Update the introduction section
This commit is contained in:
Veronica Berglyd Olsen
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@@ -17,14 +17,12 @@ storage for robustness.
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:width: 500
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The project storage is suitable for version control software, and also well suited for file
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synchronisation tools. All text is saved as plain text files with a meta data header. The core
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project structure is stored in a single project XML file. Other meta data is saved as JSON files.
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See the :ref:`a_breakdown_storage` section for more details.
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synchronisation tools. All text is saved as plain text files, and your project data as standard
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data formats in XML and JSON. See :ref:`a_tech_overview` for more details.
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Any operating system that can run Python 3 and has the Qt 5 libraries should be able to run
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novelWriter. It runs fine on Linux, Windows and MacOS, and users have tested it on other platforms
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as well. novelWriter can be run directly from the Python source, or installed from packages or with
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pip. See :ref:`a_started` for more details.
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Any operating system that has Python 3 and the Qt 5 libraries should be able to run novelWriter.
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It runs fine on Linux, Windows and MacOS, and users have tested it on other platforms as well.
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See :ref:`a_started` for more details.
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**Useful Links**
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@@ -53,7 +51,6 @@ pip. See :ref:`a_started` for more details.
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int_overview
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int_started
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int_howto
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int_customise
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int_glossary
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.. toctree::
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@@ -83,6 +80,7 @@ pip. See :ref:`a_started` for more details.
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:caption: Additional Details
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:hidden:
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more_customise
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more_projectformat
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more_counting
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@@ -91,6 +89,7 @@ pip. See :ref:`a_started` for more details.
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:caption: Technical Topics
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:hidden:
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tech_overview
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tech_locations
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tech_storage
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tech_source
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@@ -19,9 +19,9 @@ Managing the Project
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.. dropdown:: Merge Multiple Documents Into One
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:animate: fade-in-slide-down
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If you need to merge a set of documents in your project into a single document, you can achieve
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this by first making a new folder for just that purpose, and drag all the files you want merged
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into this folder. Then you can right click the folder, select :guilabel:`Transform` and
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If you need to merge a selection of documents in your project into a single document, you can
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achieve this by first making a new folder for just that purpose, and drag all the files you want
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merged into this folder. Then you can right click the folder, select :guilabel:`Transform` and
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:guilabel:`Merge Documents in Folder`.
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In the dialog that pops up, the documents will be in the same order as in the folder, but you
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@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ Layout Tricks
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The formatting tools available in novelWriter don't allow for complex structures like tables.
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However, the editor does render tabs in a similar way that regular word processors do. You can
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set the width of a tab in :guilabel:`Preferences`.
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set the width of a tab in **Preferences**.
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The tab key should have the same distance in the editor as in the viewer, so you can align text
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in columns using the tab key, and it should look the same when viewed next to the editor.
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@@ -66,18 +66,13 @@ Organising Your Text
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Depending on your writing style, you may need to separate between soft and hard scene breaks
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within chapters. Like for instance if you switch point-of-view character often.
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In such cases you may want to use a scene heading for hard scene breaks and a section heading
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for soft scene breaks. The :guilabel:`Build Manuscript` tool will let you add separate
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formatting for the two when you generate your manuscript. You can for instance add the common
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"``* * *``" for hard breaks and select to hide section breaks, which will just insert an empty
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paragraph in their place. See :ref:`a_manuscript_settings` for more details.
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Keep in mind that this is not what the section heading is intended for, so the app will not
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understand the section heading as a scene, but it will be formatted correctly in the manuscript.
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In such cases you may want to use different scene headings for hard and soft scene breaks. The
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**Build Manuscript** tool will let you define a different format for scenes using the ``###``
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and ``###!`` heading codes when you generate your manuscript. You can for instance add the
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common "``* * *``" for hard breaks and select to soft scene breaks, which will just insert an
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empty paragraph in their place. See :ref:`a_manuscript_settings` for more details.
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.. versionadded:: 2.4
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You can now distinguish between soft and hard scene breaks with a modified scene header. See
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:ref:`a_manuscript_settings_head_hard` for more details.
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Other Tools
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@@ -1,15 +1,21 @@
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.. _a_intro:
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************
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Key Features
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************
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********
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Overview
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********
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.. _Snowflake: https://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/snowflake-method/
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.. _Markdown: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markdown
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At its core, novelWriter is a multi-document plain text editor. It uses a markup syntax inspired by
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Markdown_ to apply simple formatting to the text. It also allows for some extended formatting codes
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using a shortcode format. See :ref:`a_fmt_shortcodes` for more details.
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At its core, novelWriter is a multi-document plain text editor. The idea is to let you edit your
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text without having to deal with formatting until you generate a draft document or manuscript.
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Instead, you can focus on the writing right from the start.
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Of course, you probably need *some* formatting for your text. At the very least you need emphasis.
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Most people are familiar with adding emphasis using underscores and asterisks. This formatting
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standard comes from Markdown_ and is supported by novelWriter. It also uses Markdown formatting for
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defining document headings. If you need more specialised formatting, additional formatting options
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are available using a shortcode format. See :ref:`a_fmt_shortcodes` for more details.
