Hi.
I’ve been formatting my novel, and I can’t seem to get the page number footer to move up.
I know I can change the margins, but I have to have the lower margin set at 2" before the page number can be within the printing lines.
I usually have my bottom margin set at 0.5", and I never had a problem with Scrivener 2, which used to have the page number at a set height, regardless of the margin size.
Does anybody know how to adjust it, because my file keeps getting rejected because the page numbers fall below the print line.
I was wondering if the OP’s problem was that at the moment the default paper size is A4, whereas the paper size set through the printer is US Letter, and she wants to compile to the latter. That can cause problems like this
Many thanks for your replies. I’m in the UK, so A4 would be my printer size, not US letter. However, I’m compiling to 5x8 and using Novel settings that I imported from Scrivener 2.
Sorry, I should have made myself clearer.
After some changes to the setup, which I always used in Scrivener 2, the page numbers are too low.
I’m not compiling to print it out, I’m compiling to upload my PDF to Createspace. I’ve never had this issue, until now.
I can adjust my page size and the margins, but the page numbers don’t change. I couldn’t find anywhere that woul dgive me that option.
I think Scrivener 2’s settings were so much easier and user friendly. I didn’t even have a Novel setting until I imported it from Scrivener 2.
Please see the attachment. The page number is too close to the bottom.
I’m not sure what you mean about Scrivener 2’s settings being more friendly - nothing in the settings affects this, and I worked very hard to ensure that Scrivener 3’s Compile settings were simpler, more user-friendly and more powerful. I have updated the algorithm used to place page numbers, though, as these could sometimes end up writing over the text in Scrivener 2.
As to the issue at hand, the placement of the page number in the margin can be affected by your printer’s non-printable area (even if you are not printing but are creating a PDF - an anomaly of macOS). So what you could try is this:
In your Compile format, go “Page Settings”. If “User project page settings” is not ticked, then click on “Page Setup”. If it is ticked, then close Compile and go to File > Page Setup instead. (This assumes you are using your own Compile format. If not, Ctrl-click on the format in the list and use “Duplicate & Edit” before following these instructions.)
In Page Setup, select “Manage Custom Sizes…” next to “Paper Size”.
Click “+” to create a new paper size based on whatever you have selected (e.g. A4) and give it a name in the side bar (e.g. “A4 (Fixed)”).
Change the “Top” and “Bottom” values of the Non-Printable area.
Save the page size and try Compiling. (Note that all of these settings would have needed to be tweaked in Scrivener 2, too, if you had problems with header/footer placement.)
Generally, if the bottom margin is 0.5", the page number will appear around 0.25" from the bottom. In your screenshot, this actually looks fine. If that’s a half-inch margin, then the page number looks as though it’s in the right position. Depending on your page size and formatting settings, it may be that the last line that could fit on the page is getting pushed to the next page. In that case you could just use a larger bottom margin to push up the page number anyway.
Hi, and thank for your reply.
I’ve already tried doing this, and posting was a last resort.
In Scrivener 2, I used a 0.5" margin, and the numbers were placed higher. I know that they’ve changed, because when I now upload my PDF to Createspace, the numbers are outside the printable area.
Here are two examples:
The one with page number 6 is from Scrivener 3, while the page 7 is from Scrivener 2. Both have 0.5 set as the bottom margin.
The Scrivener 2 has been formatted with the Paperback Novel preset with the settings adjusted. I couldn’t replicate the same settings with Scrivener 3.
I know, but I assure you, it’s not. That was with the Paperback preset in Scrivener 2, and me changing the margins to 0.5.
However, I can’t seem to get Scrivener 3 to do the same, even with the Papaerback preset.
Okay, I’ll rephrase it:
The lower image looks exactly like my manuscript pdf compiled for and accepted by Createspace using a 1” bottom margin.
The distance from the paper edge to the text is not 0.5” in your lower image so what you are saying is essentially that v3 does it correctly while you managed to get v2 to get a 1” margin in spite of you setting it to 0.5”.
It might have something to do with the old Paperback Novel compile preset in S2, then. I can replicate S3’s results with S2. It took a while, but I just used the default and then changed all of the settings to a paperback, and the margins.
However, using S3’s paperback preset doesn’t have the same affect.
Either way, regardless if it’s now correct, the page numbers are out of the printable area. No matter how I change it at the bottom, even with the instructions shown above to change the page settings through the File tab, it stays in the same place.
To fix that problem, I’ve just put the numbers on the top instead.
Easy fix. If you want to change the position of the page number (or any kind of footer text), in a pdf compile :
you can do so in Compile / formatting / footer :
Simply add one blank line after the page number, by typing ALT ENTER after <$p>.
This will shift the page number one line up.
You can add one or more blank lines, since Alt Enter = carriage return.
You can get the opposite result by adding one blank line on top of the page number (by typing ALT ENTER before <$p>) : this will shift the page number one line down.
Interesting idea, thanks. fwiw I tried a few variations in S3, for headings (adding a blank line before the tag). It worked for my left-side page, but the right-side heading shifted both fields one field to the left (title at left, page # in middle).
Settings:
main body heading = <$pageGroupTitle> in center preceded by opt-enter (on mac); <$p> on the right
facing page = <$projecttitle> in center; <$p> on the left preceded by opt-enter
