 25,000 words written in LOTS of docs. I thought that updating the style I had set would update ALL of the docs… but it doesn’t.
How can I make sure all of the docs update to a change in style ? Can docs be ‘set’ to a specific pre-set style ?
Typically one sets the output formatting when compiling. There are only a few cases (other than simple personally preference, naturally) where it would be inferior to just let the compiler clean up all of your formatting in one move—and it means you never have the burden of making sure everything is type in “correctly” while creatively writing or having to hassle with going back and making changes to hundreds of files because the publisher got back with something just like this that needs to be changed.
If you want a very simple demonstration, try selecting “E-book” from the Format As compile preset menu. That will use a formatting style that is well accepted, with a short paragraph indent, no spacing, and first paragraphs per sections flush-left instead of indented. As with all presets, you may need to go into the Formatting pane and make sure that it matches the way you organised your book. If you followed a starter template’s examples, then you should be okay (folder operating as a chapter, with groups of files, one per scene). If you used one file per chapter, the project template’s help file will describe what steps you should take to conform a preset to your outline.
Also note you can save your current compile settings, if you have spent a lot of time on them, before experimenting with other presets. Just select the “Manage Compile Format Presets” option at the bottom of that Format As menu and add a project preset. You’ll be able to revert to your settings from the menu in the future.
AmberV - I am sorry you spent such a long time writing that reply … but I am not concerned at all with compiling, not for another 6 weeks or so (optimist) … only how my writing looks ‘as I write’ … My mention of eBooks was perhaps misleading ? I hope not … sorry.
I am only concerned with the 20 or so docs I have written and how they appear WITHIN Scrivener. Does that make sense ?
No worries!
Well I guess what I was saying is that if you prefer working with paragraphs that are spaced (as it sounds from this thread), then feel free to do so. You can worry about what is right for e-books later. That’s what I mean about Scrivener trying to provide an environment where you can just work comfortably and not have to worry if you suddenly realise that paragraphs should be indented by 0.8“ instead of 0.73” (or, if you don’t like indents at all).
But, if you do want indents, then sure, just set up your default formatting in the Formatting preferences pane. Make that mock editor look the way you want it (or the way it should, if you prefer), and then use the Documents/Convert/Convert Formatting to Default Text Style to update any selected binder items at once to the new format.
I formatted my first document the way I want it. [Line spacing 1.1 and para 0.0]
I went to preferences and in ‘Formatting’ I chose ‘Formatting in current Editor’. I saw it change.
I went to the next document, selected the doc icon in the Binder and chose “Documents/Convert/Convert Formatting to Default Text Style” with the top item un-ticked. The format didn’t changed.
I tried selecting all of the text in the next document and chose “Documents/Convert/Convert Formatting to Default Text Style” with the top item un-ticked. The format didn’t changed.
As a test, I went back to the first document and manually changed all the text to italics and a different size.
I then chose “Documents/Convert/Convert Formatting to Default Text Style” with the top item un-ticked. The format didn’t changed. It didn’t even change the italics
This function doesn’t seem to work at all ?
Well, italics isn’t going to be a good test because the format converter is specifically programmed to let stuff like that through. In nearly all cases you wouldn’t want italics to get lost.
So does that mean that all of the other checkboxes were ticked? If so I wouldn’t expect much to change, since those checkboxes are exclusions. To update all of the formatting (again, inline stuff like highlights and italics excluded), leave all of these checkboxes off.
Ah … I thought they were inclusions… I’ll try again tonight.