iOS - Sub-Project Compile

Scrivener Wish List
1

I just want to say that I’ve been using Scrivener since sometime in the V1 branch on OSX and while I didn’t find it enormously helpful in composing, I loved it as an editing tool. However, I’ve since bought it for iOS and have been using it as my main writing tool. The simplicity and organzation is amazing on iOS and I really am not looking for too many features since I think that may have been what distracted me on OSX. (My problems, not other people’s.)

That said, there’s one thing that I think would be really helpful.

I write a couple of different series and I prefer to keep them under the same project while writing for easy back referencing. Also, this allows me easy access to research I’ve already done and compiled within the project.

However, if I have two or three books under the same project, and I choose two of the books to not be included in the compile, I have to make each chapter and section not included in the compile also. I think that the higher up the rule, the more that should influence what falls below it. For instance, if I have three books under one project, I think marking the other two as not to be included in the compile should make all of their children objects (chapters, sections, whatever) also not included unless specifically so (and I can’t really see the use case for that).

Maybe I’m missing something, in which case, I would love to be educated (I really have made a point of reading the docs). But currently, I find myself having to go through each section of each book within the same project and mark them as not to be included in the compile. And, if I’m working on something different but asked for a revision on something that’s already done, that can take up to an hour to do.

So… for clarity… what’s on my wishlist is simply that child segments obey parent segment settings unless otherwise set.

I LOVE Scrivener on iOS and with my iPad Pro it is my primary writing platform. I would just like to see this one issue addressed in the best way that the developers think that it can happen.

Cheers and thank you so much.

2

Hi,

Thanks for the kind words, I’m glad you’re enjoying Scrivener for iOS.

Can’t you just compile the subfolders on their own without having to mark other folders as not being included in Compile? Having subcomponents take their “Include in Compile” setting from an ancestor wouldn’t work well, because there are all sorts of reasons you might not want a container included while wanting its children to be part of Compile. But you should just be able to choose only the folder you want compiling.

So, for instance, suppose your Draft looks like this:

  • Draft
    • Book 1
    • Book 2
    • Book 3

If you only wanted to compile “Book 2”, say, you would swipe left on “Book 2” in the binder, tap “More”, then choose “Compile Contents”. Then in the Compile options that appear, you will select “Compile Current Group Only” (which is only available when compiling in this way). iOS will then only compile “Book 1” and ignore everything else in the Draft.

All the best,
Keith

3

Yes… yes… I suppose I could! I didn’t even know that option was there.

Geez… just when I think I’ve figured out all of the features of this thing, there’s another under the hood I wasn’t even aware of. Thanks!