Creating and Deleting Compile Format Presets

Scrivener comes preloaded with a nice selection of compile format presets (covered in detail in Chapter 12), but you can also add (and delete) your own.

If you spent a lot of time getting the settings just right — and maybe you can’t remember all the steps you took to get there — you probably want to avoid starting over next time you want the same format. That’s when saving your own format preset comes in handy.

The best part is that your saved presets are available for all your Scrivener projects.

Saving your compile settings as a custom format

A format preset is basically a saved setting that includes all the compilation options and the output type.

If you have your compile settings perfectly tuned and don’t want to lose them, you can go beyond the basic save-for-next-time approach outlined in the “Saving compile settings without compiling the project” section, earlier in this chapter. Instead, you can create your own preset with exactly the settings you want and use it again any time on any project.

Follow these steps to create your own compile preset in the Compile window:

1. From the Format As drop-down list select Manage Compile Format Presets.

2. Click the plus sign (+) button in the bottom-right corner of the window that appears.

Windows users, simply click the Save Preset button at the bottom-left of the Compile window.

A small pop-up window appears.

3. Type a descriptive name in the Enter a Name for This Compile Format text box, and then click OK.

The pop-up window closes.

4. If you’re a Mac user, click OK to close the Manage Compile Format Presets window.

Scrivener saves the current settings with the name you entered.

5. Click the Format As drop-down list.

The preset appears in the My Formats section of the list that opens, and it’s now available for all projects.

Deleting a custom compile format

Did you get a little too preset-happy? Need to delete an old format you never use? No worries. Just follow these steps:

1. In the Compile window, click the Format As drop-down list, and then select Manage Compile Format Presets.

Windows users, click the Load Preset button at the bottom-left of the Compile window.

The Presets window opens.

2. Select the preset that you want to delete.

Mac users, click the text to highlight the line, not the check box.

3. Click the minus sign (–) button at the bottom-right of the Presets window, and then click OK.

Windows users, click the Delete button, and then click Yes.

A warning window appears asking if you really want to delete the preset.

4. Click OK.

Windows users, click Yes.

The preset is removed from the list.

5. Click OK to close the Presets window.

6. Click the Format As drop-down list in the Compile window.

The preset no longer appears on the list that opens.

You can delete only the presets you created, not those installed with Scrivener. However, the following section shows you how to hide presets.

Revealing or hiding compile presets

Scrivener offers even more compile presets than you see on your list in the Compile window. Some of them are presets from earlier Scrivener versions, and some of them are simply less popular. And although you can’t delete the predefined presets that came with the program, you can hide the ones you don’t use. You can also hide presets that you’ve created, instead of deleting them.

Follow these steps to reveal or hide a compile preset:

1. In the Compile window, click the Format As drop-down list and select Manage Compile Format Presets.

The Manage Compile Format Presets window appears.

2. Select or deselect a preset from the list of presets to show or hide it, respectively.

3. Click the OK button to save your changes and close the window.

4. Click the Format As drop-down list to see your changes.