Veronica Berglyd Olsen
362 lines
16 KiB
ReStructuredText
362 lines
16 KiB
ReStructuredText
.. _a_proj:
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**************
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Novel Projects
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**************
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New projects can be created from the :guilabel:`Project` menu by selecting :guilabel:`New Project`.
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This will open the :guilabel:`New Project Wizard` that will assist you in creating a barebone
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project suited to your needs.
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A novelWriter project requires a dedicated folder for storing its files on the local file system.
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See :ref:`a_storage` for further details on how files are organised.
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A list of recently opened projects is maintained, and displayed in the :guilabel:`Open Project`
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dialog. A project can be removed from this list by selecting it and pressing the :kbd:`Del` key or
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by clicking the :guilabel:`Remove` button.
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Project-specific settings are available in :guilabel:`Project Settings` in the :guilabel:`Project`
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menu. See further details below in the :ref:`a_proj_settings` section. Details about the project,
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including word counts, and a table of contents with word and page counts, is available through the
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:guilabel:`Project Details` dialog.
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.. _a_proj_roots:
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Project Roots
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=============
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Projects are structured into a set of top level folders called "Root Folders". They are visible in
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the project tree at the left side of the main window.
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The novel documents go into a root folder of type :guilabel:`Novel`. Project notes go into the
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other root folders. These other root folder types are intended for your notes on the various
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elements of your story. Using them is of course entirely optional.
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A new project may not have all of the root folders present, but you can add the ones you want from
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the project tree tool bar.
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Each root folder has one or more reference keyword associated with it that is used to reference
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them from other documents and notes. The intended usage of each type of root folder is listed
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below. However, aside from the :guilabel:`Novel` folder, no restrictions are applied by the
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application on what you put in them. You can use them however you want.
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.. tip::
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You can make multiple root folders of each kind if you wish to split up your notes.
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.. note::
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It is not the notes themselves that are referenced by the listed reference keywords, but tags
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set within the notes. See the examples below and in :ref:`a_struct_tags`.
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:guilabel:`Novel`
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This is the root folder of all text that goes into the final novel or novels. This class of
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documents have other rules and features than the project notes. See :ref:`a_struct` for more
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details.
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:guilabel:`Plot`
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This is the root folder where main plots can be outlined. It is optional, but adding at least
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brief notes can be useful in order to tag plot elements for the Outline View. Tags in this
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folder can be references using the ``@plot`` keyword.
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:guilabel:`Characters`
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Character notes go in this root folder. These are especially important if you want to use the
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Outline View to see which character appears where, and which part of the story is told from a
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specific character's point-of-view, or focusing on a particular character's storyline. Tags in
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this folder can be referenced using the ``@pov`` keyword for point-of-view characters,
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``@focus`` for a focus character, or the ``@char`` keyword for any other characters.
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:guilabel:`Locations`
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The locations folder is for various scene locations that you want to track. Tags in this folder
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can be references using the ``@location`` keyword.
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:guilabel:`Timeline`
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If the story has multiple plot timelines or jumps in time within the same plot, this class of
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notes can be used to track this. Tags in this folder can be references using the ``@time``
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keyword.
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:guilabel:`Objects`
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Important objects in the story, for instance important objects that change hands often, can be
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tracked here. Tags in this folder can be references using the ``@object`` keyword.
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:guilabel:`Entities`
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Does your plot have many powerful organisations or companies? Or other entities that are part of
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the plot? They can be organised here. Tags in this folder can be references using the
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``@entity`` keyword.
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:guilabel:`Custom`
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The custom root folder can be used for tracking anything else not covered by the above options.
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Tags in this folder can be references using the ``@custom`` keyword.
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The root folders correspond to the categories of tags that can be used to reference them. For more
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information about the tags listed, see :ref:`a_struct_tags`.
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.. note::
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You can rename root folders to whatever you want. However, this doesn't change the reference
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keyword.
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Example of a character note:
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.. code-block:: none
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:linenos:
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# Jane Doe
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@tag: Jane
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Some information about the character Jane Doe.
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Example of a novel scene referencing the above character:
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.. code-block:: none
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:linenos:
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### Chapter 1, Scene 1
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@pov: Jane
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When Jane woke up that morning ...
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.. _a_proj_roots_del:
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Deleted Documents
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-----------------
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Deleted documents will be moved into a special :guilabel:`Trash` root folder. Documents in the
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trash folder can then be deleted permanently, either individually, or by emptying the trash from
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the menu. Documents in the trash folder are removed from the project index and cannot be
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referenced.
