I’ve switched back to using Scrivener for my current book, but I’ve been finding it frustrating because unlike Ulysses or Word, it doesn’t automatically turn * and - into bulletpoints.
And it annoys me that I have to use the mouse!
I discovered, this, thanks to perplexity:
Fifteen years of using Mac … and I never knew this.
Sounds like you want to use Markdown rather than RichText. While I don’t use Markdown, apparently Scrivener will support people who do. Check out section 21 in the Scrivener User Manual.
I’d like to use Scrivener for my book and other long complex projects but I end up with a mess when I try to compile.
Scrivener can be a mess. I have started and gave up on Scrivener multiple times. Last week I decided to give one final go. It will either work or get deleted from my Mac.
I, too, hate using the mouse…
Once you’ve got used to opt-tab it’s annoying to find that it doesn’t work in some programs (e.g. Tinderbox, where it’s used for something else and you can’t override it.) It makes Apple’s bullet / list system bearable.
For those who aren’t aware, Scrivener has other shortcuts which are really useful for list manipulation. E.g. start your list off with opt-tab, then
cmd-opt-left/right to cycle through the available bullet / number options. This will change the bullet / number for all items at that level and it will persist until you change. Sublists can have their own format, which you change the same way.cmd-ctl-left/right to outdent/indent the bullet level.cmd-ctl-up/down to move the item up and down the list.This is really convenient – and it’s very annoying to use other programs (RTF or Markdown) which don’t have this feature. IA Writer, for example, lets you switch between number and bullet, but not the type of number or bullet. I think Markdown-mode in Emacs may be the closest I’ve found to it.
BTW, The last two shortcuts also work on ordinary paragraphs (and on documents in the binder if the cursor is in the binder).
Other shortcuts you may find helpful:
cmd-opt-ctl-left/right - move the first line indent left or right.Finally, Scrivener has some text navigation features which you normally only find in heavy duty text editors – for example, Edit > Select > Sentence / Sentence with spaces / Paragraph.
There are several more on the same menu. For example: if you want to change all your italicised words throughout a document, select the first instance in italics, Edit > Select > Select similar formatting, hit cmd-i, cmd-b and you’ve turned all the italics into bold.
There are no shortcuts for any of these by default, but it’s easy enough to create your own in the normal way.
I have a Keyboard Maestro with them all on opt-s, so it’s opt-s-s for select sentence, for example.
HTH.
Scrivener’s compile system takes a bit of getting used to, but at heart there’s a systematic logic to it. if you want to do something out of the ordinar, though, it can get quite complex – it’s powerful and flexiblte enough that there are inevitably a lot of options.
The other thing people get hung up on is that although it will take you a long way, there are some things the comple system can’t do: it’s not a fully fledged page layout program and doesn’t try to be, for exampe. If you have complex layout needs, you’re better ofd compiling the text to something that can be read in a dedicated page layout program.
Is there a particular problem you’re having with it?
It is kind of you to ask. I don’t know if I can explain this well. I’m preparing a professional development workshop on AI. I have three sessions. I was trying to use Scrivener because the outlining feature and binder are outstanding for creating the flow of a project like this or any long article. But when I try to compile, I either end up with just headings or no text or some heading and some text, but not a complete manuscript. I know this is my problem, not Scrivener’s. I currently have my book in Scrivener and Ulysses. I’ll finish the book in Scrivener and cross the bridge on how to compile it when the second draft is finished. That said, I like to use it for multi-session workshops and larger, more complex projects, but for the life of me, I can’t get compile to work for me.
Below is a screenshot of what I was attempting. I gave up because I could not get a compiled document that I could use as my presentation notes. I went to Pages to do the work.
