Migration from Scrivener

[philtate]

I know this topic has been covered, but I have yet to find a clear explanation of how to migrate an existing novel from Scrivener to Storyist. My first attempt let to hundreds of files that couldn't be exported as a single file. Then I merged all my files in Scrivener and exported that way. Storyist now has a single file with the complete novel, but there are no chapter or scene breaks. I found no way to create them, and when I try to add a new file it adds a complete novel template. I'm on the 15 day trial of Storyist, and see it so far as a viable alternative to Scrivener, but migrating existing files appears to be a weak spot. Is there an easy way?

[Steve]

Hi philtate,

 

Welcome to the forums.

 

Chapter breaks are created with heading-level styles. Scrivener doesn't support styles, so the complete novel you exported as RTF doesn't contain them. Not to worry, if you want to keep the current formatting, here's what to do:

1. Import your completed novel by dragging the rtf file to the project view. This will import the novel and, since the RTF file doesn't contain a stylesheet, will add the default stylesheet to the file and assign the "Body Text" style to the text.
2. Update the "Body Text" style definition to match your preferred style. To do this, position the cursor in some body (section) text and choose Format > Style > Redefine Style from Selection.
3. Apply a heading-level style to your chapters. If your chapter titles start with something like "Chapter," you can use the Format > Styles > Apply Styles by Matching Text command to automate the process. If not, you'll want to step through the project and apply the "Heading 1" style manually. After applying the heading-level style, you'll see your chapters in the outline in the project view.
4. Insert section separator characters ("#") between body text sections. Storyist uses the "#" character to delimit sections of body text in the outline.

Note: Step 3 will change the formatting of your chapter titles to match the default. You can then edit the Heading 1 style to match whatever formatting you want by positioning the cursor in some text containing the heading-level style and choosing Format > Style > Edit Current Style. This will change all the text having this style to the new values (which is why styles are useful).

 

If instead you want to reformat your manuscript using the styles from the novel template, try this:

 

1. Import your completed novel by dragging the rtf file to the project view. This will import the novel and, since the RTF file doesn't contain a stylesheet, will add the default stylesheet to the file and assign the "Body Text" style to the text.
2. Change to the Novel stylesheet. To do this, choose Format > Style > Change Stylesheet > Novel Stylesheet. This will allow you to choose which styles to apply to existing styles. Select "Section Text" as the Replacement Style.
3. Apply the Chapter Title style to your chapter titles. Again, if your chapter titles start with something like "Chapter," you can use the Format > Styles > Apply Styles by Matching Text command to automate the process. If not, you'll want to step through the project and apply the "Heading 1" style manually.
4. Insert section separator characters ("#") between body text sections.

Hope this helps. I can always send you a temporary license to extend your trial period. Send me some mail at the support address if you'd like more time to put the software through its paces.

 

-Steve

[philtate]

Thanks. That was a big help. I now have my chapters as they should be, but the scenes don't appear in the project window. In Scrivener, chapters appear as folders, and scenes as separate files within the folder. I would like to be able to drag and drop scenes, but don't yet see how to do it. I've tried changing the style of the # characters to Section Separator, but nothing happens in the project window (the left side of the window). Is this possible? Thanks again.

[philtate]

Update. By editing the Section Separator style to "Heading 1" for Outline Level, I now have all my scenes appearing in the project window as #. I can add names and descriptions to them (and drag and drop to new locations) so I guess I've got what I wanted. Not sure I did it the right way, though. It seems that the section separator style should automatically appear in the outline view.

 

It's also handy in Scrivener to be able to open or close a chapter to make the scenes appear or disappear in the binder. Does Storyist allow such a thing?

[philtate]

Update 2. I've almost got everything the way I want it. Once I clicked "Include body text elements" my scenes appeared in the project outline. I seem to have broken something, though, since chapters (Heading 1 style) no longer appear on a new page. I edited the style for font and size, but can't find anything to control page breaks.

[marguerite]

Hi, Philtate,

Click on one of your chapter headings in the manuscript and choose Format > Style > Edit Current Style. Look to the bottom right corner (above the Preview box) and make sure that there is a check mark next to "Paragraph starts on a new page." Then click OK. That should restore the page breaks before the chapter style.

Best,

Marguerite

[JeremyH]

I'm running into a problem with this. I created a new Novel Stylesheet Text File and copy and pasted a large amount of text from an RTF file. In the styles pain on the right I have the following:

 

Chapter Title

Header

Section Text Separator

Section Text

Default Style.

 

In another text file, which I feel like I created the same way as above, I have the following:

 

Heading 1

Heading 2

Heading 3

Body Text

Default Style

 

I prefer the latter over the former, but am currently unable to change the stylesheet of the imported text to have Headings 1, 2, 3...

Any suggestions?

[Steve]

Hi Jeremy,

 

You can use the Format > Style > Change Stylesheet command to convert your file to use the second stylesheet.

 

-Steve