Possible to add a line across page?

Scrivener Scrivener for Windows
1

Hello,

I am new to the software. I am wanting to add a line across the page, a visual break. I mean an actual line like this:

A solid line, dotted line, whatever. Both would be nice, but either would suffice.

Is there a shortcut key to do this, or this even possible inside Scrivener?

I hate the thought of having to manually copy/paste that every time I would like to add a visual break to my page.

Thanks for any help,

Stephen

2

There’s no option currently to insert a horizontal rule. The simplest option is to do something like you have there, a series of dashes or such, and set it as a custom separator between the document types that need to be so divided. Then you don’t have to worry about it when you’re writing at all, just create a new document when you want to have the line between it and the previous, and when you compile the separator will be inserted.

If that doesn’t work because you’ll need the same types of documents separated in different ways–e.g. sometimes you just want an empty line between two documents, sometimes you want this special line separator–the next best option is probably to create a “divider” document in the binder that just contains this dashed line as you want it to appear in the final manuscript. Mark the document “compile as-is” in the inspector, and then just duplicate that document within the binder to place between the documents that should be set off with the divider. You could create the divider line document as a document template to make inserting it anywhere even easier. Document templates are explained in section 8.5 of the user manual.

3

Thank you for the reply. That will save me from pulling my hair out trying to find out where the option is located :smiley:

I think I understand what your saying on how to accomplish the “auto” line add. If I do understand you correctly, that is not what I am actually wanting. If I am not understanding you correctly please forgive me I’m simply stating what “I” would actually love to see in the program if the devs read this.

This is simply my own quirk as I’m writing. I like to keep pages of notes… each page will have multiple notes. In my own style of “organization” (if you can call it that) I draw lines between separate thoughts. It helps me know where I ended my thought or separate out thoughts, notes, ideas, so forth on the “same” sheet of paper.

It sounds like what you are describing is how to, for example, put a line automatically at the end of each scene and then compile it so at the seam of each document it would draw a line. That would be useful for me for exactly that, but I was wanting something a bit easier just for my own style.

It would just be a nice feature to have, but simply pre-lining my text document and then copy/paste a line when I need will have to suffice. I was just looking for a way to save my self a few seconds and not killing my train of thought looking for a line to copy or drawing a new one.

Again, thank you for taking the time to reply with suggestions. I will note them for the future and do appreciate the time you spent answering my question.

Stephen

4

Yes, I was describing a couple ways to insert a line divider in your finished document when you compile it from Scrivener. What you want to do sounds like something you could easily accomplish by using Scrivenings mode, where you load multiple documents together in the editor. Each document thus is its own idea, whether that’s a sentence, a paragraph, four paragraphs, or more, making it easy to identify in the binder, search for, apply meta-data to, move around, etc. Scrivener is built around this idea of chunking your work into sections like this, actually. :slight_smile:

So try this:

  1. Add a new folder to your binder, call it “Notes” (as an example)
  2. Create three documents, One, Two, and Three as subitems of the folder and put a little text in each
  3. Click on the folder to load it in the editor and choose View > Scrivenings

You should now see all your notes together in the editor, divided by dashed lines. The blank one at the top is the folder itself (in Scrivener, folders can have their own text just like documents). If you don’t want to show the container’s text as part of the Scrivenings session, you can deselect that setting in Tools > Options under the Navigation settings.

Scrivenings mode can also display arbitrary documents together, so you could just select One and Three via Ctrl+click to load them without Two in between.