Veronica K. B. Olsen
329 lines
15 KiB
ReStructuredText
329 lines
15 KiB
ReStructuredText
.. _a_proj:
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**************
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Novel Projects
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**************
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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_tech` for further details on how files are organised.
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A new project can be created from the :guilabel:`Project` menu by selecting
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:guilabel:`New Project`. This will open the :guilabel:`New Project Wizard` that will assist you in
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creating a barebone project suited to your needs.
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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.
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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 core novel documents go into a root folder of type :guilabel:`Novel`. Other supporting
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documents go into the other root folders. These other root folder types are intended for your notes
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on the various 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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:guilabel:`Create Root Folder` in the :guilabel:`Project` menu.
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The root folders are intended for the following use, but aside from the :guilabel:`Novel` folder,
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no restrictions are enforced by the application. You can use them however you want.
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:guilabel:`Novel`
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This is the root folder of all text that goes into the final novel. This class of documents have
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other rules and features than other documents in the project. 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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dummy 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 one wants 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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.. tip::
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You can rename root folders to whatever you want. The first character in the :guilabel:`Flags`
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column in the project tree will still indicate what type they are, and so will the icon if you
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are using one of the optional icon sets.
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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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Folders and root folders can only be deleted when they are empty. Recursive deletion is not
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supported. A document or a folder can be deleted from the :guilabel:`Project` menu, or by pressing
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:kbd:`Ctrl`:kbd:`Del`.
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.. _a_proj_roots_out:
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Archived Documents (Outtakes)
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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:`Outtakes`
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root folder from the :guilabel:`Project` menu. You are not allowed to move folders to this root
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folder, only documents. If you need folders in it to organise your documents, you can of course
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create new ones there.
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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 gives 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 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 use folders to sort your scene documents into chapters. You will still need to add a
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chapter document as the first item of your chapter folder, and the scene documents as the
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following items.
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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 :guilabel:`Document` menu, or by pressing :kbd:`Ctrl`:kbd:`N`
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while in the project tree. This will create a new, empty document, and open the :guilabel:`Item
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Settings` dialog where the document label and various other settings can be changed. This dialog
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can also be opened again later from either the :guilabel:`Project` menu, selecting :guilabel:`Edit
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Project Item`, or by pressing :kbd:`Ctrl`:kbd:`E` or :kbd:`F2` with the item selected.
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The layout of the document is also defined here. For Novel documents, the full list of layout
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options are available. For non-Novel documents, only :guilabel:`Note` is available. See
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:ref:`a_struct_layout` for more details.
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You can also select whether the document is by default included when building the project. This
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setting can be overridden in the :guilabel:`Build Novel Project` tool if you wish to include them
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anyway. This is covered in the :ref:`a_export_files` section. You can also toggle the included
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state of a document from the right-click context menu.
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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 tree.
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The word counts are not updated in real time, but run in the background every five 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 title and author settings.
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The :guilabel:`Working Title` can be set to a different title than the :guilabel:`Book Title`. The
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difference between them is simply that the :guilabel:`Working Title` is used for the GUI (main
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window title) and for generating the backup files. The intention is that the :guilabel:`Working
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Title` should remain unchanged throughout the project, otherwise the name of exported files and
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backup files may change too.
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The :guilabel:`Book Title` and :guilabel:`Book Authors` settings are currently not used for
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anything, so setting then is just for the benefit of the author. Future features may be using them,
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and they are exported on some export formats in the :guilabel:`Build Novel Project` tool.
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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 level, signified by a
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coloured icon, and each document or folder of the remaining types can be given an importance level.
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These are colour coded icons and labels that can be applied to each document or folder.
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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 plot. 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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.. 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 exports.
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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 marching 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 entire project folder, and
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are stored in a subfolder of the backup path. The subfolder will have the same name as the project
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:guilabel:`Working Title` set 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 backup for a given project in :guilabel:`Project
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Settings`.
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.. note::
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For the backup to be able to run, the :guilabel:`Working Title` 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. 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`.
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The tool will show a list of all your sessions, and a set of filters to apply to it. You can also
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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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