A novelWriter project requires a dedicated folder for storing its files. See the + Technical Information section for further details.
+A new project can be created from the Project menu by selecting Project > New + Project. A list of recently opened projects is also maintained and can be selected + from the menu.
+The project specific settings are available in Project > Project Settings. See + further details below.
+ + +Projects are structured into a set of root folders in the left side tree view panel.
+The core novel files go into a root folder of type NOVEL. Other supporting files + go into root folders of types PLOT, CHARACTER, WORLD, + TIMELINE, OBJECT or CUSTOM. These other root folder + types are intended for your notes on the various elements of your story. Using these are of + course entirely optional.
+Deleted files will be moved into a special TRASH root folder. Currently, these + files cannot be permanently deleted from the project.
+ +In the event the editor crashes or otherwise exits without saving the project state, files + that have been added to the project tree and are saved to disk will appear in a special + "Orphaned Items" root folder next time the application is started. These orphaned files will + not have any meta data associated with them, so the title and other information has to be + set again, and the files moved back to the correct location in the project.
+ +Folders, aside from root folders, have no structural significance to the project. They are + there purely as a way for the user to organise the files in meaningful sections and to be + able to close them in the tree view. When processing the files in the novel, the folders are + ignored.
+ + +The project settings can be accessed from the Project > Project Settings menu + entry. This will open a dialog box.
+ +The Settings tab holds the project title and author settings. Working Title can be + set to a different title than the Book Title. The difference between them is simply + that the Working Title is used for the GUI (main window title) and when the export features + are added can optionally be printed to the cover sheet. The Book Title, on the other hand, + will only be printed to the title page on export.
+The Book Authors text box takes one author per line. The line breaks matter in that + this is converted to a list for later correct formatting.
+ +Each file of type NOVEL can be given a status level, signified by a coloured + icon. These are purely there for the user's convenience, and you are not required to use + them for any other feature to work. The intention is to use this list to set what stage of + writing you are on, although you can in principle make them whatever you want.
+Note that status levels currently in use by a file cannot be deleted.
+ +Each file of types PLOT, CHARACTER, WORLD, + TIMELINE, OBJECT or CUSTOM can be given an importance + level, signified by a coloured icon like for status level. These are also purely there for + the user's convenience, and you are not required to use them for any other feature to work. + The intention is to use this list to set how important the character, plot element, or + otherwise, is for the story. Again, these can in principle be used for whatever you want. +
Note that importance levels currently in use by a file cannot be deleted.
+ +A set of automatically replaced keywords can be added in this tab. The keywords in the left + column wile be replaced by the text in the right column when documents are opened in the + viewer. This will also be applied to exports when the feature is added.
+Note that a keyword cannot contain any spaces. The angle brackets are dded by default, and + when used in the text are a part of the keyword to be replaced. This is to ensure that parts + of the text isn't unintentionally replaced by the content of the list.
+ + +New document files can be created from the Document menu, or by pressing Ctrl+N + while in the tree view pane. This will create a new, empty file, and open the item settings + dialog where the filename and various other settings can be set. This dialog can also be + opened again later from either the menu, Project > Edit item, or by pressing + Ctrl+E or F2 with the item selected.
+The different classes of documents have some restrictions.
+ + +Files that exist under the NOVEL type root folder can have a number of layouts + set. See overview below. These layouts are currently not used for any internal feature, but + when the export feature is added they will be important in determining how the different + sections of the novel is formatted.
+| Title Page | +The title page layout. The title should be formatted as a heading of level 1, that + is one hash: # Book Title | +
| Book | +In principle, the entire novel can be contained in a single file. In that case, use + the Book layout on this file. The internal structure is then controlled by the + heading levels. | +
| Plain Page | +A plain page is just that, It is not included into content and the heading levels + are ignored. | +
| Partition | +A partition can be used to split a the novel into parts. Use a level one heading for + this. | +
All features are available as keyboard shortcuts. These are as following:
+| Ctrl+1 | +Switch focus to tree view pane. | +
| Ctrl+2 | +Switch focus to document editor pane. | +
| Ctrl+3 | +Switch focus to document viewer pane. | +
| Return | +If in tree view, open a document for editing. | +
| Ctrl+R | +If in tree view, open a document for viewing. If in editor pane, open current document for viewing. | +
| Ctrl+E | +If in tree view, edit a document or folder settings. | +
| Ctrl+Del | +If in tree view, move a document to trash, or delete a folder. | +
| Ctrl+S | +Save the current document in the editor. | +
| Ctrl+Shift+S | +Save the current project. | +
| Ctrl+A | +Select all text in document. | +
| Ctrl+Shift+A | +Select all text in current paragraph. | +
| Ctrl+B | +Format selected text, or word under cursor, as bold. | +
| Ctrl+I | +Format selected text, or word under cursor, as italic. | +
| Ctrl+U | +Format selected text, or word under cursor, as underline. | +
| Ctrl+D | +Wrap selected text, or word under cursor, in double quotes. | +
| Ctrl+Shift+D | +Wrap selected text, or word under cursor, in single quotes. | +
| Ctrl+F7 | +Toggle spell checking. | +
| F7 | +Re-run spell checker. | +
| Ctrl+. | +Correct word under cursor. | +
This section contains details of how novelWriter stores and handles the project data.
+ + +The project itself requires a dedicated folder for storing its files. The main project file + is stored as an XML file with the name nwProject.nwx. This file contains all + the meta data unique for the project. That includes project settings.
+If this file is lost or corrupted, the structure of the project is lost. It is important to + keep this file backed up.
+The project XML file is suitable for diff tools and version control, although a timesetamp is + set in the meta section on line 2 each time the file is saved.
+ +The project documents are saved in folders staring with data_. Each document has + a file handle taken from the first 13 characters of a SHA256 hash of the system time. the + documents are saved with a folder and filename derived from this hash.
+The reason for this is to avoid issues with file naming conventions and restrictions. The + file name set in the tree view is only saved in the project XML file.
+Each document file contains a plain text version of the text from the editor. The file can in + principle be edited in any text editor, and is suitable for diffing and version control if + so desired.
+