So I have no clue how to add an index card to the chapters. The tutorial didn’t explain it and the software won’t do it.
When I created a new novel project the first Chapter is already on the left side nav pane. There was an index card on the corkboard when I clicked on Chapter. I can type in there, then click the green + button and it automatically created a new index card.
When I was finished with the Chapter I created a new Chapter and now it won’t create index cards. All it creates is a new text document. Which, yes, if I click on the corkboard view it shows an index card, however the icons are different in the left nav pane. Under chapter 1 they all look like an index card. In Chapter 2 they all look like a sheet of paper.
Why did it create index cards automatically in the corkboard view for Chapter 1 but refuses to do so for the new Chapter I created?
The icons in the binder show a blank page if you have nothing written in the document or on the index card (titles aren’t considered to be part of the index card text). If your document text is blank and the index card has text in it, then you get the index card icon. If you then later fill in some document text, then the icon will change to a non-blank page.
If you take a look at the manual (under Help), chapter 8.2 contains an illustration of the various icons, and what they tell you about the state of the documents they represent.
No matter what, every single entry in the binder (except for Manuscript, Research, and Trash) has its own index card, ready for you to add text to. That index card text can be accessed when you are seeing the document in cork board mode, outliner mode with synopses enabled, or from the inspector when the document is loaded to the main editor and is active (i.e. you’re editing it or have it selected in one of the other view modes).
I will assume that you are in the corkboard view and cannot add an index card. I am using the windows version and I either right click and a menu pops up from which I select add–then select new text and an additional index card is added to the corkboard. Also when in corkboard view, down at the bottom, under the corkboard there are two icons, hover your mouse over them until you see “New Text” click and a new index card will appear on the corkboard. Note that the identical icon is under the section of the screen holding the binder, if you click that a new document is added in the binder area.
The section 5a: The Synopsis Index Card of the tutorial can give you a general idea. As Robert says, index cards don’t need to be created manually. They always exist associated to any folder, container or text document you create.
While using the corkboard you may create a new document (and hence its associated index card) directly by clicking the green circled “+” button of the toolbar.