Taking Notes with the Scratch Pad

The Scratch Pad is a tool that lets you jot down notes that don’t apply to a particular project. If you later decide that they belong in a particular project, you can import the notes to the Binder.

But even better, you can use the Scratch Pad when your project’s not even open (as long as Scrivener’s running)!

Here’s how it all works:

Opening the Scratch Pad: To open the Scratch Pad from within Scrivener, choose Window⇒Show Scratch Pad (or Tools⇒Scratch Pad in Windows).

The Scratch Pad window appears. This window floats above all other programs, which makes it good as a reference tool or to enter notes while viewing a web page or other document.

The top half of the window is a list of all the notes you’ve stored. When you first open it, your note is called Untitled Note. Double-click to change the name. Click the plus sign (+) button at the bottom-left to add a new note. Do your writing in the bottom pane.

Sending a note to a project: When you’re ready to send a note to a project, select it from the list, click the Send to Project drop-down list at the bottom (called Send File to Scrivener in Windows), and then choose from your open projects.

Deleting a note: Delete a note by selecting it and pressing the Delete key (Shift+Delete on Windows), or clicking the Delete button (which looks like a circle with a diagonal line through it). Click OK to close the window.

Opening the Scratch Pad when Scrivener is minimized: This is a Mac-only option. To open the Scratch Pad when Scrivener isn’t visible, right-click the Scrivener icon in the Dock and choose Scratch Pad.