Is there a way to merge multiple files other than command click on each file? I have 53 chapters and I want to work now with a single continuous document. Edit Scrivenings won’t help me on this stage, as I need to do a final arrangement of chapters, which doesn’t coincide with my present chapter files as listed in Draft.
I don’t seem to be able to merge in Edit Scrivenings, and when I Select All in the binder, the Merge command is faded out.
Please don’t suggest I export and work on it in Word - that awful program is a nightmare with a document of this kind of length.
eae
PS Coming to the end of a LONG and complicated novel - which has gone through several versions and revisions - couldn’t have done it without wonderful Scrivener. I reckon my agent & editor should both write you a thank-you letter!
Select All won’t work because you can’t merge the Research and Draft folders etc, or any media documents. You can either command-click, or, if they are all inside a single folder, select the folder in the binder so that the contents are visible in the corkboard or outliner, then Select All on the corkboard or outliner contents and merge there.
Are you sure you really do want to merge, though, rather than wait until the Compile stage to merge them together?
No, I need to work on it as a complete document - trying to change chapter breaks by cutting and pasting is a disaster waiting to happen. The present chapters are files within the draft folder, that’s why I wondered if there’s a way to merge them without cmd clicking 50+ times.
If I wanted to put all the files into a single folder, it would be just as fiddly, I suppose.
So, you’re trying to move where each chapter starts and ends, by shifting ‘scenes’ from the beginning of one chapter to the end of the previous? Is that all you’re doing, or are you also rearranging smaller portions of chapters to put them in different orders as well?
I ask because it might be easier in the long-run to split your book further, down to the breaks between PoV shifts, passage of time, etc…, and then rearrange those bits, shuffling them into folders that will be your new set of chapters.
Probably a lot more work, but it might afford you more flexibility and a higher-level view of how each section is arranged relative to others. Plus, rearranging files is a lot less error-prone than cut and paste.
With all that said, you can select chapter 1, then scroll down to chapter 53 and shift-click on it. That will select all of your chapters (actually all files between 1 and 53, in order). From there, you can select Documents->Merge and they’ll all be in one file.
Thank you for the suggestion, but at the stage I’m at - and it’s something I always do at the end - I really like having a continuous document and then deciding on the final chapter breaks. Because, as one writes, the chapters fall into neat chunks, whereas for the best dramatic effect, chapter breaks can come mid scene or a paragraph before a ‘comfortable’ end. Also, where I have several short chapters at present, I want to have a look and maybe run on.
I think there’s an art to chapter division in a long novel, and I like playing with it. Especially in a book like this one, where I have several main characters and a kind of chorus, and cut from one thread to another.
Of course - duh! I’d forgotten the shift click thingie - thank you for reminding me, that saves a heap of clicking. My mind is on the book, and not on the Mac.
I have a similar question – I seem to have 4 different versions of the same project in Scrivener. Probably something to do with the update. Can I merge them? And/or pick one version, move over the research folders, and delete the rest?
Choose which project will be your “master” - or create a new master - and then drag and drop into its Binder the files you want to be part of that Master, including your Research.
If some of those projects have the word “Backup” anywhere in them, then they probably are an artefact of the upgrade, as you guessed, and there is no need to do anything with them—they will be old 1.54 compatible copies of your project at the time you upgraded, and so will likely all be out of date anyway. You can either archive these for safe keeping or trash them, depending on your preference. If you want to archive them, and easy way is to select all of the backup projects (use Cmd-Click to expand your selection in Finder), and once you have them selected, right-click and choose to Compress the files. This will create an “Archive.zip” file. Change the name to something more meaningful and store it somewhere out of the way. You can remove all of the backup projects now.
If they are just copies of the project you created with Save As, then yes, Hugh’s advice is best. Pick the most up to date version and go through the others dragging anything over that is newer or better. Once you’ve got things all sorted out, archive or remove the copies to avoid future confusion.