Page formatting [Scrivener V.1]

Scrivener Scrivener for Windows
1

I have Scrivener 1.9 windows and I’m wondering how to set up A4 format. If I set the ruler to break text at 21, I have to do this manually for each new page I add to the document. There must be an easier way?
Lefty

2

Generally speaking, the page size is only going to be relevant when you bring your work out of Scrivener through compiling, exporting or printing, so these are the areas where you’ll set the page size.

Compile is the main method, since this is a key part of Scrivener that allows you to work with a series of different documents in the binder and then stitch them all together into various file formats (including print). To set your page size here,

  1. Open File ▸ Compile and select the format you want to use
  2. Click the blue arrow button to the right of the Format As menu button to show the full compile options
  3. Click “Page Settings” in the sidebar on the left
  4. Select the A4 paper size at the top of the page settings
  5. Click “Save Preset…” at the bottom left to save the compile settings with that change so you can easily load the settings into other projects.

To set the A4 paper size when printing directly from the editor or exporting individual files to PDF, use File ▸ Page Setup.... That will set the page size for the whole project, regardless of the particular document you have selected at the time, so you’ll only need to set it once.

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3

Page breaks as I go I agree. I need to format each section as I type. So when I include pictures or diagrams, I can put a page break at a specific point. Compiling seems to smash it all together. Putting the page breaks when the print page ends. Compiling means I have to go through the whole document to manually put page breaks at the end of specific section.
Is there a tool to assist to make this easier?

4

I’m not sure I follow… The whole idea of Scrivener is that you concentrate on the text flow and let Compile generate the output for different formats, event using different fonts.

You don’t need to layout the text on the screen (Scrivener is not a WYSIWYG app).

Would you please elaborate about the “smashing” you are experiencing?

1 Like
5

Thank you for your prompt response.
I am not a new user but I am not a “power” user consequently still learning the finer intricacies and Scrivener has been a fantastic tool to get my ideas down and layed out in a good flow.
Now, “smashing”..maybe that was not the best word. I just meant compiling puts (smashes) all the chapters and sections together, in sewquence, and makes the text fit the page format. Wonderful! But there are times that I would want to create a “pause” with a sentence ending at the end of the page…rather than having it being broken and continuing over the page (maybe starting a new chapter is the workaround). Maybe a line count..that would help indicate where the page break will be for a particular page format.

6

Reading your two posts I’m not sure what your goal actually is.

But seems to me at first glance if you want your figures to have a “page break before” you can put your figures in their own file in your manuscript, and then define a new Section Type (say, “Figure”) and assign that Section Type to a Section Layout with Separators “page break before sections”. For everyone one of your files that are “figures”, set them to be section type “Figure”.

Yes, not exactly a step-by-step set of instructions, but I’m not on my computer at the moment to work that out and test for you.