Cool Tool

Posted by: Tom,

Well, after using it for about a month I have to say that I really like using Scrivener for writing. It really doesn't do anything special but it works in a way that really fits how I work, and that makes all the difference.

It is really geared to someone writing a book which is not something I am doing. I can see why it would work well for that though. They also recommend doing final formatting in another application but I haven't bothered with that so far. It is good enough for me as is.

I think the best way to think about it is as a 3-ring binder with subject dividers. Anything you would organize that way would probably work great with Scrivener. Right now I am working on my summer sermon series. So inside my binder I have one folder for each week. Inside each week I have one file each for my scripture, order of service, announcements, kid's sermon, big's sermon, and research. (I do use a separate research file in the binder for general research that is not week specific.)

All of this is easily done with any word processing software and file system. The thing I like about Scrivener is how easy it is to switch back and forth between ALL the documents in the binder. That may not seem like that big of a deal but it just makes a huge difference to me. Like I said at the beginning, it just fits how I work. It feels right, comfortable, and it makes me smile, which isn't something software does very often.

There are a lot of other cool little features that it has, including some they make a big deal about that I think are cool but don't really use too much. And there are a few annoying quirks that leave me scratching my head. But for anything that would fit in a binder that you would use text on, rather than numerals, it is simple elegance.


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Interesting. I presume you're a Mac user, or are you using the new Windows version? The screenshots make me think of Microsoft OneNote, which isn't necessarily a good thing. And like OneNote, I would worry about proprietary file formats. What does it save its files as, do you know? I am not talking about "export" features, but the actual working data files.
Jim, I'm using the windows version. They also have an unofficial linux but I haven't tried it. It compiles to .txt, .rtf, .doc, .odt, .html, .xhtml, .pdf, .epub, .mobi. At first glance it reminds you of a lot of other programs. It kind of reminded me of evernote but it just works different for me. I used the 30 day free trial then bought.
I forgot .mmd, .fodt, .opml, .tex.
Now that I read your post again I see you are talking about it's own files and yes, it is it's own format. I don't remember what they call it off hand but I know it is their own.
Jim, upon further review, the binder seems to be saved as .scriv. But in explorer you can open that and work your way eventually to a Doc file where I can find all the files I have in that binder in rtf format. So if I lost Scrivener, and only had these files, I could get them back. The only problem is that the naming system is different than how it looks in the program itself so you would have to open each file to see what it actually is then rename it.
I meant a Doc folder, not a file.
Yeah, I installed the trial version and looked into all that. I think I'll pass. It DOES look like a cool tool. My problem is as I am starting to get radical about not using proprietary file formats of ANY kind if I can help it.
 
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I'm Tom. I have a wonderful wife, 4 kids, a dog, and a cat. What more could a guy want.

@Tue 24 Feb, 2009 20:16Green Banner: 24 February, 2009Green Banner Vector Graphic http://tinyurl.com/an5ptx

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