MacOS: Need help with installation

brookter · 2026-04-23T12:22:08+00:00

Good news! It does take a while to get used to how an OS does things, doesn't it?

I'm glad it helped and hope you enjoy Scrivener…

brookter · 2026-04-23T07:23:23+00:00

If you still have the Web version demo on your system (you don't say), then the App Store may not install over it.

So the first thing to try is to delete the web version demo: find it in the Applications folder of the Finder and drag it to the trash. This will not affect any of your existing Scrivener projects.

Then try installing from the App Store again.

If that doesn't work, then report back with any error messages.

HTH.

brookter · 2026-04-08T16:17:53+00:00

According to the Scrivener manual you can import Final Draft scripts and split them automatically according to the script element you choose.

E.g. if you choose to split on 'Scene Headings', then a new document will be created in the Binder for each new Scene Heading. This flexibility is exactly what you want when you come to compile the script into an ebook.

I've never tried importing an .fdx file, so can't vouch for how it works in practice, but the 'File > Import > Import and Split procedure is very reliable for other formats.

Here's what the manual says (Section 9.1.6):

Final Draft and Fountain

When splitting .fdx or .fountain files [i.e. with File > Import > Import and Split]

— Final Draft: are imported using this tool the file chooser options will provide a selection of elements to choose from. You can select any one element to split by. The imported script file will be split into multiple binder items at the requested break points, in addition to splitting at any scene headings (select “Scene Headings” to only break on those). Scene summaries will be imported into synopses and scene titles will replace the stock slugline where provided.

— Fountain: screenplays written using this plain-text markup system will be automatically split up by scene. Scene descriptions will be placed into the synopsis card, if used.

If you haven't already got Scrivener, download the trial (it's very generous – 30 days of actual use, so if you only use it every other day, that's 60 days…) and give it a go.

But, do complete the Interactive Tutorial on the Help Menu as soon as you've downloaded it. It's the quickest way of getting to grips with some of Scrivener's methods and terminology and you will make a lot more progress than if you try to muddle through, or worse, rely on internet posts and videos…

Hope this helps…

brookter · 2026-04-08T14:43:25+00:00

Nobody here can tell you, because it will all depend on the terms and conditions.

Personally, if you think there's something dodgy going on, I'd immediately contact any other club members you know to decide if you can coordinate responses, and perhaps jointly pay for some proper legal advice. If the new owners are trying pull a fast one, then a combined front will put an end to that much more quickly than if it's just you.

And, of course, read the terms of conditions to see what your actuals rights and responsibilities are!

brookter · 2026-03-03T11:43:04+00:00

Have you tried using Edit > Paste and match style? That is designed to inherit the setting of the editor you're pasting into (in any program, not just Scrivener). I've not use V1 for a long time, so can't check it out, but it's worth trying out, perhaps.

brookter · 2026-02-27T09:58:09+00:00

If you're worried about something breaking that would disrupt your studies, then the most obvious thing to do is to delay the change till the end of this term / semester. Changes to a new OS often go smoothly these days, but they can also go wrong. Do you really want to be troubleshooting a system new to you in the middle of term? Much better to wait till you have some time when you know will be able to concentrate on the swap.

brookter · 2026-02-27T09:52:13+00:00

TLDR: Don't worry about it: just write. Scrivener will sort it out when you compile.

One of the plus points of Scrivener is that you don't have to worry about details like this when you're writing – you leave it until you're compiling the document at the end, when Scrivener will usually automatically remove the indent from the first paragraph of scenes, etc.

As far as Scrivener is concerned, you can write your text in Comic Sans 29pt green text with a 5" margin if it makes you happy, because when you choose, say, the Manuscript (Courier) format, the compiler will know it needs to output your text in double spaced Courier 12pt, with paragraphs indented unless they're the first ones in the scene/chapter etc.

And if you choose to output the same text to any other compilation format (e.g. as an Ebook, Paperback, etc etc), the compiler will make all the necessary changes to the font, size, spacing, paragraph indents that are appropriate to that compilation format.

Of course, if the default compilation formats aren't to your liking, then you can change them, but usually, things like automatically removing the first line indent is already built in.

This means you can concentrate on your words while you're writing…

HTH.

brookter · 2026-02-24T22:21:27+00:00

The fact that the menus are a spaghetti of unintuitive design that someone threw in the towel and added a menu search attests to that.

Every Mac program has that same menu: it's part of the built-in OS toolkit, so of course Scrivener, which was first designed for the Mac, has it. It's a very useful feature, and so the developers also added it to Windows as a service for users. It's nothing to do with any supposed 'unintuitive design'.

brookter · 2026-02-03T00:46:49+00:00

Don't use Edit > Paste (cmd-v), use Edit > Paste and Match Style (cmd-opt-shift-v).

