My apologies for the nebulous subject title, my ignorance of terminology renders my ability to describe the issue in a few short words, as for a suitable subject title, to be quite poor. Here is the deal. In this project I have every time I create a new text document the amount I can type before the cursor drops to the next line is very miniscule. I’m forced to copy and paste text from another Text document in Scrivener to get the formatting the way I want it.
I have been playing around with settings to try and find an easier way to create an outline (for a paper) via “Lists” within one text doc in a Scriv project, and think I may have changed something I shan’t have. All I wanted was to not have to click list everyt ime I wanted to start a list. Please see the image as reference. If anyone has any idea how I can open a new Text doc in Scriv and have the blue text “limiter” on the ruler stay far to the right automatically I would be greatly obliged.
Have you checked the Text Editing settings under Preferences? Make sure the text there looks the way you want it, with the ruler tabs set properly. It sounds like the general preferences got messed up at some point. If you fix that, it should fix all new documents, and you can always use “Convert Formatting to Default Text Style” to fix any older ones that still have that issue.
Thank you for the reply MimeticMouton. I believe I have the formatting set up in the Text part of Sys Prefs. Least it looks the way I want it to when I look at it. I’ve even tried to revert it to “Defaults” with the button at the bottom. See the image:
Oh! Just noticed this–you’ve switched to script writing mode by accident. Cmd-3 toggles this on and off (menu option is Text>Scriptwriting>Script Mode). Scrivener remembers which mode you’re in, so once you accidentally turned that on, all new documents were made in script mode. You’ll want to turn it off, so you’re back to normal, and then you’ll have to go through and individually change any documents already made that are in script mode (switching the mode off won’t affect previously made documents, since Scrivener allows you to have both in a project). A visual cue for you to see if you’re in script mode or not is the footer bar–the image you just pasted shows “Scene Heading” and other script things, and hasn’t got the usual target icon.
Sorry I completely missed that the first time, but hopefully now this will fix your problem!
Amazing! Thank you. Sometimes I wonder if this is really the program I should be using. I am trying to use it for research papers so the whole idea of having all me research in one project is appealing and being able to have two documents open side by side is great for having notes in one panel and the draft in another but the program (feature wise) seems more geared towards novelists, and those who write screenplays or theater. Anyway, that has most definitely solved the problem. Thanks again MimeticMouton.
Oh, by the way…where did you see in my screen that I had it set to “Script Writing Mode” I didn’t have a menu pulled down and i don’t see anything in the prefs panel that I did post which says that explicitly. However it is late and I could just be dense.
I’m glad that fixed it. Like I said, if you check the footer of the editor pane (visible in the screenshots you posted), you can see scriptwriting elements instead of the usual suspects. Actually if you look at the second shot you posted, the left editor is what you want to see–word count and such–and the right editor has “[Enter] Scene Heading” etc., which is all information for scriptwriting.
As for using Scrivener for research papers, don’t give up on it! Scriv does have a ton of wonderful features, but the beauty of the program is that for the most part, they’ll all get out of your way unless you want them (barring the unfortunate keystroke which toggles something on!) and nothing forces you into a particular style or genre. Plenty of folk here use Scrivener for academic papers of all sorts and for other non-fiction writing, so it definitely can be done and loved. Of course you’ll have to decide for yourself if it does suit your needs or not, but despite the many features for novelists and scriptwriters, there are definitely plenty of useful tools for other writers as well. You might even cruise the forums a bit for other people’s ideas and methods if you’re interested in seeing how other people use Scrivener for research papers.
Anyway, I’m babbling because I should be sleeping, so I’m going to go do that now. Again, glad your formatting issue is fixed!
Seconding what MM has said: there are lots of academics around here – and by the way, welcome to the forums, Aeolus. Whether Scrivener suits you is surely a personal decision in the end, but Scrivener’s creator, Keith, has said that he has made a point of not putting features that limit use to one type of writers. So there are no obligatory folders for character or storyline, and scriptwriting mode is a mode that you never have to use (I never have). That contrasts with some other software that is aimed more specifically at novelists or screenwriters.
As a result of this, and the brilliance of the new model Scrivener has brought in, and of the general excellence of Scrivener’s implementation of that model, it’s the ideal place to start* any kind of writing project, in my opinion. A few years ago when I discovered Scrivener I moved the second half of my PhD thesis into it. Scrivener helped me immensely to get it into its final shape. Since then I have written a book in it, a bunch of talks and papers, and my part of a research proposal. I’ve also started keeping lecture series in it: one project per series rather than per lecture, although Scrivener doesn’t force this way of working. That 's the whole point of Scrivener – it doesn’t force any particular way of working, but makes possible many different ways.
only ‘start’ because some projects will need layout in their final stages beyond what Scrivener aims to provide, which might be in Word or another word processor, Keynote (for lectures), or Indesign, and might be done by you or the publisher.
Thank you NIcka and MimeticMouton for your encouragement. I’m still in the nascent stages developing the most efficient note taking methods for myself. I really don’t think they are the best but no one has really come to me with the best method. Is there a way to bind the lists markings to a hot key? I take notes in this manner.
Every time I drop out of the list and type the page number I lose the List icons and have to reelect them. I’ve looked for way to bind the lists icons to a hotkey but I haven’t found one. KNowing what I am trying to do is there a way to bind list icons to a hotkey or a better way of doing what I am trying?
