I’m new to Scrivener… and I have to say this is the software I’ve been looking for all this time. Thank you so much for making it!
Also, the interactive tutorials is one of the clearest/best I’ve ever seen too!
Way to go!
Now, I have a question… I’ve noticed that some folders seem to have a default document template assigned for when you add a new document. For example, in the Screenplay project template- clicking on Characters in the binder and then Add- automatically knows to create the new document from the character template. How do you set/change this action for a certain folder?
You’ll find documentation on how to use the Document Templates feature in the user manual PDF, §8.4 (pg. 78). Starting on page 80, in §8.4.4, it talks about how to set default subdocument types.
It’s very easy to do though. Just select the container you wish to impact and use the Documents/Default New Subdocument Type/ menu command to select the template you wish to use.
I’m sure it’s easy and I’m missing a simple point.
I wish I could have a bunch of ‘default templates’ in my Templates Folder. I have created a folder called ‘Templates’ and done Projects > Set Selection as Templates Folder. Now that folder has a ‘T’ in its icon.
How now do I find the so-called ‘Built-In Templates’ referred to in the manual section 7.7.1?
Are we talking about two different things here? There are no built-in document templates in the software. The section you are referring to discusses project templates, like Novel and Screenplay. Now, some of those do come with some example document templates you can use or alter to your own purposes, but they are not “built-in” in the sense that they are hard-coded into the program. They are, like all document templates, simply binder items that happen to be in the correct folder—the one with a blue ‘T’ icon.
Are you saying that: If I started with the ‘Novel’ or ‘Screenplay’’ I might find built-in document templates but if I started with ‘Blank’ there would be none?
And, in fact, are you saying that the word ‘Project’ refers to that initial choice, rather than a section or sub-section of the Binder?
Essentially, yes. The basic idea is that a single Scrivener Project contains all the documents / research / images / whatever that will eventually be compiled into the final output form of a novel / paper / screenplay etc. (Some people use one project legitimately for, say, a series of novels, but the basic point remains.)
A Project Template is just a normal Scrivener Project that has been already been set up to reflect different types of target document. E.g. the ‘Novel’ template has font and line spacing reflecting publishers’ manuscript requirements. You can re-create any project template from scratch by creating a new blank project and making the changes to the default settings yourself: all a project template does is do some of the legwork for you first.
Document templates are basically a way for you to predefine text to use in a new document within a particular Project. E.g. a Character sheet with headings for Sex, Eye Colour, Height, etc. When you want to create a new character sheet, you use Project > New From Template > Character Sketch (or whatever) and it will be created in the current folder. Document Templates for any project are held in the ‘Folder with a T’. As with any other setting in Scrivener, some Project Templates come with some Document Templates already defined. You can still roll your own to the same specification from scratch though, or drag Document templates from one Scrivener project to another if you wish.
Finally, to answer the question from your first post, you can set the default subdocument type that will be created in any folder by right-clicking the folder and selecting Documents > Default New Subdocument Type. This will give you a list of all the document templates in your Template Sheets folder.
Just select the container you wish to impact and use the