I have been using Scrivener for some years, for non-fiction writing, and still struggling with the Compiler.
The specific issue I want to resolve is how to ‘force’ File Groups to stop defaulting to the highest level Section Type.
Here’s what I mean:
I have chapters setup in folders. Each chapter consists of Main Point, supporting points, supplementary points, etc; then next main point, etc. Each point is a document, and so supporting points nest under main points, supplementary points nest under supporting points.
In the project settings this is setup as L1 text, L2 text, L3 text, L4 text … , with each of these having specific formats. eg L2 is indented under L1 and so when the compiler ‘reads’ a document as L2 it knows to indent it.
However, regardless of what level it sits in the ‘nest’, whenever a document has nested documents under it, Scrivener treats it as a File Group and assigns the topmost level format to it. This throws the formatting out. You can see in the following screenshot where Scrivener assigns ‘L1 text’ to documents that are deep under other documents (ie they should be L2 or L3 etc).
The following screenshot shows content of Point 4 of a chapter. ie Level 1 is not shown, ‘Authenticity: Introduction’ should be Level 2, ‘Authenticity thoughts’ level 3, etc, which you can see is not the case. The reason is because Scrivener treats a File Group (ie a file which has files nested under it) as Level 1, regardless of where it occurs.
Yes, it is possible to manually override the default, and assign the correct level. Next screenshot shows how the section types should read. Non-italic text is where I have modified the settings. However, once you have done this if you choose to move a section to a different level you have to then manually correct all the settings. For example, I may decide “Authenticity: Introduction” should be a chapter, and hence move to folder. but then all other section types will be wrong.
Any help greatly appreciated.