I am fairly new to Scrivener and am confused. I have completed one project and am wanting to start another. When I create a new project, with a different name, it appears on my screen with all the folders and text of the first one. What am I doing wrong?
Some things to try, that may help figure out what is happening…
Can you recreate this? Does this happen again if you go through starting another project, using exactly the same selections in the new project dialog?
If not, perhaps it is just a one time confusion that can be disregarded.
If continues to happen, make an exact note of every action/choice you make during starting a new project. Example…
File > New Project > click desired type of template (example: Fiction) > click desired sub-type of template (example: Novel) > click in empty Save As field and enter new different project name > Create.
Then repeat this process, using a different type or subtype of template and see if continues to happen.
If happens when you use the type and subtype of template that you did before, but no longer happens when you use a different type or subtype of template, then the problem may be that the template you are trying to use got overwritten with a copy of your completed project. One way this could have happened is if you accidentally did a File > Save As Template, rather than File > Save As, while working on the earlier project. A fix for this would presumably be to uninstall/reinstall Scrivener.
If continues, even when using different type or subtype of template, then I’m at a loss, other than to suggest you uninstall and reinstall Scrivener.
Or perhaps you had started into the File > New Project, but then selected Open Recent or Open Existing Project, rather than actually creating a new project?
Or perhaps instead of having done a File > New Project to create a new project, you instead did a File > Save As and saved a copy of the completed project with the new project name?
Hope something in the above is of assistance.
Thank you for such a detailed list of insightful suggestions. I think you were right in suggesting that I had maybe overwritten the blank template. I uninstalled and reinstalled Scrivener, and managed to get new projects coming up as genuinely new.
I appreciate your willingness to help out with a very basic question. I do have another question but will ask it in a different thread.
By the way, if you had previously used “File->Save as Template”, you may have been selecting your accidental custom template from the “New Project” template chooser window. If it was just a matter of having an extra template floating around, the “Options” button in the lower left has a selection called “Delete Selected Template”. If it’s not greyed out, then its a template you created using Save As Template, and you can get rid of it that way instead of re-installing Scrivener.