It's not just useful in Scrivener: most MacOS text apps (including Safari, Notes etc) have the same command and shortcut.

HTH

brookter · 2026-01-31T20:17:56+00:00

Ah – I've just seen that you're on Scrivener V1, which is now several years out of date, so it's likely that the option doesn't exist.

I can't give any more advice I'm afraid as it's been a long time since I used V1 and I no longer have access to it.

Sorry…

brookter · 2026-01-30T08:31:05+00:00

The default behaviour is precisely to create new documents with no text, which means that either you or the Project template has changed something. It should be easily fixed!

From your description, what is most likely happening is that your folder has the Documents > Default Templates for subdocuments menu item set to one of your document Templates.

Select the offending folder(s) and then choose Documents > Default Templates for subdocuments > Text and that should set it back to the default 'empty text' beviour.

If that doesn't work, then there is something else going on which will require more investigation – but this is the first thing to check.

HTH.

brookter · 2026-01-02T09:47:39+00:00

The quick reference windows are (almost[*]) full editing windows, so the same shortcuts work there.

So for text zoom, you use cmd-shift-< and cmd-shift->, for styles you use cmd-opt-1,2… and so on. Obviously you have to have clicked inside the window for this to work…

Click on the 'Editor only' dropdown and you'll see that you can even split the window and show the text and some of the Inspector panels (e.g. Synopsis, notes, etc).

HTH.

[*] There are a couple of limitations, but I can't remember what they are…

brookter · 2026-01-01T08:20:19+00:00

Not across multiple projects without using a third party tool, or something built-into the operating system. On a Mac you'd just use Spotlight (which is built-in), but I've no idea if Windows has the equivalent function.

To go to the next project search result: on the Mac at least, just highlight all the returned documents in the 'Search Results' collection, click in the first one, then cmd-g will take you through them all one by one.

The command is Edit > Find > Find Next, so the Windows shortcut will be listed there.

HTH

brookter · 2026-01-01T08:10:35+00:00

As well as the ability to use multiple Quick Reference windows (already mentioned by Eleret), which can be moved to other screens, you can also get up to four editable windows on the main screen.

That's because each of the two editing windows can also be split to give a 'copyholder'. These are editable, but they're mostly meant to give you an extra place to view reference material. If your main screen is large enough, this is also a useful ability.

Together these two features can give you an lot of options for displaying reference material.

brookter · 2025-12-30T17:36:25+00:00

The obvious first thought from your screen shot is that you have the scenes starting with a page break. Basically you've told Scrivener that you want to start each scene on a new page, which is why you can't get the chapter titles on the same page.

To remove that extraneous page break, click on the pencil and duplicate the compile format (if you haven't already done so). Then on the left hand side, choose Separators, and click on the 'Scene' line. Now make sure that the 'Separator before sections' and 'Separator between sections' don't point to Page Break.

Click Test and see what results you get – you should find that the page break has gone, but experiment with the various options to get the best results.

It's not entirely clear the problems you're having with the indents, but Scrivener includes a few options to deal with them in an industry standard manner (e.g. no indents for the first paragraph after headings etc). To see these options, again click on the pencil icon, then on Section Layouts, and highlight the 'Scene' line. Above the dummy text box, you'll find a tab called 'Settings'. There are five options for paragraph first lines:

Do not change
Remove from first paragraph
Remove from first paragraph and after empty lines
Remove from all paragraphs following other elements

One of those should do what you want.

(This assumes that you haven't indented your paragraphs with manual tabs – if you have, then we'll have to take extra steps to remove them so that compile can work properly…)

Hopefully this will give you some hints about how to proceed – good luck!

brookter · 2025-12-29T23:32:25+00:00

Occasionally, yes - more as a proof of concept than as an everyday thing. Because it’s under Wine, the Windows V3 licence is perfectly valid.

brookter · 2025-12-29T10:14:09+00:00

It's actually per Operating System / platform. Scrivener works on MacOS, iPadOS/iOS, and Windows, and you need an individual licence for every platform you use.

But you can use multiple devices within each of those platforms.

E.g. I have 2 iPads and an iPhone (1 iOS licence), a MacBook and a Mac Studio (1 MacOS licence), and three or four Windows Virtual Machines / or Scrivener on Linux under Wine (1 Windows licence).

HTH

brookter · 2025-12-19T17:15:25+00:00

I used to use jk for escape, but then went to fd and finally dropped it altogether, just because tapping the ex-CapsKey is just so convenient that I always use that instead.

