Searching and including documents by groups

Scrivener Newcomer Central
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I have used Scrivener for a little bit and now looking for specific ability.

Bassically I would like include common documents, and options not include other types of documents. And once you have those collections than included them in you compile.

I am a retired software developer and basical IF THEN ELSE

For example, I have 4 scenesin the file

This is common scene

This is LIGHT scene

This is DARK scene

This is another common scene

If I select LIGHT I will get

This is common scene
This is LIGHT sceme
This is another common scene

If select DARK I will get

This is common scene
This is DARK sceme
This is another common scene

II guess you completely skip the scenes and get

This is common scene
This is another common scene

This is basically to same scene written two different ways and select able which way to have them.

I am thinking this could be used by collections, but not sure how to set it up.

I primary used a Windows 11 PC but I also have M2 Macbook Air.

I hope this is clear, I could create a sample project if necessary

Stewart

2
  1. Create Keywords such as “Light” and “Dark” (from your suggestion above).
  2. Mark scenes appropriately with the keywords, with both keywords on the common scenes.
  3. Set up a search for scenes with the keyword “Light” and make it a collection.
  4. Set up a search for scenes with the keyword “Dark” and make it a collection.
  5. As you create new scenes, mark them appropriately with “Light”, “Dark” or both “Light” and “Dark”.

That should give you what you want, and as you create the new scenes, they should be added to the appropriate collection.

That’s briefly it.

HTH

:slight_smile:
Mark

1 Like
3

Agree but can add as many keywords you want so add one for pov’s and all other characters and locations. You can then make a collection of POV 1 and light scenes. Or pov1, pov3, and dark scenes. So lots of ways to build collections.

4

Thanks, I play around wirh and it basically work.
But two things that would be nice

  1. Can I marke a all that search for “Included to Compile”
  2. Can I combine Keywords including docs without a keyboard.

One thing that in some ways related, I am using a lot of small docs - not sure if that is good idea or bad idea

5

Another thing do you treat characters and locations as keywords or can use them specific as type

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  1. Can I marke a all that search for “Included to Compile”

Click the little hook arrow icon in the collection title bar, by where the close button is, to load the collection into the main editor. Switch to Outliner view, and add the “Include in Compile” column to it. Now you can Alt/Option click on any unticked box to tick them all.

That said, they probably already are ticked. This is a passive setting that governs whether or not something ever should be considered compilable. For example some chapter notes at the top of a chapter folder might be unticked, as you’d never want those compiled (save for maybe an archive level backup compile). The checkbox is commonly misunderstood as a selection mechanism, but the selection mechanisms themselves are all one level higher than that, and much easier to use.

For example: open Compile, and in the Contents tab, select from the dropdown at the top the collection you want to compile. Now the Include checkbox may modify what compiles from that source, and that is how it is intended to work, but it itself is not the selection mechanism.

Also note the filter or funnel icon to the right of that dropdown. This is your secondary mechanism. The dropdown selects the data source, and then we can filter it further, even by Collection in negative or positive terms. Which to use will depend on what you really want, so play with both and see how they differ.

Can I combine Keywords including docs without a keyboard.

Could you rephrase that question, I don’t quite understand it. You can assign keywords with the mouse, if that is what you mean, by opening the Project ▸ Project Keywords panel and using drag and drop onto selections of items (or right-click on the keyword).

Another thing do you treat characters and locations as keywords or can use them specific as type

I write non-fiction, but the answer is mechanically the same no matter what you use them for: use the metadata that makes the most sense for the type of thing you want to track with it. The user manual goes over them all, and their different strengths and weaknesses in §10.4. For some things an exclusive setting might be better, like a dropdown gives you.

Keywords can be used for multiple purposes at once though, given their nature, and that is one of their strengths.

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7

More specifically., can you used more than one keyworrd in a search. Idealy includes ones with out a keyword. I think I turn off included in compile for ones that I want.

I n my example, I desire LIGHT or DARK

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Play around with the “Any Word” vs “All Word” search settings, when running keyword searches. These are OR and AND operators. There is also a NOT operator, found toward the bottom of the search option list, “Invert results”.

For more complex searches, like “(a OR b) AND c”, you will need to run sequences of searches, using the previous search result as the data source to search against.

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