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.. admonition:: Limitations
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@@ -17,22 +23,28 @@ using a shortcode format. See :ref:`a_fmt_shortcodes` for more details.
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those relevant for this purpose. It is **not** suitable for technical writing, and it is **not**
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a full-featured Markdown editor.
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It is also not intended as a tool to organise research for writing, and therefore lacks
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It is also not intended as a tool for organising research for writing, and therefore lacks
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formatting features you may need for this purpose. The notes feature in novelWriter is mainly
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intended for character profiles and plot outlines.
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Your novel project is organised as a collection of separate plain text documents instead of a
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single, large document. The idea is to make it easier to reorganise your project structure without
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having to cut and paste text between chapters.
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Your novel project in novelWriter is organised as a collection of separate plain text documents
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instead of a single, large document. The idea is to make it easier to reorganise your project
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structure without having to cut and paste text between chapters and scenes.
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There are two kinds of documents in your project: :term:`Novel Documents` are documents that are
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part of your story. The other kind of documents are :term:`Project Notes`. These are intended for
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your notes about your characters, your world building, and so on.
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You can at any point split the individual documents by their headings up into multiple documents,
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or merge multiple documents into single documents. This makes it easier to use variations of the
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or merge multiple documents into a single document. This makes it easier to use variations of the
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Snowflake_ method for writing. You can start by writing larger structure-focused documents, like
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one per act for instance, and later effortlessly split these up into chapters or scenes.
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for instance one document per act, and later effortlessly split these up into chapters or scenes.
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.. _a_intro_features:
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Key Features
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============
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Below are some key features of novelWriter.
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@@ -40,12 +52,12 @@ Below are some key features of novelWriter.
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The aim of the user interface is to let you focus on writing instead of spending time formatting
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text. Formatting is therefore limited to a small set of formatting tags for simple things like
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text emphasis and paragraph alignment. When you really want to focus on just writing, you can
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switch the editor into :guilabel:`Focus Mode` where only the text editor panel itself is
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visible, and the project structure view is hidden away.
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switch the editor into **Focus Mode** where only the text editor panel itself is visible, and
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the project structure view is hidden away.
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**Keep an eye on your notes**
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The main window can optionally show a document viewer to the right of the editor. This view
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panel is intended for displaying another scene document, your character notes, plot notes, or any
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The main window can optionally show a document viewer to the right of the editor. The viewer
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is intended for displaying another scene document, your character notes, plot notes, or any
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other document you may need to reference while writing. It is not intended as a preview panel
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for the document you're editing, but if you wish, you can also use it for this purpose.
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@@ -58,32 +70,35 @@ Below are some key features of novelWriter.
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later split them into multiple documents based on chapter and scene headings.
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**Multi-novel project support**
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You can have multiple Novel type root folders in a project. This allows you to keep a series of
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individual novels with the same characters and world building in the same project, and create
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manuscripts for them individually.
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The main parts of your project is split up into top level special folders called "Root" folders.
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Your main story text lives in the "Novel" root folder. You can have multiple such folders in a
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project. This allows you to keep a series of individual novels with the same characters and
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world building in the same project, and create manuscripts for them individually.
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**Keep track of your story elements**
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All notes in your project can be assigned a :term:`tag` that you can :term:`reference` from any
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other document or note. In fact, you can add a new tag under each heading of a note if you need
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to be able to reference specific sections of it.
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All notes in your project can be assigned a :term:`tag` that you can then :term:`reference` from
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any other document or note. In fact, you can add a new tag under each heading of a note if you
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need to be able to reference specific sections of it.
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**Get an overview of your story**
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In the :guilabel:`Outline View` on the main window you can see an outline of all the chapters,
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scenes, and sections of your project. If they have any references in them, these are listed in
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additional columns. You can also add a synopsis to each chapter or scene, which can be listed
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here as well. You have the option to add or remove columns of information from this outline. A
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subset of the outline information is also available in the :guilabel:`Novel View` as an
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alternative view to the project tree.
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It is not the documents themselves that define the chapters and scenes of your story, but the
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headings that separate them. In the **Outline View** on the main window you can see an outline
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of all the chapter and scene headings of your project. If they have any references in them, like
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which character is in what chapter and scene, these are listed in additional columns.
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You can also add a synopsis to each chapter or scene, which can be listed here as well. You have
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the option to add or remove columns of information from this outline. A subset of the outline
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information is also available in the **Novel View** as an alternative view to the project tree.
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**Get an overview of your story elements**
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Under the document viewer panel you will find a series of tabs that shows the different story
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elements you have created tags for. The tabs are sorted into Characters, Plots, etc, depending
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on which categories you are using in your story. This panel can be hidden to free up space when
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you don't need it.
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Under the document viewer panel you will find a series of tabs that show the different story
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elements you have created tags for. The tabs are sorted into **Characters**, **Plots**, etc,
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depending on which categories you are using in your story. This panel can be hidden to free up
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space when you don't need it.
