How to work on content separately from templates/styles

Scrivener Scrivener for macOS
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1

Hello! Unlike my usual, I have a rather basic question today :slight_smile:

I have three Scrivener projects that I am working on, all of which are based on the same template (that I created) and use the same styles (stored within the template/project).

I need to keep working on my writing in each project, but I also need to keep iterating on the template and the styles set.

What is the best approach to iterating on my template and styles, but then reapplying the template and its settings and styles to my existing projects. In other words, if this were a git workflow, how would I merge the branches downstream?

Many thanks!!

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You can’t apply a template to an existing project, so the only way I can think of is:

  • you create (a) new style(s) in one of your projects that you’re working on as and when the need arises;
  • when you open each of the other projects, the first thing you do is Format > Styles > Import Styles… and navigate to the project with the new style(s) and import it/them;
  • open a new project from the template, import the style(s) into that and save it as a template overwriting the existing version.

:slight_smile:
Mark

3

Thanks for the tip, Mark. I better understand the workaround for Styles.

Besides styles, though, I wonder about other project settings, such as Compile Format settings, Section Layouts, Processing steps, etc.

CleanShot 2025-02-23--10-52-53
CleanShot 2025-02-23--10-52-53460Ă—622 22 KB

CleanShot 2025-02-23--10-55-42
CleanShot 2025-02-23--10-55-422152Ă—1150 169 KB

Is it possible to transfer any updates made in one project (the template) to other projects?

I believe most of what I am concerned about “lives” in the my_scrivener_project.scriv/Settings/Compile Formats/Squarto.scrformat part of the project. But rather than hack out my own solution, I am hoping there is an official way to do this in Scrivener.

Thanks for the advice!

4

While it’s not something I would want to do on a regular basis, there are ways to copy or transfer almost everything about a project to another. There are some cross-references in §5.4.2, Converting a Project to a Different Template (which while not precisely what you’re asking about, is the place most of these questions come from).

As for the compile settings, saving the Format global instead of inside the project is a good way to keep everything on the same page. The toggle for that is at the top, below where you would name it.

That said, while I do save my core formats global, quite often individual projects will need their own treatments, particularly with style setups and maybe the occasional section layout, or the Processing commands. I’ll duplicate the global format and save it into the project at that point. So things can sometimes get a little forked, but in practice that hasn’t been too much of a bother, and any kind of inheritance system would probably make all of this more complicated than it is worth, for most.

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