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A document or a folder can be deleted from the :guilabel:`Project` menu, or by pressing
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:kbd:`Ctrl`:kbd:`Shift`:kbd:`Del`. Root folders can only be deleted when they are empty.
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.. _a_proj_roots_out:
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Archived Documents
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------------------
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If you don't want to delete a document, or put it in the :guilabel:`Trash` folder where it may be
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deleted, but still want it out of your main project tree, you can create an :guilabel:`Archive`
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root folder.
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You can drag any document to this folder and preserve its settings. The document will always be
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excluded from the :guilabel:`Build Novel Project` builds. It is also removed from the project
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index, so the tags and references defined in it will not show up anywhere else.
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.. _a_proj_roots_orph:
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Recovered Documents
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-------------------
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If novelWriter crashes or otherwise exits without saving the project state, or if you're using a
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file synchronisation tool that runs out of sync, there may be files in the project folder that
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aren't tracked in the core project file. These files, when discovered, are recovered and added back
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into the project if possible.
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The discovered files are scanned for meta information that give clues as to where the document may
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previously have been located in the project. The project loading routines will try to put them back
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as close as possible to this location, if it still exists. Generally, it will be appended to the
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end of the folder where it previously was located. If that folder doesn't exist, it will try to add
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it to the correct root folder. If it cannot figure out which root folder is correct, the document
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will be added to the :guilabel:`Novel` root folder. Only if the :guilabel:`Novel` folder is
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missing will it give up.
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If the title of the document can be recovered, the word "Recovered:" will be added as a prefix. If
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the title cannot be determined, the document will be named "Recovered File N" where N is a
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sequential number.
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.. _a_proj_roots_lock:
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Project Lockfile
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----------------
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To prevent lost documents caused by file conflicts when novelWriter projects are synced with file
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synchronisation tools, a project lockfile is written to the project folder. If you try to open a
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project which has such a file present, you will be presented with a warning, and some information
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about where else novelWriter thinks the project is also open. You will be give the option to ignore
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this warning, and continue opening the project at your own risk.
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.. note::
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If, for some reason, novelWriter crashes, the lock file may remain even if there are no other
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instances keeping the project open. In such a case it is safe to ignore the lock file warning
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when re-opening the project.
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.. warning::
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If you choose to ignore the warning and continue opening the project, and multiple instances of
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the project are in fact open, you are likely to cause inconsistencies and create diverging
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project files, potentially resulting in loss of data and orphaned files. You are not likely to
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lose any actual text unless both instances have the same document open in the editor, and
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novelWriter will try to resolve project inconsistencies the next time you open the project.
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.. _a_proj_roots_dirs:
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Using Folders in the Project Tree
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---------------------------------
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Folders, aside from root folders, have no structural significance to the project. When novelWriter
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is processing the documents in the novel, like for instance during export, these folders are
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ignored. Only the order of the documents themselves matter.
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The folders are there purely as a way for the user to organise the documents in meaningful sections
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and to be able to collapse and hide them in the project tree when you're not working on those
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documents.
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.. tip::
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You can add child documents to other documents. This is particularly useful when you create
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chapters and scenes. If you add separate scene documents, you should also add separate chapter
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documents, even if they only contain a chapter heading. You can then add scene documents as
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child items to the chapters.
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.. _a_proj_files:
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Project Documents
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=================
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New documents can be created from the tool bar in the Project Tree, or by pressing
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:kbd:`Ctrl`:kbd:`N`. This will open the create new item menu and let you choose between a number of
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pre-defined documents and folders. You will be prompted for a label for the new item. You can
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always rename an item by selecting :guilabel:`Rename Item` from the :guilabel:`Project` menu, or by
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pressing :kbd:`F2`.
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Other settings for project items are available from the context menu that you can activate by
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right-clicking on an item in the Project Tree. The :guilabel:`Transform` submenu includes options
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for converting, splitting, or merging items.
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.. _a_proj_files_counts:
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Word Counts
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-----------
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A character, word and paragraph count is maintained for each document, as well as for each section
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of a document following a header. The word count and change of words in the current session is
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displayed in the footer of any document open in the editor, and all stats are shown in the details
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panel below the project tree for any document selected in the project or novel tree.
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The word counts are not updated in real time, but run in the background every few seconds for as
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long as the document is being actively edited.
