by C.K MacLeod
Out of the box, Scrivener comes with features turned off or on. Some of these features are helpful, but others drive me crazy and prevent me from being efficient.
You can customize Scrivener to work with your writing preferences. Below are six things I do to write more efficiently in Scrivener.
Note: I write mostly nonfiction. If you write fiction, tweak your settings to support your writing preferences.
1. Remove or change automatic paragraph indenting.
Go to Tools, Options, Editor, and move the tab slider to the left.
2. Turn off automatic capitalization and autocompletion.
I find it distracting when a word processor automatically capitalizes words, or tries to guess and complete words for me. To turn off these features, go to Tools, Options, Corrections, and uncheck Fix capitalization of sentences and Suggest completions as you type.
3. Change the font type and size.
I like to work in Times New Roman. Boring, but effective (it has a complete character set for special symbols. Go to Tools, Options, Editor, and click on the blue A button in the top left.
4. Add a keyboard shortcut for a word or phrase you don’t want to keep retyping. I use .ip to indicate a placeholder for inserting a picture later.
Go to Tools, Options, Corrections, check the Enable Substitutions box, and click on Edit Substitutions. Click on the plus button to add your keyboard shortcut.
5. Select your dictionary.
I am a Canadian, so I like my dictionary to remind me to spell colour and honour with a “u.” Go to Tools, Options, Corrections, select your dictionary, click OK, and then click Apply.
If you don’t see your dictionary in the list of options, click the Download button to see if there’s one available.
6. Customize the toolbar.
Go to Tools, Customize toolbars and add or remove toolbar buttons. Here are the buttons like like to add:
- Show Invisibles
- Inline Annotation
- Comment buttons
You can also rearrange the order of the buttons by clicking on the down and up arrows.
You don’t need to tolerate the out-of-the-box version of Scrivener. Set up Scrivener so it better matches your way of working.
Image by Kool Cats Photography