So, I am a Lawyer and I use so many repetitive text in many cases, like specific law argumentation, court decisions, and so many more, that doesn’t require a specific text for that specific case. As example, many of my clients have free costs on court (Country specific thing) and there is a standard text for it.
Is there a way for me to create a big template with those and only import the ones I need, or should I create a template containing them all and then just deleting the ones not needed?
What I would do is include all of these in a project template.
Then, creating your projects from that one template (which you can update at any time, continuously), all your subsequent projects will have them set.
If you need large paragraphs, what I’d do is have them typed in dedicated documents, from which you may rather copy/paste where needed.
Same principle, set them in a project template.
To create a template, you first create a blank project, set it as you want it, then
That custom template of yours will be available when creating new projects. Listed along the factory ones.
. . . . . . .
You could also create a “standalone” project, containing all your snippets, organized by topic / categories / etc, and open that project on the side when needed, and copy/paste from it to your actual project.
This way you wouldn’t have a project that starts with everything in it, and wouldn’t have to handle a project template.
All you’d have to do is keep your side/source project tidy, and up to date with all the text snippets you need ready to be fetched.
(The advantage with this approach is that updates to it are available to all projects, where using a template has the new projects in the state the template was when you created them. Anything added to the template after the fact you’d have to go fetch anyways.)
Yeah, probably having a full file with everything and just copy/paste would be a better solution in this case, even more because each thing I want to use have like 3-4 paragraphs with indentation and that fuctionality is grayed out.
If you use layouts, you can set both projects so that they stand neatly next to each other. (Each of the size and repartition you want them to be.)
One layout for your main project for when you want to have the side project next to it, one layout for the side project (which it’ll stick to, if you don’t move it around or resize it – the source/side project, that is) and one layout for your main project for the rest of the time (normal screen usage).
Templates can be saved in folders by topic making it easy to find and you could add keywords (under metadata) so if had keyword court costs assigned to a template, then searching for the keyword court costs would show this template and any other document that has that keyword. You can give a document multiple keywords so a template could be court costs in divorce cases and use both to get to a very specific template. As type can right click and click add and see all your templates listed and it is easy to pick and insert one below current document and then cut and paste it in as you create the document.
Anything you can type in Scrivener can become a template simply by placing it in the Template folder and these can be dragged into other projects if your law project becomes too big.
Remember once add your templates in the project another to insert text without placeholders is to right click on current document and choose Add will see add Text, Folder and below that all your templates. If choose one with preset text will add as seperate document below current document you are typing.
Now highlight current document and the new template file and use Document> Merge to combine both (ie insert the text) or use keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + Merge.
You just add what you want when you want and merge the template into your document and move on.
Not a lawyer or play one on TV but this might work for you.
Hi, I’ve just found a reason to use <$include> placeholders, so I’ve just started using it too. Here’s the relevant bit from the Help menu (it’s right down at the bottom of the list!):
I’m actually combining both systems for links to documents within the project, as naming the link makes it clear which document is being linked to, so:
In the text I’m working on, I type e.g. <$include:Comment>
Highlight the whole <$include:Comment>
Go to Edit → Link to Document and navigate in the menu to the Comment document in the binder and choose it.
I’m done. Every time I type <$include:Comment> into any text I’m working on, the text of the Comment document will be inserted at that point on compiling. But to make life easier, I have set up a shortcut (in Espanso, but Typinator, aText, TextExpander etc. will do the same if you use any of them) so I only have to type “:com” and that immediately transforms to the full <$include:Comment>
If you click on the link, it splits the window and shows you the content of the included document to check or to edit; I don’t know what happens if you already have a split editor, as that doesn’t concern me in this project, but I imagine it replaces whatever is open in the other split.
HTH
Mark
PS A further thought, if it’s the first time you need a link to a specific text, which you know you will need many times, and setting up your template is a case in point, when you choose Edit → Link to Document, if you click on New Link… (Cmd-L) you have the options of linking to new document to create or linking to an existing document.
Hi.
I didn’t read all of the recent posts in this thread, so maybe it’s been said already, but to point out before you perhaps waste time with the <$include> placeholder that it won’t allow you to modify the snippets per project.
I didn’t mention it [the placeholder] in my original reply, because I figured that you were gonna have to, otherwise you’d simply change the client’s personal information on a complete document template.
(Also because if you’ve got a multitude of source snippets, searching for the right placeholder by reading through them snippets is in no way more convenient than a simple copy/paste, in my opinion.)
But the function does indeed what you’ve been told it does.
If you have no need to customize your snippets per client/document, you are good to go.
In case you need to customize your snippets per case/client, this is not the right solution.
Using the placeholder you won’t see the text it points to in your per client project. So keep in mind that you’ll have to know (memorize your placeholders, or have some kind of listing system) what the placeholder points to when revising the document too. Not just when putting together the said document.
The only major advantage you’d get out of using placeholders, in my opinion, is that you may then modify the source text after the fact and the change will reflect in the compiled output of any document using the corresponding placeholder.
Is it worth the mental juggling is the question one should ask him/herself.
Using <$include> placeholders won’t solve every problem, but if the OP has boilerplate text snippets that he does have to include at various points in projects, then that is the way to go. It might also be possible to use <$include> placeholders pointing to case specific text within a snippet.
I’m not a lawyer so I can’t say more, but I can imagine possibilities.
Obviously the usefulness of an <$include> placeholder is going to depend on the customization required. But even for non-lawyers it’s not hard to think of useful examples. An author bio. A description of a past project. A copyright or acknowledgement notice.
Legal documents generally include a lot of text like this: standard contract terms, standard disclaimers, that sort of thing. And the way legal documents are written facilitates template use, too, with references to “Company,” “Employee,” “Borrower,” “Lender,” and so on instead of actual names.
I am not saying using the <$include> placeholder is a bad idea, I am just pointing to details the OP might not have thought of yet, never having used it before.