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A total project word count is displayed in the status bar. The total count depends on the sum of
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the values in the project tree, which again depend on an up to date index. If the counts seem
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wrong, a full project word recount can be initiated by rebuilding the project's index. Either form
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the :guilabel:`Tools` menu, or by pressing :kbd:`F9`.
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.. _a_proj_settings:
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Project Settings
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================
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The :guilabel:`Project Settings` can be accessed from the :guilabel:`Project` menu, or by pressing
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:kbd:`Ctrl`:kbd:`Shift`:kbd:`,`. This will open a dialog box, with a set of tabs.
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Settings Tab
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------------
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The :guilabel:`Settings` tab holds the project name, title, and author settings.
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The :guilabel:`Project Name` can be set to a different value than the :guilabel:`Novel Title`. The
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difference between them is simply that the :guilabel:`Project Name` is used for the GUI (main
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window title) and for generating the backup files. The intention is that the
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:guilabel:`Project Name` should remain unchanged throughout the project's lifetime, otherwise the
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name of exported files and backup files may change too.
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The :guilabel:`Novel Title` and :guilabel:`Authors` settings are used when building the manuscript,
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for some formats.
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If your project is in a different language than your main spell checking is set to, you can
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override the default spell checking language here. You can also override the automatic backup
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setting.
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Status and Importance Tabs
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--------------------------
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Each document or folder of type :guilabel:`Novel` can be given a *Status*_* label accompanied by a
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coloured icon, and each document or folder of the remaining types can be given an *Importance*
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label.
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These are purely there for the user's convenience, and you are not required to use them for any
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other features to work. No other part of novelWriter accesses this information. The intention is to
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use these to indicate at what stage of completion each novel document is, or how important the
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content of a note is to the story. You don't have to use them this way, that's just what they were
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intended for, but you can make them whatever you want.
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See also :ref:`a_ui_tree_status`.
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.. note::
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The status or importance level currently in use by one or more documents cannot be deleted, but
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they can be edited.
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Auto-Replace Tab
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----------------
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A set of automatically replaced keywords can be added in this tab. The keywords in the left column
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will be replaced by the text in the right column when documents are opened in the viewer. They will
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also be applied to manuscript builds.
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The auto-replace feature will replace text in angle brackets that are in this list. The syntax
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highlighter will add an alternate colour to text matching the syntax, but it doesn't check if the
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text is in this list.
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.. note::
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A keyword cannot contain spaces. The angle brackets are added by default, and when used in the
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text are a part of the keyword to be replaced. This is to ensure that parts of the text aren't
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unintentionally replaced by the content of the list.
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.. _a_proj_backup:
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Backup
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======
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An automatic backup system is built into novelWriter. In order to use it, a backup path to where
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the backup files are to be stored must be provided in :guilabel:`Preferences`.
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Backups can be run automatically when a project is closed, which also implies it is run when the
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application itself is closed. Backups are date stamped zip files of the project files in the
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project folder (files not strictly a part of the project are ignored). The zip archives are stored
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in a subfolder of the backup path. The subfolder will have the same name as the
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:guilabel:`Project Name` as defined in :ref:`a_proj_settings`.
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The backup feature, when configured, can also be run manually from the :guilabel:`Tools` menu.
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It is also possible to disable automated backups for a given project in
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:guilabel:`Project Settings`.
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.. note::
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For the backup to be able to run, the :guilabel:`Project Name` must be set in
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:guilabel:`Project Settings`. This value is used to generate the folder name for the zip files.
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Without it, the backup will not run at all, but it will produce a warning message.
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.. _a_proj_stats:
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Writing Statistics
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==================
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When you work on a project, a log file records when you opened it, when you closed it, and the
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total word counts of your novel documents and notes at the end of the session, provided that the
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session lasted either more than 5 minutes, or that the total word count changed. You can view this
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file in the ``meta`` folder in the directory where you saved your project. The file is named
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``sessionStats.log``.
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A tool to view the content of this file is available in the :guilabel:`Tools` menu under
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:guilabel:`Writing Statistics`. You can also launch it by pressing :kbd:`F6`, or find it on the
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Sidebar.
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The tool will show a list of all your sessions, and a set of filters to apply to the data. You can
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also export the filtered data to a JSON file or to a CSV file that can be opened by a spreadsheet
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application like for instance Libre Office Calc.
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As of version 1.2, the log file also stores how much of the session time was spent idle. The
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definition of idle here is that the novelWriter main window loses focus, or the user hasn't made
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any changes to the currently open document in five minutes. The number of minutes can be altered in
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:guilabel:`Preferences`.
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