Unique header and footer for different sections

[dondo]

First post; I’m just learning how to use scrivener but I think I mostly get it.

My novel has a prologue, and for that section I want the page numbers to be <$i> roman numerals i, ii, iii, etc. Then I want the body of the novel to use <$rst_n> Arabic numerals, restarting the counting as 1, 2, 3, etc. However, it appears Scrivener doesn’t support this (other than treating the prologue as front matter, which also doesn’t work because I actually have front matter that I don’t want to include).

I change one Section type's header/footer then they all get the same header/footer setting in Compile

Using Windows 11, Scrivener 3.1.1 on an HP Laptop with 16gb ram. The scrivener project file in question was initially developed in Scriv ver1 and upgraded to Scriv3. When I use File-Compile the resulting PDF has the same headers and footers for ALL Section Types. The format of headers and footers that I get, is whatever was set to last. It does not make any difference which section layout’s header/footer is changed. It is as if there is a block of code for headers and footers and they all s…

Exporting to word to polish this seems somewhat to defeat the purpose.

Given the power the application provides this was a surprising and quite unwelcome discovery.

I understand there is some mild technical complexity to supporting this; for example, there might be more than one section on a page, so deciding which one to use might sometimes be tricky. But frankly “first one wins” seems a fine strategy.

Are there any plans to allow more control over headers and footers? “Front matter” and “back matter” are not sufficient.

[drmajorbob]

@dondo

there might be more than one section on a page

I don’t know what that means.

@dondo

Are there any plans to allow more control over headers and footers?

I doubt it.

[drmajorbob]

@dondo

My novel has a prologue, and for that section I want the page numbers to be <$i> roman numerals i, ii, iii, etc. Then I want the body of the novel to use <$rst_n> Arabic numerals, restarting the counting as 1, 2, 3, etc.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a prologue like that, and it’s not anything I’ve seen requested before. Do what you want, of course, but Scrivener isn’t set up to do it.

[SWM]

Based on the assumption that if you’re using headers but not using a word processor to edit the text your output must be PDF, as ebooks don’t show headers:

1. Put the front matter in the back matter
2. Move the Prologue to front matter
3. Set the header and footer option for the three different sections
4. Compile to PDF
5. The prologue will have Roman numerals, the chapters will have Arabic numerals, and the back matter will have no numerals at all
6. Open the PDF in Preview
7. Choose View → Contact Sheet
8. Select the back-matter pages and drag them so they are in front of the prologue
9. You then have front matter, prologue, and novel in the right order without needing a word processor
10. Takes a matter of seconds to sort out in Preview

Sample project and output PDF attached.

Prologue.zip (142.8 KB)

[dondo]

Thanks, SWM. That is a reasonable workaround. And yes, I’m working on the print/PDF version.

It still seems odd that Scrivener doesn’t offer better control over the entire, actual printed page. Nobody else wants to eg. add roman numerals to an index at the end? Change the header or footer in a different section to say different things? There’s a lot of clever things authors might do in the margins. Given the power of the app, it’s disappointing (and quite painful) to so quickly find something Word does better.

[atiz]

I love Scrivener, and use it for all kinds of writing projects, but I don’t think it’s meant to be the final step in the typesetting. Personally, I use it for the bulk of the writing, which I then typeset in Latex (or whatever).

[SWM]

Welcome. And I agree completely.