Kindle Forum banner

How to add a chapter to scrivener?

10K views 20 replies 10 participants last post by  anotherpage 
G
#1 ·
I thought scenes were chapters. My mistake. I want to add more folders, aka, chapters. But when I do it adds the blank folder to the end of the manuscript. When I drag and drop it, it goes into the folder of the existing chapter and does not become it's own chapter. I tried adding the scenes and then drag and dropping, same thing. There's no option to make it it's own chapter. Do you know how to do this?
 
#6 ·
TDNewton said:
I tried this. You mean the + button on my keyboard? I'm on Mac. Didn't work.
Note: I see Patty and Pauline have answered already, but this took ages to type on my phone!

The + button is in the horizontal menu above the manuscript folders and binders.

As you move the folder from above your manuscript, notice the faint line when you move your mouse. It can move horizontally accross. That faint line determines if your folder goes into three levels of your manuscript.
1) Outside files not for printing
2) In the manuscript (new chapter folder)
3) Within a folder
4) underneath or before a text file
And so on.

Hope that helps TD.
 
#9 ·
It's tricky. I often drag and drop a new document (whether file or folder) and it ends up inside something else. Drives me crazy. You should hear my language some days, when that little twitch I have puts things in the wrong places! And new folders will appear at the bottom of the pile, so you have to move them. This is one place I thought yWriter was superior, as you could create a specific number of chapters all at once, and after dragging them around there was a one-click way to renumber them.
 
#10 ·
she-la-ti-da said:
It's tricky. I often drag and drop a new document (whether file or folder) and it ends up inside something else.
This was the one really aggravating problem I had when starting with Scrivener. Dragging things around never appealed to me anyway, maybe some instinct told me I'd be bad at it. I solved the problem by making sure the Move arrows (Up, Down, Left, Right) are on my toolbar. Then it doesn't matter if you mean to make a chapter folder and get a scene file instead or vice versa. The Left Arrow will put a scene on the chapter level, Up and Down move them into place, etc.
 
#11 ·
ellenoc said:
This was the one really aggravating problem I had when starting with Scrivener. Dragging things around never appealed to me anyway, maybe some instinct told me I'd be bad at it. I solved the problem by making sure the Move arrows (Up, Down, Left, Right) are on my toolbar. Then it doesn't matter if you mean to make a chapter folder and get a scene file instead or vice versa. The Left Arrow will put a scene on the chapter level, Up and Down move them into place, etc.
Ooh Thanks Ellen!
 
#12 ·
Yeah, the drag and drop (the *real* meaning of D&D!) is twitchy. I use the keyboard. Ctrl-Left moves the selected file or folder out a level, Ctrl-Right moves it in a level. Ctrl-Up and Down move it (surprise!) up and down. It's absolutely precise. No twitching. The only distracting thing is, if you have most everything expanded you might lose it from visibility, because it may wind up down below. Scroll down; it's there.

IMO, it's very much worth learning the keyboard shortcuts. I mean, our hands are already on the keyboard, right? It's not like we type with the mouse. Ctrl-N makes a new file. Ctrl-Shift-N makes a new folder. usw.
 
#13 ·
Thanks Skip :D
 
#16 ·
Since Al hasn't answered yet, and since I'm here -

This is for Scrivener Windows 1.9.7. I downloaded the beta of the Windows 3.0.2 and played with it a little, but I'm not brave enough to really use it until it's out of beta. As I remember it works similarly.

Go into the menus. View> Use Label Color In and check Binder (if you're like me and like the color distinctions in other places, also check Index Cards and Outliner Rows).

Then for say a chapter in your draft, right click on it in the Binder, choose Label, and either pick something already there or pick Edit, which allows you to input your own Labels and to choose colors for them. For the colors, you double click on the square of the existing color, which brings up a palette.

As to Windows tutorial, you do know there's one built into the program, right?
 
#17 ·
My Dog's Servant said:
Okay, I don't mean to derail the thread, but....I'm derailing the thread.

TromboneAl.....how did you get all those pretty colors in your binder in PC version? [ET remove emojis] Every time I look for directions, I end up with a Mac tutorial, never a PC, and I can't seem to find it myself.
This is where I do it, but Ellen's way is just as good. This is from the book I start on tomorrow (for Camp Nano):

 
#19 ·
Ellenoc and TromboneAl...thank you! I don't know why I didn't figure both ways out sooner.

ETA--my forehead is now bruised from smacking it so hard. Obvious and easy and....I missed it entirely. I need to read those lists of commands more carefully.

Apologies to OP and other.  Now un-derailing thread. And thanks.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top