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**Assembling your manuscript**
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Whether you want to assemble a manuscript, or export all your notes, or generate an outline of
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your chapters and scenes with a synopsis, you can use the :guilabel:`Build Manuscript` tool to
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your chapters and scenes with a synopsis included, you can use the **Build Manuscript** tool to
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do so. The tool lets you select what information you want to include in the generated document,
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and how it is formatted. You can send the result to a printer, a PDF, or to an Open Document
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file that can be opened by most office type word processors. You can also generate the result
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@@ -95,7 +110,7 @@ Below are some key features of novelWriter.
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Screenshots
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===========
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.. figure:: images/screenshot_default.png
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.. figure:: images/screenshot_light.png
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:class: dark-light
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novelWriter with light colour theme
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@@ -1,28 +1,22 @@
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.. _a_overview:
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.. _a_reading:
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********
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Overview
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********
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******************
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What to Read First
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******************
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.. only:: html
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The documentation of novelWriter is quite extensive. There are a lot of features to get used to,
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but you don't need all of them to get started.
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.. image:: images/python_powered.png
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:align: right
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:width: 220
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The chapters below labelled "Essential Information" are the ones you need to know to use the
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application correctly. By "correctly", it is meant: in a way so novelWriter understands the basic
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structure of your text. It collects a lot of information from your text and uses it to display the
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structure of it in various ways to help you get an overview of your project.
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novelWriter is built as a cross-platform application using `Python 3 <https://www.python.org/>`_ as
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the programming language, and `Qt 5 <https://www.qt.io/>`_ framework for the user interface.
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The chapters labelled "Recommended Reading" includes additional information on how the different
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parts if the application work and what the features do.
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novelWriter is built for Linux first, so this is where it works best. However, it also runs fine
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on Windows and MacOS due to the cross-platform framework it's built on. The author of the
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application doesn't own a Mac, so on-going Mac support is dependent on user feedback and user
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contributions.
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Spell checking in novelWriter is provided by a third party library called
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`Enchant <https://abiword.github.io/enchant/>`_. Please see the section on :ref:`a_custom_dict` for
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how to install spell checking languages.
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For install instructions for novelWriter, see :ref:`a_started`.
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The "Optional" and "Lookup" chapters contain additional information or lookup tables that are not
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essential for using the application.
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Using novelWriter
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@@ -82,8 +76,8 @@ meta data for it to extract.
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the application interface.
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:ref:`a_manuscript` - Recommended Reading
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This chapter explains how the :guilabel:`Manuscript Build` tool works, how you can control the
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way chapter titles are formatted, and how scene and section breaks are handled.
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This chapter explains how the **Manuscript Build** tool works, how you can control the way
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chapter titles are formatted, and how scene and section breaks are handled.
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Additional Details & Technical Topics
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@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
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.. _a_started:
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***************
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Getting Started
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***************
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**********************
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Setup and Installation
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**********************
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.. _Enchant: https://abiword.github.io/enchant/
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.. _GitHub: https://github.com/vkbo/novelWriter
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@@ -15,8 +15,8 @@ Getting Started
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.. _AppImage: https://appimage.org/
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Ready-made packages and installers for novelWriter are available for all major platforms, including
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Linux, Windows and MacOS, from the `Downloads page`_. See below for install instructions for each
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platform.
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Linux, Windows and MacOS, from the `Downloads page`_. See below for install additional instructions
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for each platform.
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You can also install novelWriter from the Python Package Index (PyPi_). See :ref:`a_started_pip`.
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Installing from PyPi does not set up icon launchers, so you will either have to do this yourself,
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@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ multiple installations has been known to cause problems.
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The novelWriter installer is not signed because Microsoft doesn't currently provide a way for
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non-profit open source projects to properly sign their installers. The novelWriter project
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doesn't have the funding to pay for commercial software signing certificates. You will therefore
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see an additional warning about this when you download the installer.
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see an additional warning about this when you download and run the installer.
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.. _a_started_linux:
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@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ A Debian package can be downloaded from the `Downloads page`_, or from the Relea
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GitHub_. This package should work on both Debian, Ubuntu and Linux Mint, at least.
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If you prefer, you can also add the novelWriter repository on Launchpad to your package manager.
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The Launchpad packages `are signed by the author <https://launchpad.net/~vkbo>`__.
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Ubuntu
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@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
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.. _a_tech_overview:
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******************
|
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Technical Overview
|
||||
******************
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
novelWriter is built as a cross-platform application using `Python 3 <https://www.python.org/>`_ as
|
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the programming language, and `Qt 5 <https://www.qt.io/>`_ framework for the user interface.
|
||||
|
||||
novelWriter is built for Linux first, so this is where it works best. However, it also runs fine
|
||||
on Windows and MacOS due to the cross-platform framework it's built on. The author of the
|
||||
application doesn't own a Mac, so on-going Mac support is dependent on user feedback and user
|
||||
contributions.
|
||||
|
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Spell checking in novelWriter is provided by a third party library called
|
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`Enchant <https://abiword.github.io/enchant/>`_. Please see the section on :ref:`a_custom_dict` for
|
||||
how to install spell checking languages.
|
||||
|
||||
For install instructions for novelWriter, see :ref:`a_started`.
|
||||
Reference in New Issue
Block a user