Scrivener [Paid] 2013-09-14

A cleanly trim word processor with organizational tools for the writer.

  1. Komposten

    Komposten Insanitary pile of rotten fruit Contributor

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    Yeah, the compilation tool in Scrivener is quite powerful, and fast (though I have never run it on anything novel-length). :)
     
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  2. Bakkerbaard

    Bakkerbaard Contributor Contributor

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    Eh. With my track record, I probably won't either. ;o)
     
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  3. Bakkerbaard

    Bakkerbaard Contributor Contributor

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    Hey, so I was writing in a Google Doc last night, since for now that suits my work method a little better, but I am keeping a shadow project of it in Scrivener.
    When I selected the whole thing, about five hundred words or so, and went to copy it into a Scrivener page, it put the complete writing on one line (as in: no line breaks or enters) and treated it like a hyperlink. Or at least, blue underlined text. I didn't see if I could click it.
    I only got the whole thing to look proper after pasting the Doc contents into wordpas and pasting that into Scrivener.
    Ofcourse, then you have to go through it again to redo italics and indents, since plain text formats don't hold that information. I mean, my stuff can do with the review, but it might not always be what I want to do at 6am.

    Sound familiar?
     
  4. Martin Beerbom

    Martin Beerbom Senior Member

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    If I want to preserve formatting, I avoid copy'n'paste. The probability of getting messy is too high for me. I could start diagnosing why it doesn't work in your case, but frankly, I feel there are too many variables.

    The way that works much safer is: In google docs, go to "File: Download: Rich Text Format (.rtf)". Saves an .rtf file locally, same way it would save any file you download with your browser. .rtf because it's the native text file format of Scrivener. Then open that file in Scrivener (say, by dragging it from your download location in Finder/Windows Explorer to Scrivener, or by using "File: Import: Files..." in Scrivener.)
     
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  5. grecong

    grecong New Member

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    I just bought a $1 two week trial for autcrit any thoughts? Does scrivner have some of the same tools on top of it's organizational tools?
     
  6. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    i found autocrit was crap - it gave lots of false positives and some stuff that was plain wrong.

    scrivener only has a basic spell checker much like word's... of the auto aids i find Pro Writers Aid the best of the big three (the other being grammarly) but none of them replace a human proof reader
     
  7. J.D. Ray

    J.D. Ray Member Supporter Contributor

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    I sent a feature request to Scrivener recently. The reply said they liked the suggestion, but the fact that the software relied on the host platform OS's spell check system meant that they thought the implementation of my request. I offered to write the code for them, but they apparently aren't interested. :rolleyes: The point is that the spell check seems to be platform-dependent.
     
  8. Bakkerbaard

    Bakkerbaard Contributor Contributor

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    There doesn't seem to be an Android version of Scrivener, so is there an alternative?
    I'm working on this crap Chromebook I got on a whim and it doesn't really do anything, which I was aware of, but since I work in Google Docs it does exactly what I got it for and the keyboard fits my fingers like, err... well, a glove. Like worn in boots, you know?
    I've got a Windows laptop lying just out of reach here, so I could run Scrivener on that of course, but the keyboard's just... less.
     
  9. GrahamLewis

    GrahamLewis Seeking the bigger self Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Contest Winner 2022

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    Okay, I have the trial version, but it sure seems complex on first read. Does it become easy after some use, or am I just too old to learn this new trick?
     
  10. Mark Burton

    Mark Burton Fried Egghead Contributor

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    Yes, there's an alternative. You can use the free software, yWriter, although the Android version isn't completely free ($6).
     
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  11. Steerpike

    Steerpike Felis amatus Contributor

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    There's another thread on SmartEdit writer, which is something similar for Windows that is free to use. https://www.smart-edit.com/Writer/

    For the Chromebook, there are a number of online writing services that are organizationally similar to Scrivener. I think they all require subscriptions, though.
     
  12. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    you can install linux on a chrome book with crouton so you can switch between OS's without rebooting, and there's a linux version of scrivener
     
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  13. Steerpike

    Steerpike Felis amatus Contributor

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    Good point. I found that it worked surprisingly well when I had a Chromebook and did this (though it has been a few years now).
     
  14. Bakkerbaard

    Bakkerbaard Contributor Contributor

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    Had a brief look at yWriter and quickly decided that Scrivener was the superior one. Next lull in writing inspiration I'll have a more in-depth look.

    I recognized all those words individually. Yay.

    Seriously, though. I doubt I can get my chromebook to perform tricks like that. I bought it on a whim and budget, just to see what a chromebook did, so it's not exactly a performance machine.
    Besides, having just compiled a manuscript (that's already outdated again) on the Windows laptop, I doubt I'll get myself to fiddle with setting up OS's.
    I'm that workaround kind of guy.

    Thanks though.
     
  15. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    Bakkerbaard likes this.
  16. Komposten

    Komposten Insanitary pile of rotten fruit Contributor

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    Scrivener has a lot of features and a long interactive guide that walks the user through most of them. It can be a bit scary at first, but you don't need to learn everything. Just focus on the things in the tutorial that sound like they might be useful for you, and ignore the rest of the features (or remove them from the interface completely; Scrivener is very flexible). :)
     
  17. GrahamLewis

    GrahamLewis Seeking the bigger self Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Contest Winner 2022

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    Yeah, so I'm slowly discovering. But right now I'm still at the point at which sometimes things disappear or that once-intuitive steps don't work and I have to go back to the manual or tutorial, but I can see and feel how good it can be. I did buy it and am trying to write a short story solely on it.
     

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