I’ve figured out the problem I wrote below, but I don’t know how to fix it. Apparently when I still have the shift key pressed (from typing the quotation mark) it’s a different type of return. And that return doesn’t compile to a hard return in the final draft. So due to my sloppy typing skills, all throughout my draft I have these soft returns that don’t show up at all in a .doc or .rtf.
Is there a way to replace these with a hard return without just going through the whole MS?
Thanks, I hope that’s clear.
(My previous post:
Very strange issue indeed. When compiling my draft (of a manuscript written entirely in Scrivener, not cut and paste from elsewhere) every once in a while an “enter” is missing, and it’s always right next to a quotation mark.
So for example instead of:
(indent)“Could I see them?”
(indent)“Never.”
(indent)“Why not?”
(indent)“It’s obscene."
I get:
(indent)“Could I see them?”
(indent)“Never.”(indent)“Why not”?
(indent)“It’s obscene.”
No matter if I compile to a .doc, .rtf, whatever. It doesn’t reflect what’s there in the .scriv file. The new line command is just missing. It also doesn’t matter if I override the text formatting when I compile the draft.
This doesn’t happen all the time. Maybe once in five bits of dialogue. But it’s enough that it’s a pain to go through and fix in the final draft.
In many Mac programs, a shift-return or option-return creates a narrow line break.
It’s handy when you want to squeeze more into a limited area.
In your case, just take your finger off the shift key when you hit return.
But you should see the soft return code in Word (.doc) if you turn on the invisibles.
(I am a recovering Word user; it used to be the ¶ sign on the main tool bar.)
The soft return code is an arrow that heads right and curves back left.
Hard return codes just look like ¶.
And Find/Replace will look for soft returns and convert them into hard returns.
You set that formula up in the Find/Replace dialog; see Word Help for assistance.
Then select the area of text you want to convert and off you go.
Good luck; let me know if this helps.
You can also use Scrivener’s invisibles feature as well, if you lack Word. Scrivener uses a different symbol for the two different types. The option is in the Text menu, just under ghost notes mode. Using the Project Replace function in Scrivener, you can paste in a break (with invisibles turned on it’s pretty easy to select one and copy it, and unfortunately you cannot Shift-Return right in that field) into the search field, and type in Opt-Return in the replace field to fix them all at once.
Thanks for the replies guys. It’d be thrilling to believe I’m going to suddenly turn into a less sloppy typer, but I can’t lie to myself so I’m going to try for the Find/Replace option.
In Scrivener I can see the symbols for both the hard and soft returns when I click Invisibles. But neither can be copied. They don’t react like real characters. Is there something else I need to do/click/chant before they become copy-able?
In Word there’s no symbol for the soft return so I can’t replace it with the symbol for the hard return.
Word calls a soft return a “manual line break” and a hard return a “paragraph mark.” You can find both in the “Special” menu of the Find/Replace dialog box.
Thanks Katherine, I found them on the Special menu. But it doesn’t find any Manual line breaks in the compiled draft, as if when Scrivener compiles it removes Manual line breaks entirely.
It is possible to select them in Scrivener. Place the cursor right in front of it, and then press Shift-RightArrow once. You should get something that looks like this:
Press Cmd-C. Now in Edit/Find/Project Replace, paste that into the “Replace” field (you won’t see anything, but it is there), and in the With field, type in Opt-Return. Now replace all. Works for me.
After some messing around and confusion with invisible things I got it to work. Thank you very much, AmberV! (And also everyone else who pointed the way.)