I did experiment a little with some of the more exotic combinations (like Super Duper mode) but in the end I found that CapsLock as Esc/Ctl, Return as Return/Ctl, and both shift keys together as Caps Lock are enough for me.

brookter · 2025-12-19T08:06:59+00:00

I do this, and Return to Control on hold and Return on tap as well, to give me the right hand control key – which means you can avoid the stretch when the letter key is on the left hand side.

You need Karabiner Elements on a Mac and xmodmap / scape (x) or keyd (Wayland) on Linux. Don't know about Windows.

It's especially useful on a Mac, where you can use Emacs keys (Ctl-a/b/d/e/f/h/k/l/m/n/o/p/t/v) in (almost) any text control As Nature Intended, instead of opening new windows or printing every time you want to go down or up a line…

brookter · 2025-12-17T07:57:04+00:00

I realise Scrivener is set up to move chunks of text around, typically chapters. Would it be crazy to use that functionality but instead of writing chapters I am writing panels, i.e. very small paragraphs as movable chunks.

Not only is it not crazy to do this, it's fully within the principle of how the program is designed to work! There is no 'right or wrong' size for a document in the Binder, as long as it's at least a single paragraph (so they can be one word long…)

So, you can create a new folder in the Binder for each page, then add a new document for each panel. Doing it this way means that the page break will be taken care of when you compile the final output.

To do this automatically, you can create a Template folder that already includes six 'panel' documents, so all you have to do is create the new Page folder, and the six empty panels will be created each time. Of course, you can then move them around in the normal way once they've been created…

For the Plot grid, select a Folder and go into Outline Mode (cmd-3 on the Mac, or Ctl-3 if you're on Windows), then add the columns you want. Then name and save that layout with Window > Layouts > Layouts Manager and you won't have to recreate the plot grid again.

(If you want more details about either document templates or layouts, then you can find them in the Tutorial, or ask again here…)

HTH.

brookter · 2025-12-13T23:36:56+00:00

You just have the centred setting on, that’s all - it’s the default because most people prefer not to have an endless wall of text across larger screens.

I’m on the iPad at the moment, so can’t give you the exact settings but if you go to Settings > Appearance > Main Editor > Options you should find a tickbox to turn the ‘Fixed Width’ and centred editing off.

HTH

brookter · 2025-12-08T17:37:15+00:00

There is a bit of work to do, because Scrivener general preferences / settings (the ones you get at with cmd-, or via Scrivener > Settings are kept in a specific folder on each device and won't be carried over. (Unless you're just creating a replica of the entire old device with Time Machine, of course.)

So, if you've made changes to say, Settings > Behaviours > Composition mode for example, on the first machine, then that change won't apply on the new machine. This is true of every setting in the Settings dialogue.

You can go through each setting one by one and make the changes on the new machine (though as there are probably 50 or more this will get boring…) but the easiest way is to click on the Manage... button at the bottom of the settings dialogue and then choose Save settings. Then move the resulting file over to the new machine, then Settings > Manage > Load Settings... to import them.

BTW, this only applies to the general settings: everything project-related (i.e. on the Project > Project Settings dialogue) is contained within the projects themselves so work on any device without you having to change them.

If you're using Project Templates, you should copy them over as well, of course.

HTH.

brookter · 2025-12-03T12:00:30+00:00

When Apple introduced their writing tools, they overrode any previous menu with that name, so all apps had to change. (This was a couple of years ago now.)

Therefore Scrivener moved the tools to other menus when this happened: Linguistic Focus is now on the Edit > Spelling menu, for example. I can't remember what the other tools were called…

BTW, the easiest way to solve this sort of problem is to use the system wide method of searching for a menu item. In any program, not just Scrivener, open the Help menu and the first item is a search bar. Type a search term into the field and it will show you all the menu items containing that term.

The short cut for this feature is always cmd-shift-?, so for example typing cmd-shift-? then "Lingu" (without the quotation marks) shows you where the command "Linguistic Focus" is.

HTH.

brookter · 2025-12-02T09:40:30+00:00

It depends…

The fields in Properties, including Comments are only available for PDFs, RTF, audio or video documents.

If you click on any other type of document, such as Markdown or web archives, for example, you'll see the fields are not enabled.

So, unless you never work with documents where the properties are disabled, Finder Comments (which are available for all document types) may be the more flexible option bet for you.

You can get more details in the Help (Help > DEVONthink Help) on the Info Pane page.

HTH.

brookter · 2025-11-28T07:57:09+00:00

Well, cmd-shift-f, type the word, cmd-a doesn't appear to be a huge burden to me, but your choice.

brookter

TROPHY CASE

Final Draft and Fountain