I’m having trouble with something basic. I have folders for 4 Parts of my novel, with chapter folders within. But somehow the chapters are not acting as subdocuments–on corkboard, all that shows on the cards is the chapter number, no synopsis. I can see the synopsis if I double-click on the chapter folder icon, but can’t figure out how to have the synopses for the entire part laid out on the corkboard at once.
To create the structure, I made part folders, then added chapter folders indented under them with text files inside.
I suspect the chapter items themselves do not have any synopses. It would be very simple to figure that out:
Open the inspector to the Notes tab (Navigate/Inspect/Notes). At the top of this pane you’ll see a synopsis card.
Click to select one of your chapter cards; see anything in there?
If not, try either of the following:
Double-click into the index card on the corkboard and type. You should see text appear in the inspector as you write.
Click into the index card in the inspector and type. You should see text appear in the corkboard as you write.
One thing you specifically mentioned is double-clicking on a chapter card’s icon to see the synopsis. That is actually impossible—the editor will never show the synopsis of the thing you are viewing. It will show the synopses of any nested items beneath it on a corkboard or outliner. So if you did what you describe and see what you would refer to as the synopsis for the chapter, it’s more likely that’s the synopsis on the first chunk of text located within that chapter—on its card.
The chapters do have synopses. I can see them on the corkboard if I click on the chapter folder icons in the binder, or double-click the chapter folder icons in corkboard (when a Part is selected in the binder).
So I can see individual synopses, I just can’t see all the synopses in one part at once. Instead corkboard shows a card for each chapter labeled with “Chapter 1” etc. and is otherwise blank. If I double-click on the icon (in corkboard), the synopsis for that chapter appears, but the other chapters disappear.
Again though, that could mean other things, and in particular if you double-click on a card in the editor you won’t see the synopsis for it anywhere in the editor.
You might need to include a screenshot so I can better see what you are working with. What it sounds like to me is that you have a synopsis on some text cards inside the chapter card, and so you are seeing those when you view that chapter as a corkboard—but that doesn’t imply the chapter itself has a synopsis.
I think it’s as others have been stating; the prologue folder itself has no synopsis; only the document titled “For years now…” has a synopsis.
It’s easy to remedy. Just select the Part 1 folder. The corkboard should display the chapter folders as index cards. Type in your synopses into those index cards, and you’ll have synopses for each folder.
I think the confusion is that when you select a thing in the binder, the cork board shows you that thing’s “child” documents. So when you have Part 1 selected in the binder, it’s showing you the titles and synopses for each chapter folder–it doesn’t show you the part folder’s synopsis there at all, except in the inspector, where the current selection’s synopsis and title are displayed.
Referencing your screenshots; the first one shows that you’ve selected Prologue in the binder, and then clicked on the scene document titled “For years now…,” inside the Prologue chapter folder. So on the cork board, you’re seeing all of the child documents of “Prologue”, and in the inspector, you’re seeing the currently selected document/index card (the one you clicked on in the corkboard).
This is all evident to me because I’m looking at the titles in the binder, on the corkboard index card, and in the inspector index card. All of those titles match. Plus, there’s a bold border around the index card selected on the corkboard.
In the second screenshot, I see you’ve selected Part 1, and then clicked on Prologue. This is very similar, except you’ve moved one level higher in the outline, so to speak. Both the selected card and the inspector synopsis are displaying the title “Prologue” and its synopsis, which is blank.
Hope that helps, or if it doesn’t that someone better able to sum all this up steps in.
One thing that may help is to switch to the outline view, with synopses turned on. Select the Draft folder, and then expand the rows to see all folders and documents. That should show you which synopses are attached to which documents, in case you want to copy and paste them to where you intended them to live.
