Scrivener Compile Settings

[Medusa]

Hello,

First time using Scrivener for a book. It is long - 144,000 words. When I go to compile it, it is stripped out styles, randomly removing horizontal lines, and changing the page breaks. Any suggestions on how to fix this? I am trying to send this out to beta readers and it looks like a disaster right now.

Thanks!

[GoalieDad]

Two things

1. Make a collection including An Act/Part, at least 2 chapters for numbering and some scenes. Call this a practice collection and in the third pane of this select this collection to compile to work out the kinks quickly.
2. Use the default compile formats and find the one closest to what you want and tweak this one, rather than starting fresh.

If this gets you nowhere, then you may not have consistent assignment of your section types. Ie are all Chapters using the Chapter section type and the same for scenes and Acts/Parts.

Glad to help further if you message me and this not get you close.

[kewms]

I posted a very short intro to the Compile command in another thread, here:

How to export a synopsis

Very short intro to the Compile command: Section Types define what an item in the Binder is: A chapter, a scene, whatever. See Section 7.6 of the manual for more information. Section Types can often be assigned automatically, based on the Binder hierarchy. Section Layouts define how an item looks. This is where the magic happens, as you can make your scenes look completely different without changing the underlying text. A Compile Format is a collection of Section Layouts, plus some addi…

It may not answer your questions, but understanding the terminology might make it easier for others to help you.

[Medusa]

Thank you for the info - unfortunately I do not really understand it. I’m attaching a screen shot of the structure of my book - it’s simply a draft with text added, each chapter a separate “text”. Also including the beginning of a chapter. I really don’t understand what I am supposed to do with something this it now, but I will look at the page kewms referred me to. I love Scrivener but this seems overly complex. I am sure there is a reason.

[Medusa]

Ugh, forgot the screen shots.

And because I’m a new user, the system won’t allow me to post images

[Medusa]

Hi again! I am so proud. After two hours I finally figured it out, though I probably need to keep doing it over and over again until I get it. However, I have inserted thousands of horizontal lines using the “insert” feature in Scrivener, and they are not showing up when I compile. Do you have any idea what might be causing this? I did try to figure out how to message you directly and couldn’t find a way to do that. I swear I’m decent with technology but this has been pretty difficult. Also my book is 144,000 words so I am terrified I going to have to go back manually and fix the horizontal lines manually or something. Thanks for all your help!

[kewms]

What are the horizontal lines for? Do you actually want lines in the body text – like for people to write on – or are they separators between documents/sections?

I’ll boost your trust settings so you can post screenshots.

[GoalieDad]

Click on my icon and see the option to message with contact info

[kewms]

@Medusa I responded to your support ticket, but the email bounced. Please make sure you can receive email from scrivener-win@literatureandlatte.com.

[gr]

Have you tried compiling using the Default compile format? This basically just exports your manuscript “as-as”. I don’t know if that would serve your immediate purpose, but maybe.

[FanLi]

Are there any video tutorials that deal with the mysteries of compiling?

[kewms]

Go here: Video Tutorials - Literature & Latte

[FanLi]

Fantastic. It sounds better played at 0.75x.