I usually start a new project by doing a Save As for my last one, then editing the result.
As you can see here, the icon for my WIP (The Mind Reader’s Journey) shows the title of my last book (Conclusive Evidence).
Where do I change the project name that’s displayed there?
Thanks.
Does the problem persist after a restart?
The icons are created by Mac OS, which sometimes takes its own sweet time to update them.
Katherine
With Scrivener closed, make a backup / duplicate of the project in Finder
Open the project in Scrivener. In the compile window, change the title of the work (if not already done so)
Save the settings in 2 and quit Scrivener
In Finder, right click the project and choose “show package contents”
Go to the folder called QuickLook and delete the HTML and JPG files it contains
Navigate back to the top level of the project in Finder and open it in Scrivener
Make a small change (even a space will do) and then save and quit Scrivener
Check Finder. The project should now have the right preview icon / data
If anything goes wrong, resort to the backup created in 1
Slàinte mhòr.
The icon data is firstly driven by any global metadata established in the respective tab of the compile overview screen. This will match the file name of the created project originally, but the way it is set is as static text, meaning that if name of the project changes on the disk, the formal title of the work does not change. This will typically be desirable behaviour since most project name changes represent versions/backups of one work.
Another thing to be aware of is that the Quick Look data, which includes the icon, is updated whenever the project fully saves. So if you simply open a project, change one thing in the compiler, save the settings there and close, it might not update unless you commit some change somewhere other than purely to the metadata.
So the fix to this problem with the icon is something you need to do anyway in the Compiler, if the title of the work is now “The Mind Reader’s Journey”, rather than “Conclusive Evidence”.
And if you’re of the mind that the title of the work should track along with the project name no matter what, then just clear whatever text you have for the Title, in the Metadata tab. You’ll note it prints placeholder text matching the current project name when doing so. Now if you rename the project and reload it the icon should track with each filename change (again, assuming something significant enough to trigger a Quick Look update has happened).
Thanks. The sequence JoRo described fixed it.
I ran a quick compile with the newly entered correct name in the metadata tab, but that alone didn’t fix it.
I find the Save As and work from there approach works better than creating templates, because I’m always refining my use of Scrivener, and that takes advantage of my latest discoveries. Also, if it’s a new book in the series, then all my characters and settings are there.
I’ll probably forget this next time I start a new book, but I rarely look at the finder icons in this situation. You might want to change how this works.
We don’t control how Finder icons work. Mac OS does. – Katherine
I guess I don’t understand. I forced Scrivener generate a new thumbnail.jpg file in the QuickLook folder, and then Finder showed the new icon. IOW, I concluded that Scrivener controlled what was in that file.
