Hey, I’m trialing the software now and I have a question. There are times when I need to use the exact same paragraph in multiple places, like an introduction paragraph. I’d like to have this paragraph stored multiple places so that, when I update it once, it updates everywhere.
Is this possible in Scrivener?
Simple answer: it should be when Scrivener 3 for Windows is finally published. Mac v. 3 has this, and v. 3 for Windows is aiming for parity, except where options provided at the system level—like Linguistic Focus on the Mac vs Dialogue Focus on Windows—are not available to the other system.
Mark
I use Acetext for this (and more). It is a Windows utility that copies everything from the clipboard and gives you access to it, able to merge edit find etc. Including save in tabs. I copy paragraphs I use in emails etc. to it and access whenever I want. Type once, copy, drag to a tab (say, scrivener or Emails, or …) and use whenever. Very powerful program.
https://www.acetext.com/
I don’t know the limitation of compile-time replacements, but it’s possible that you could squeeze a paragraph’s worth of text into that part (File->Compile, then use the “Replacements” pane, “Project Replacements” tab to enter your text). In the “Replace” column, you’d put something like <$include:ParagraphA>, and in the “With” column, you paste in the text of your paragraph. Keep that paragraph in a document in your Research folder, or wherever you like outside the Draft, for easier reading and editing, and always use it a the ‘gold standard’ for that paragraph. Name it the same as the “ParagraphA” text used in the tag above.
Note:
I believe that the “<$include:ParagraphA>” syntax will work with the Scrivener 3, where “ParagraphA” is the name of a document in the binder containing the text you want to be substituted for wherever you insert <$include:ParagraphA>. Pasting the contents of the document “ParagraphA” from your project into your compile settings is a work-around–the Replacements compile pane would become irrelevant once you upgrade to V3, whenever that’s ready for real-world use.
What would be the name of this feature in Mac v3? Thanks!
Can’t say if you have a list of placeholders under the Help menu on Windows v. 3, but here’s the information from the Mac version. Again, I have no idea if it works yet on Windows v.3.
Hope that helps.
Mark
Thanks!
Ok, got it. So the references aren’t actually visible while editing, only on the compiled text.