Moving Groups,Folders, Content, etc. from one project to another

[JimmyMcVideo]

If I'm understanding what is said in this thread correctly, what I'm asking about is impossible: http://storyist.invisionzone.com/index.php/topic/1771-moving-items-in-projects/

 

I just wanted to move Various Groups (folders) and Content (pages) from one Storyist project to another. But it doesn't let me. I try to drag folders over and nothing happens.

 

Well, please let me know if I'm missing something.

 

Thanks,

JMcV

[marguerite]

Not sure exactly what you want to do. If you mean that you want to copy a chapter or section from one manuscript to another within a single project, try Option-drag.

 

If you mean that you have folders shared among manuscripts within a single project (Characters, Settings, Plot, Images), they are available to all manuscripts in the project, no need to copy.

 

If you mean that you want to copy characters, say, from one Storyist file to another, you have several choices:

1. Save the Project as a template (File > Save as Template). Use that as your basis for the new Project. You will find the template in the Chooser that pops up when you open Storyist or choose File > New > Project.

2. Choose File > Export > RTF (RTFD if you have images), click on the files you want, choose where to save them, then drag them into the Project View of the new project. Results are not ideal, but they beat retyping.

3. Save a copy of the file (File > Save as, supply a new name) to use as the basis of the new file.

4. Set up a new sheet in the new file, display the two files side by side, and copy/paste from one to the other.

Best,

Marguerite

[JimmyMcVideo]

Thanks for the quick reply!

 

>If you mean that you want to copy characters, say, from one Storyist file to another, you have several choices:

 

Yes this is what I meant.

 

 

>1. Save the Project as a template (File > Save as Template). Use that as your basis for the new Project. You will find the template in the Chooser that pops up when you open Storyist or choose File > New > Project.

>2. Choose File > Export > RTF (RTFD if you have images), click on the files you want, choose where to save them, then drag them into the Project View of the new project. Results are not ideal, but they beat retyping.

>3. Save a copy of the file (File > Save as, supply a new name) to use as the basis of the new file.

>4. Set up a new sheet in the new file, display the two files side by side, and copy/paste from one to the other.

 

 

What I'm trying to do is essentially combine two Storyist files: The first is a Novel template with lots of folders and notes that act as story guides. And the second is a play template with formatting and styles that I modified.

I guess I was just hoping I could either 1) copy and paste the Play Manuscript from the Play project to the Novel project with a simple Command C and Command V or 2) Copy the folders/notes from the Novel project to the Play project.

 

 

But I guess it's not that easy, right? Seems in this case, the least pain will be for me to create a new Play manuscript in the Novel project and format it again. Or maybe, as you suggest in #2, I could export an RTF of my stage play and then upon import Storyist would recognize my unique formatting?

 

I wish I could save time by being able to save my Script formatting outside of the project, like a template. And then when I go to the Project menu to create a new "Stage Play" script then I could select my self-created formatting template. That way, I would maintain all those folders from my novel project but the script manuscript would replace the novel manuscript template essentially.

 

 

But that example is not a big deal. I'll survive. I think.

 

_____

However, on a related note, there's a big feature request I'm going post in the FR forum about importing folder (group, collection, whatever you call them) hierarchies into Storyist. That's something that Scrivener can do which is awesome. For example, I love using OmniOutliner to brainstorm. And there's a MultiMarkdown export for it. And Scrivener can import MultiMarkdown. My outline gets ported over as folder hierarchies.

 

Thanks for your time.

[marguerite]

Thanks for the quick reply!

 

>If you mean that you want to copy characters, say, from one Storyist file to another, you have several choices:

 

Yes this is what I meant.

 

 

>1. Save the Project as a template (File > Save as Template). Use that as your basis for the new Project. You will find the template in the Chooser that pops up when you open Storyist or choose File > New > Project.

>2. Choose File > Export > RTF (RTFD if you have images), click on the files you want, choose where to save them, then drag them into the Project View of the new project. Results are not ideal, but they beat retyping.

>3. Save a copy of the file (File > Save as, supply a new name) to use as the basis of the new file.

>4. Set up a new sheet in the new file, display the two files side by side, and copy/paste from one to the other.

 

 

What I'm trying to do is essentially combine two Storyist files: The first is a Novel template with lots of folders and notes that act as story guides. And the second is a play template with formatting and styles that I modified.

I guess I was just hoping I could either 1) copy and paste the Play Manuscript from the Play project to the Novel project with a simple Command C and Command V or 2) Copy the folders/notes from the Novel project to the Play project.

 

But I guess it's not that easy, right? Seems in this case, the least pain will be for me to create a new Play manuscript in the Novel project and format it again. Or maybe, as you suggest in #2, I could export an RTF of my stage play and then upon import Storyist would recognize my unique formatting?

Storyist RTF files do preserve the styles. So long as you either export from one Storyist file and import to another, or use a program like Word that recognizes RTF styles, you'll be okay. (Avoid opening your RTF files in Pages, TextEdit, and other programs that strip out the styles and just leave the formatting, in other words). This is likely to give you better results than copy/paste.

 

There is a style matching feature that may help, although I haven't used it to do what you're trying to do. Steve can help you figure out whether it's possible. At worst, you will probably end up with properly formatted Default Text (make sure Preserve Style Overrides is checked when you import, if you have that choice), and you can redefine your styles from there (select sample text and choose Format > Style > Create New Style from Selection and check the Apply New Style on Creation box). Then reapply the styles as needed with the little box at the bottom of the window that lists the styles or via the Inspector.

 

If you changed the formatting on the predefined styles, all you have to do is check that the formatting is still the way you want it, select one example, and choose Format > Style > Redefine Style from Selection. All the passages marked with that style will fix themselves.

 

Either way, I would read the export/import sections of the manual and then test it. Importing your screenplay into the novel file is likely to require less work than exporting the folders from novel to screenplay.

 

If export/import seems too complicated, there is an "Apply Styles by Matching Text" command in the Format > Styles menu that is particularly useful for things like scene descriptors and chapter names. For example, it can search for any line that starts with the word Chapter and apply the Chapter Title style to it.

 

I wish I could save time by being able to save my Script formatting outside of the project, like a template. And then when I go to the Project menu to create a new "Stage Play" script then I could select my self-created formatting template. That way, I would maintain all those folders from my novel project but the script manuscript would replace the novel manuscript template essentially.

You can. It's option #1 above. Once you have the script set up the way you want, choose File > Save as Template and give it a name. Next time you open the Template Chooser, your template will be there. I actually use this option for my novel series, so that I don't have to recreate all the character descriptions each time. These days I could have all five books in one file, if I wanted, but it makes for a very large file, so I prefer to have one for each book, based on a shared template that I alter as needed for a given story.

 

As for the help, you're welcome. That's why the forums exist.

Best,

Marguerite