WORKAROUND for Compile leaving out last pages of book

Scrivener Scrivener for macOS
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1

I have been using Scrivener on Mac for over a decade. I’m currently running Mac version 3.3.1 (15588)

Until now there has never been a problem compiling a book manuscript as a pdf.

I use collections. The folder title provides the chapter title, and the text files within the folder, the several scenes that make up a chapter.

But in the last week, all compiles leave out the last few pages of a 340-page book.

I have found a workaround. If I add a last scene, with just the words “Last Page” the book will compile to the end. (The last scene must include words. It will not work as just a blank page.)

I wonder if this is a bug introduced by the recent update.

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I’ve seen that before.
Search the forum. A user had the very same issue. 6-10 months ago-ish.
Adding a dummy file fixed it, just like you.
The problem is with your project, I think.
The issue got fixed (for real) in the end.

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3

I think that’s the one.

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  1. I would apply Scrivener’s Edit > … > Zap Gremlin’s command on the final scenes of the last chapter and see if that helps. This will clear out any invisible illicit characters that may have snuck in to the body text.

  2. Drag the last chapter’s folder and place it before the (rightful) second to last’s folder. How does this effect the compile? Does your compile now leave out an entire chapter and then some? Then you have something funny going on in the (rightful) last chapter of your text.

  3. Anything unusual about that last chapter? Funny symbol in the chapter name? Different structure within the chapter folder? Etc.

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  1. Zaping Gremlins didn’t work. In fact, more pages of the last scene were left out.

  2. Changing the order of the last two chapters produced the same result. Now the penultimate chapter, moved to the final place, cut off in mid-sentence. The original final chapter ran to the end.

  3. Last chapter is not odd in any way and compiled correctly many times in the past. The addition of a “Last Page” scene is the only way the manuscript completes correctly, with the endmark at bottom.

Thank you for your help. I appreciate the suggestions.

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Compiling to PDF still doesn’t work. I had to ‘Print to PDF’ to get it to work properly for PDF. Anything else would break when compiling to PDF and the work around to add another scene/chapter to the document is not something I should need to do, and did not do.

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Have you guys read that other thread I linked to ?
I am pretty sure you have a) the same issue, and b) the other user’s issue ended-up fixed.
Something to do with the compile format.
If you want confirmation, use a different compile format. If it compiles as it should, well then you’ll know.

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I was the other thread. The compile to PDF doesn’t work properly. The way I got my document to work was to ‘Print to PDF’.

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Wasn’t your compile format the problem ?
I will re-read the thread if I have to, but I am pretty sure Kewms hopped in, and from there the problem was identified.

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As stated before, I can compile to any other format and it will work. The issue is if I want to have a PDF. The compile to PDF does exactly what is happening in this thread. Kewms did not solve the issue. The way I got the document to PDF was to ‘Print to PDF’. This is not the same thing as compiling to PDF. The problem still exists. I stopped pursuing the issue as I was able to get the document to what I needed at that moment, but will become a problem when I need to use the Compile engine to actually compile to PDF instead of printing to PDF.

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

And now I see (and remember) recommending that you rebuild a new compile format.
Hopefully whatever was tweaked and caused this you wouldn’t tweak this time.

Start from the factory one that works, and make it your own.

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@nachodragon
I had a corrupted format once, can’t remember what problem it caused, but rebuilding the format from scratch fixed it. It’s worth a try. I’m positive it was NOT a bad setting in the original. Repeating everything fixed it.

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Original poster here.

I get this problem also when I compile for Print and choose PDF to display the book, rather than print out the pages. Also, when compile straight to PDF.

As suggested above, compiling to Word works fine. And again we are talking about a manuscript that I’ve been compiling to PDF for 13 years, including the current last chapter, with no hiccups.

I do use a custom format, the product of much trial and error once Scrivener went from the earlier version to version 3. The learning curve with Scrivener – both the old version and the current one – is steep. Certainly not intuitive.

But once I found where the things I need are, hidden around the Project settings, the custom format and its options, and the setting tab on the compile page (that obscure, hard to find the first time, gear wheel tab), I understand the logic of the compile.

My custom format has not changed in years. It is only in the last month that PDF compiles left out the last pages.

I switched the last two chapters around as suggested. The same problem occurred (see above for details). So there’s nothing corrupt or odd about the last chapter. Nor does it have images or any bells and whistles. Just plain text laid out in paragraphs, distributed over several “scenes” (that is, separate text files within a folder that prints only the chapter name.)

I am working on a new book, with its own format, copied exactly from the one that skips the last page, and this new copy of the format compiles to PDF fine… the way the original did for ten years.

I am surprised – and disappointed in Scrivener – that this is a problem people have had for a while now, many people, not just me. And there has been no fix. Other apps – Word, Affinity Publisher, Preview (a Mac image app) – compile to PDF as expected.

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Well, then what changed? Do you see the problem in the previous version of Scrivener (3.2.3), or only in the current version (3.3.1)? Have you tweaked the format at all?

One reason why this issue is difficult to fix is that – as you’ve discovered – it’s very inconsistent.

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As stated, NOTHING CHANGED in my format. No tweaks, no additions to the copy.

I don’t remember when the current version (3.3.1) came out. The last time I compiled my book before these recent problems was probably early in the year, say, Jan. '23. And then it compiled correctly.

But as many people have experienced the exact same problem with PDF compiles (that is, last few pages missing), this seems not to be a problem that originates with me or my format. Or with individual users. Or with newbies. Something is wonky about the software.

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Which is why I asked about the Scrivener version.

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Other users on this thread and others that complain about missing pages have had this problem during the last version of the software. This problem, which cropped up for me in the last month, seems to have a long trail in your support forum.

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Nothing changed in my format, either … but it was corrupted invisibly. Did you try recreating it?

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Why should I have to go through all that turmoil again? To get it to do what it does now, with the artificial fix I came up with (a “Last Page” empty scene).

No thanks. I’m not building it up from scratch, the product of many hours of trial and error. And “trial and error” is a euphemism.

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For science’s sake?
Else, stop complaining.

I don’t mean to be rude, but seriously, it can only be one or the other.