Projects within projects?

Scrivener Newcomer Central
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This should be easy to answer - I just need to know if I’ve done something dumb, while I’m still experimenting with throwaway content. I’ve outlined what I did below, and would be very grateful if someone could run their eye over it, in case there are gremlins lurking within, or simply a better way of doing it.

I created a new project, using the Blank format, and named it “NOVELS”. Then I closed it.

I want to keep a number of separate full-length books within this project, and for each one to have its own individual multi-media Research folder and Trash bin. So I did this:

File > New Project > Blank > Create. (I used my own custom page template, which sits next to the blank one already provided.) Then I named it. I’ll call this Book 1. After I’d made it, I immediately closed it.

I repeated the above procedure three more times, creating Book 2, Book 3, and Book 4, closing down each new project upon completion.

Then I re-opened my main overall project (NOVELS) and imported Book 1, did this three more times for the others, and added some dummy folders & pages to each of them.

Once these books were stored inside NOVELS, I went back out to the Scrivener folder on my computer and deleted the empty Book1/2/3/4 projects I had just made, to avoid clashes or duplication.

My Binder for NOVELS now shows the expected hierarchy, with the four new book projects and their sub-content neatly stacked. At the very bottom are the Research, Trash, and Template folders belonging to the über-project.

Since writing this, I’ve been playing around and doing stuff with the four books, and everything seems fine. Is the above method reliable, or am I racking up heartache for the future?

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Scrivener has 3 basic default folders: Manuscript or Draft, Research and Trash.

In order to Compile your project’s novels (Books 1 to 4, in your case), they’d need to be in the Manuscript folder. Under each book you might have sub-folders/documents for Parts, Chapters and Scenes, as per your preferred setup.

In the unlikely event that you’re thinking of writing a whole novel in a single Book 1 folder or document and the same for your other books, then I’d advise against that. Scrivener thrives on working in chunks similar to what I illustrated in the previous paragraph.

In Reasearch, nothing stops you from having Books 1 to 4 sub-folders, and your research stored in each.

If you’re working on one book at a time, you could store Book 1 in Manuscript for the time being and complete that and have Books 2 to 4 as folders at the same level as the Manuscript folder. They’d then be excluded from any compile. When you get to Book 2, move it into Manuscript and Book 1 out.

In terms of Trash, yes, it’s nothing but a folder, but my take is the using the keyboard shortcuts, menu options or icons to delete would send content to the default Trash folder (belonging to the über-project, as you put it). In theory, you could set up separate Trash folders (not sub-folders in Trash, because any emptying of the Trash would permanently delete all of them) called Trash B1, etc. and use a move to folder option to send it to the individual trashes, but that would be prone to user errors more often than not.

Of course, you may never empty your Trash and that would be the only reason to have Trash folders for each book, otherwise, leave well enough alone.

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Thank you for such a detailed, helpful answer - it’s good to get clear about this stuff before embarking on any serious work. I’ll dump the über-project and re-structure as per your advice. Cheers!

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Just my two cents about multiple ‘books/novels’ in one project because that concept does work for me, but I can’t speak to the import method you used.

I write non fiction, and use the novel with parts template.

Each book is set up in a hierarchy in small bits. At the moment they all reside in my manuscript/draft “root” folder.

Each book is in a folder at Level 1, with parts, chapters and sections under each of them. I work this way because all my ‘books’ are interrelated, and use a lot of the same resources - ‘characters’, locations, research.

I personally would be concerned about having multiple “Special” folders - ie. the Manuscript/draft, research, template and trash. Someone who knows how things work under the hood needs to chime in here. Fwiw, I have a folder for each book in the Specials if I need one.

My understanding (and I may be wrong) is that there is only supposed to be one of each of these folders. For instance, when you go into your project settings and select your target template (or Notes) folder, you don’t have multiple options. The Scrivener manual (under your help menu) has a section on the Special folders.

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Thank you for these insights. Novel With Parts certainly sounds like an option to explore. I should have thought of that myself!

Certainly two of my books have enough elements in common that it would be fruitful for them to share quarters in that way - I’m not exactly sure what will go where yet, though they are separate stand-alone works.

The others are only glimmers on the horizon at the moment. But it’s worth creating a space for them to gestate in, so I can can drop in ideas as they evolve.

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Since writing this, I’ve been playing around and doing stuff with the four books, and everything seems fine. Is the above method reliable, or am I racking up heartache for the future?

Draft/
	Book One/
		Introduction
		The story begins...
	Book Two/
	Book Three/
	Book Four/

To add a little to this, when using one project for multiple books, with a setup like the above, it is a good idea to open the Compile window, and on the right-hand side set the top drop-down to “Book One” (or whatever you are currently working on). Hold down Option to reveal the Save button, so you can save your settings without wasting time actually compiling.

Next, go into Project ▸ Show Project Targets. Click the Options button, and enable, Current compile group only, at the top. The “compile group” is what you set up in the first step. Your overall draft target and progress bar will now ignore Books 1–3 if you are working on Book 4 these days.

You will likewise also want to set that same setting in Project ▸ Statistics, within its Options tab.

Those the main things most people will want to change. There are other useful little tips and tricks here and there, but it is for the most part not a whole lot different than using Scrivener normally—you just have more text!

@FamilyPuzzleSolver : I personally would be concerned about having multiple “Special” folders - ie. the Manuscript/draft, research, template and trash. Someone who knows how things work under the hood needs to chime in here.

That is nothing to worry about, because it is impossible to actually have multiple copies of those folders. You can have a thousand folders called “Trash” or “Draft” if you want… but only one of them will really be the Draft, and it is impossible to delete or duplicate it (you can duplicate a copy of it is all; handy for rewrites).

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That’s very helpful to know - thank you for writing it all out. Plenty of info to get to grips with there. Fortunately, this being only a test project, I can experiment around and learn the ropes as I go, without risking anything.

But even though I was only messing around in my pages, a couple of real ideas broke through as I typed, and I nabbed them. Win-win!

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