I’ve been a Scrivener Evangelist since I first started writing with it in 2010 and have written multiple novels with it. I’m currently in the training industry (professional/talent development) and have been trying for years to find an app that will allow me to develop curriculum modules and move content chunks around like the binder function in Scrivener allows me to move chapters, and I cannot come up with anything satisfactory. So I’ve finally decided to try Scrivener for this.
The problem is that I need to format Leaders Guides with tables that have images in them. I typically use Google Docs or Word to create a two column table, put a snapshot of my slide in the left column and the contents that go with it on the right. I’ve spent hours now trying to work with the Documentary Script template, modifying it so it has the two columns (instead of 3). It would work well enough if it would allow some formatting of the image when it compiles into Word. The images always end up the wrong size, screwing up the tables. Is Scrivener capable of this level of formatting, or should I just move on? I can’t seem to find what I need to make this work in the manual.
If anyone has any advice for a resource that would help me develop my compile skills or advice, or the hard truth (“this just isn’t possible, go back to the drawing board…”) I’d really appreciate it. Also, if anyone has another app that has this capability, I am all ears!
My two-cents: Given the strict (and complex) formatting requirement, use Word and/or PowerPoint (or equivalents). May be a Scrivener way to format, but … Or really probably OTT, using LaTeX–probably possible, but like with Scrivener, getting there is the challenge. Word already does it. Or … write the text in Scrivener as you like it and it’s useful, but copy/paste/export/whatever into those table cells.
Playing around with a two by two table with editor set to 1000 pixel width and 150% zoom. I will copy image then click inside cell and right click in blank space and paste and scale image.
first pic big image is 150 pixels and second is 225 and cell increased height to adjust (changed border too).
Well, you are describing the way I’ve been doing it for years. In Microsoft Office. The problem is when I need to customize sessions, which I often do. It takes hours of formatting and moving pieces around and adding pieces. I have this dream of creating a library of content chunks, openers, closers, etc. that I can drag and drop to create custom sessions easily. Scrivener would be absolutely perfect for this if it would only preserve formatting when compiling to Word. It almost works well enough when compiling for print or pdf for me to give it a go, but it will take many hours to build the library to a useable state, so if I can’t figure this out, it’s not going to be worth it.
I’m intrigued by the idea of using Scrivener for the text and then cutting/pasting into Word. I could probably manage to have useable table formatting in Word without the images and then just cut/paste the PPT thumbnails into Word after it’s been compiled. Thanks for the suggestion.
Thanks for this! My major issue is what happens after it is compiled in .docx. If Scrivener could work out a way to do this better it would be a game changer for my industry.
Not sure I completely understand your needs and your issue, but, just so you know, I just compiled to docx a document containing a table with images in it, and even after resizing the images in Scrivener’s editor, they compiled to the exact size they were in the editor.
Then, the other thing to consider is create a table section type for files that contain tables with images and then in compile, compile the “table section type” as is as I have done with front and back matter to preserve formattting.
glad to hear worked with png files, that’s what those images in the table were saved as.
These are excellent recommendations. I’m going to give that a try. I have never attempted to use the Section Layouts or Page View features. I always compiled as a traditional manuscript and had enough problems with that! But if I can learn how to do this it’s going to make my life so much easier. Thanks so much! I will report back…
The good news is I seem to be able to get the tables to compile correctly without images. Ha! So that’s something. Now to figure out the secret to getting the slide thumbnails in there without destroying this.
I’m so excited that the tables work without the images I may just quit while I’m ahead and insert the slide thumbnails directly into Word, instead of Scrivener. The only bummer is that it would be great to see the slide images while prepping and designing all within Scrivener. I guess you can’t have everything… yet.
Well, perhaps I got it to work because I am using the Windows version, but I doubt it.
What format are your images in ?
Did you try PNG ? That worked for me. (I didn’t try other formats, though.)
Uncheck this ?
[EDIT] I just tested it, and I am pretty sure that it is your issue in the end… or at least I can say that it does mess things up.
So, if I am right, you need two things:
One, the editor to reflect the true size of your page so that you properly size your images. (Use page view for that.)
And, second, that the compiler doesn’t re-scale your images afterwards.s
To go back a bit, how do you create your images of the PowerPoint? Are they screenshots?
If so and as you’re on a Mac, the image will almost certainly be a PNG, with dimensions the size of the area of the (retina?) screen that you have snapshotted. On my M1 MBA that is 2560 x1600px; native resolution is 227px/inch.
Now when you place one in your table in Scrivener and resize it to fit, Scrivener merely resizes the image display on-screen, not the image itself. So when you compile, the image is compiled at its full size, not the reduced size you have created on screen, hence it is too big in Word.
So one solution is to use an image editor to create a copy of the image with the horizontal dimension that will fit in your Word table (though of course it must be proportional so as not to be distorted) and import that into Scrivener. There are a plethora of image editors available; I use Graphic Converter for such image manipulation, but you may already have your own favourite app.
You must also consider, if what you are producing is going to be printed, take into consideration the image resolution for the printer, often 300 dots per inch, i.e. the image should be the size you want at 300px resolution. The way I would handle that, is to create two versions: one which will fit in your table on screen and one at printer resolution to fit the Word table cell. Put them both in the same folder on disk, import the first into Scrivener, then use compile replacements to swap in the printer resolution version.
Mind you, I have in mind that this is more complex than placing the image in the Word document as you are thinking of doing. So another suggestion, import the images into Research; use a split editor and as you are working on the text in each cell, have the relevant Powerpoint image open in the other split so you can see it.
I am lazy and I was just copy/pasting out of the slide sorter in PPT on my Mac. This is super easy to do in Google Docs and not bad in Word, but when I do it into Scrivener, it won’t allow me to select and edit the images that it pastes into Scrivener as images, so I have no idea what format they are in.
I may try exporting all of the slides as PNGs and then using something to batch edit the size, import into Scrivener at a friendly size and see what happens? I tried importing Canva project as a webpage but the Scrivener 3 browser isn’t working well with that or with Google Sheets (yes, I have spreadsheets I was trying to use for this too–that’s another story!)
Thanks so much for all the feedback. I am really learning a lot, I’ll say that!
Of course, if you want image treatment, you’ll need a dedicated app for that.
But you can crop using a screenshot tool, keep things simple. The one I use is quite precise:
. . . . .
Out of curiosity, did you check to see if by any chance you have that compile option active?
This might be the most ridiculously complicated approach, but I figured out what I think is going to be a bomb-proof method for building these curriculum pieces.
I ended up exporting my slide deck as PNGs, as suggested by xiamenese. I imported the images into a folder in my project. Then for each content chunk, I added a metadata field “Image.” It turns out that you can use placeholders for your images that will allow you to compile them in the exact location at the exact size you specify. Some of my content chunks go with multiple slides, so I created additional Image metadata fields, Image2, Image3, etc. The placeholder tag is this: <$img:<$custom:Image Name>;w=120;h=67.2>
I inserted it where I wanted the images in the table:
Will this approach make my life any easier in the long run? Really hard to say. The brilliance of being able to drop and drag these content chunks to make custom programs for my clients is going to be incredible for my workflow. The labor of creating all the pieces to get it to that state? That’s what I’m not sure of. But I do have a couple of weeks here to see what that process is like and if it’s worth it!
Thanks for all the ideas and moral support today. It really helped me dig into this problem and come up with a pretty workable approach!
