So I know this must be posted somewhere but I’ve done a lot of looking and can’t find it. So sorry for the repetition but here goes.
I have a project that was started in word and I have it broken down into chapters (text documents within a folder) in scrivener. The problem is each separate chapter (text) has different formatting for some reason. One will be in Courier New and one will be in Times new Roman. One will have proper indents on the first line of the paragraphs and some won’t.
From what I’ve read I think I can fix everything once I compile and make the whole document consistent. I’m wondering though if it can fix everything in the compile stage like indents, double spacing, fonts, etc., or is there things I should be fixing now before I get too deep into the project?
I should add that I wasn’t aware of the templates for writing and I’m pretty sure I just chose a regular document. Not sure If I can switch templates or not and/if that would solve my problem.
It is simple, but sometimes people don’t notice a post, or those who do don’t have time/energy to answer. We’re all just spending our own time here on the forums, and have no obligation to help others. Being chided for not responding doesn’t sit well with some of us.
As for your original post, there are features in Scrivener that let you normalize your text. In Tools->Options, there’s a section where you can set the default formatting for new documents created in your project. The sample text can be modified by changing the font, font size, paragraph indents & spacing, tab stops, etc… Set that to your liking, then select all the documents in the binder that you want to conform to your settings. Go to the menu Documents->Convert and choose the menu option to convert your selection to the default.
So long as you didn’t use tabs to indent your paragraph, your compile settings can also alter font, paragraph indents, spacing etc. This allows you to divorce what your writing looks like to you vs. what it looks like when presented outside of Scrivener. It’s a powerfully useful thing to do when editing–change the font and spacing of your project during a read-through, and it can often help you catch mistakes that disappeared in your default writing font & other settings.
Scrivener lets you leave font and paragraph settings as decisions for a later, such as when submitting to different agents or publishers with different requirements.
Sorry, I didn’t mean to chide. I was just starting to wonder if it was more complicated than I thought.
Thanks so much. That answers all my questions. I was playing around with the options menu but couldn’t figure out how to apply it to everything.
It’s all good now.
Thanks again.
No, I’m sorry. I spotted your post after dealing with a rather frustrating exchange elsewhere. I usually try not to read too much into people’s phrasing, but in your case, I was unfairly taking out my irritation on you.
I’m adding to an old post rather than start a new one. Not sure if that’s right. I’ve written some in Scrivener, and some in Google Docs and transferred to Scrivener (had to ask how to do that without the blackouts etc), and some back and forth multiple times after editing (in a writer’s group w shared weekly submissions). The result is that the indents for paragraphs are all over the place, even within a single chapter. I’ve tried manually adjusting. Do I leave it now and handle it at compile stage? Will Scrivener adjust multiple indents to one consistent one?
Thank you.