Hello,
On the web I found and downloaded some alleged Scrivener templates. But they are in XML format w/ extension “XML” rather than “scriv”. What’s this about? How does one import them into Scrivener?
Thanks
Template files are indeed XML files, very simple ones. They have a little meta-data at the top with the name, description, and icon. The bulk of the project data is then in a Zip compressed node, which when decompressed, generates the full .scriv project bundle/folder. If the XML file looks like that in a text editor, then it might indeed be a template. I’m not sure why the extension has been changed to .xml, though. The proper extension should be .scrivtemplate.
Where did you get the files from?
I got them from a few places. Here’s one:
qc-cuny.academia.edu/KatherineAn … t_Template
So far I’ve tried:
- Importing the XML file
- Importing it without the xml extension
- Importing it with .scriv as the extension instead
- Importing it with .scrivtemplate as the extension
- Changing the .xml extension to .scriv and opening the file
I just don’t seem to be able to get the file in Scrivener.
Try #4 would be your best bet. How are you doing the import? Are you using the Options drop-down menu in the template selection screen to “Import Templates…”? They won’t open ordinarily, like normal projects.
Right, this was an odd one…
There seems to be a problem with the file BookLength_Academic_Research_Project.scrivtemplate.
It downloaded with the extension .xml, but when I tried to remove the .xml, Finder wouldn’t let me: the extension kept returning, so Scrivener wouldn’t import it.
Finally, I looked at the file info (cmd-i). The permissions were OK, but I managed to rename by using the Info dialogue (cmd-i) and then Scrivener could see it and import it in the normal way.
-
File > New Project
-
Options
-
Import Templates…
Very odd – I’ve never seen Finder refuse to rename a file before.
So, try renaming the templates to .scrivtemplate in Info and see if it works.
David
Thanks. This worked. I was able to change the extension the usual way: highlight, hit Return, select the extension, and type over it with the new one. OS X (Lion) asks if you want to use the old or new extension. Select the new one, and OS X changes it.
The part I was missing was in Scrivener: File > New Project > Options > Import Templates. I’m new to Scrivener, and I would never have thought that the way one imports templates is by creating a new project and in the dialog for creating a new project, select “options” that will apply to Scrivener’s configuration rather than the specific project you’re creating. Can you say “counter-intuitive” boys and girls? 
This was compounded by the fact that the User Manual does not have an index, and its Table of Contents only mentions “templates” in one place. There it discusses using templates to create new projects and making one’s own templates from projects. I can’t find a place discussing importing templates anywhere. 
At least this is my impression. Is importing templates documented anywhere? 
Most PDF readers have a pretty good search engine these days, negating the need for a paper based index, and if the ToC listed every sub-sub-section it would be really huge. 
If you search for “import template” you’ll find it in §7.6.3, pg. 58, a few pages after where you were looking.
You’ll find most of Scrivener’s preset and template management features are embedded in the window they manage. To load a compile preset you’ve downloaded, you’d find the management options in the compile “Format As” drop-down. Layouts can be imported and exported in the Layouts window. Scripts in the Script Settings window, and so on. There are too many places like this to reasonably hang them off of menus without overly cluttering them.
I’m afraid I can’t, in this case, no. 
I’m not sure what’s un-intuitive about importing templates using the Templates Chooser panel - to me that seems entirely logical. And for users who don’t think of this, I don’t think that it’s a bad thing that you might need to look in the manual to find out how to do this particular task, seeing as it is something that isn’t needed often. It’s therefore much better to have it tucked way rather than having a giant “IMPORT TEMPLATES HERE!!!” menu item taking up valuable space, and it is tucked away in an area that makes sense.
Well, here’s the thing. I appreciate it now that someone’s explained everything having to do with templates is in the Templates window, everything having to do with compile presets, in the Compile window, etc. But I understood these windows as being project-specific, whereas an imported template would apply to all projects. Hence, I was looking for a single configuration window, which could be used to import templates, presets, etc. Alternatively, the Template window might label the drop-down with something other than “Options.” Again, “Options” seems to apply to the New Project (“File > New Project” is how we got here), so perhaps “Manage Templates” or something would be more apropos. Yet a third option, would be to label “Open Existing File or Template” instead of “Open an Existing File”; one could then dispense with importing templates and just save the opened template file as a template.
Also note that the Save As Template command is on the file menu. My confusion stems from the fact that once I selected New > Project, I expected everything to pertain to this new project only.
Well, Save As Template is project-specific - it belongs in the File menu because the “File” menu appertains to all file-related things you can do with that project, and saving the project as a template is one of them. (You can’t import a template into a project, so Import Template would have no place in the File menu.)
The Templates Chooser panel is not project-specific - and I’m not sure why you would think it is, as you suggest, given that this is where you create new projects from.
Note also that Scrivener uses the conventions laid down by Apple in its iWork apps - there, too, you will find Save As Template in the File menu, and a temples choose panel much like Scrivener’s. The big difference is, in Pages et al, there is no way to import templates at all - instead, you have to fuss around finding the Application Support folder and place the template files there manually (you can do that in Scrivener, too, but Scrivener also provides the ease of importing templates directly through that pesky Options… button ).
As I say, given that importing templates is such an infrequent action, I don’t think it’s unreasonable that it takes some poking around to find how to do it - and even then, at least in Scrivener the feature is “discoverable” by poking around in the Templates Chooser panel (the place into which you would be importing the templates, where you would expect to find them), greatly reducing the chances of users having to look this up on the internet (and it is explained in the Help file too).