Support for MS Excel

Hi,
Not sure if somebody’s posted this already (I could not find the correct thread).
I use some templates to maintain character and location info on MS Excel. Is there anyway I can import them into Scrivener? Any other alternative is welcome. Thanks! :slight_smile:
AD

I would check in to some of the ways in which Excel can export your templates to different file formats. Scrivener doesn’t do tabular data, so any of the export options relating to that will not be appropriate—but formats like text, RTF, and maybe even HTML if nothing else exists, would suffice. You will most likely have to touch them up a bit, but once you have Scrivener set up the way you like with your new character sheets, see about saving the project as a template. Going forward, you’ll be able to select that template as a starting point for all of your projects.

Thanks. I think I will keep the Excel file for an overview but individual characters have to go in RTF format (one per file).
AD

One file per character is pretty standard practice. Again, using project templates you can set up this base RTF as a bit of a document template (not to be confused with project-level templates, which set up everything from label colours and basic keywords to Binder structure). To create a new character sheet you would simply duplicate that file in the Binder and drag it to the appropriate location. In the next version of Scrivener (done when it is done; probably several months off), there will be full support for document level templates within your project. That way you can do something similar to a “New from template” command, and avoid the duplicate+drag-and-drop step.

For your overview spreadsheet, you can link to any kind of file using the References pane. This will simply create something like an alias to any file on your hard-drive. For something that high-level, I would recommend using the Project References pane (accessible via drop-down from the standard reference section in the Inspector). That way it will be available from any place in the Binder. It won’t be a physical part of your project, but at least it will give you quick access to the external files you require, keeping them all linked from within the project file.

Thanks. I have just done it and love it. Will look forward to the enhancements you have mentioned. 8)