Veronica Berglyd Olsen
120 lines
4.6 KiB
ReStructuredText
120 lines
4.6 KiB
ReStructuredText
.. _a_howto:
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*************
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Tips & Tricks
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*************
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.. _Discussions Page: https://github.com/vkbo/novelWriter/discussions
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This is a list of hopefully helpful little tips on how to get the most out of novelWriter.
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.. note::
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This section will be expanded over time. If you would like to have something added, feel free to
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contribute, or start a discussion on the project's `Discussions Page`_.
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Managing the Project
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====================
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.. dropdown:: Create a Project from a Template
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:animate: fade-in-slide-down
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On the Welcome dialog's **Create New Project** form, you can select to "Prefill Project" from
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the content of a different project. This feature is most useful if you copy a project you have
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dedicated to be a template project. If you have a structure and settings you want to use for
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every new project, this is the best solution.
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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 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 documents you
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want merged into this folder. Then you can right click the folder, select :guilabel:`Transform`
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and :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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can rearrange them here of you wish. See :ref:`a_ui_tree_split_merge` for more details.
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Layout Tricks
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=============
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.. dropdown:: Align Paragraphs with Line Breaks
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:animate: fade-in-slide-down
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If you have line breaks in you paragraphs, and also want to apply additional text alignment or
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indentation, you must apply the alignment tags to the first line.
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For example, this will centre the two lines.
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.. code-block:: md
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>> Line one is centred. <<
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Line two is also centred.
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This text is not centred, because it is a new paragraph.
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See :ref:`a_fmt_align` for more details.
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.. dropdown:: Create a Simple Table
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:animate: fade-in-slide-down
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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 **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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This is most suitable for your notes, as the result in exported documents cannot be guaranteed
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to match. Especially if you don't use the same font in your manuscript as in the editor.
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.. dropdown:: Turn Off First Line Indent for a Paragraph
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:animate: fade-in-slide-down
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If you have first line indent enabled, but have a specific paragraph that you don't want
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indented, you can disable the indentation by explicitly add text alignment. Aligned paragraphs
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are not indented. For instance by adding ``<<`` to the end to left-align it,
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See :ref:`a_fmt_align` for more details.
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Organising Your Text
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====================
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.. dropdown:: Add Introductory Text to Chapters
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:animate: fade-in-slide-down
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Sometimes chapters have a short preface, like a brief piece of text or a quote to set the stage
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before the first scene begins.
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If you add separate files for chapters and scenes, the chapter file is the perfect place to add
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such text. Separating chapter and scene files also allows you to make scene files child
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documents of the chapter.
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.. dropdown:: Distinguishing Soft and Hard Scene Breaks
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:animate: fade-in-slide-down
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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 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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Other Tools
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===========
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.. dropdown:: Convert Project to/from yWriter Format
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:animate: fade-in-slide-down
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There is a tool available that lets you convert a `yWriter <http://spacejock.com/yWriter7.html>`_
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project to a novelWriter project, and vice versa.
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The tool is available at `peter88213.github.io/yw2nw <https://peter88213.github.io/yw2nw/>`__
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