Scrivener For Dummies

Customizing Your Workspace with Layouts

One of my favorite things about Scrivener is the easily overlooked — but imminently helpful — way that every time you open a project, it takes you to the exact position where you left off.

Scrivener also remembers each project’s layout: the position and status of each element of the workspace. For example, the layout might have the Binder visible, Editor split horizontally, and Inspector closed.

Beyond that, you can save layouts for different stages of your writing process or for different types of writing, and switch to them quickly, saving time when you want to rearrange your workspace.

You could have one layout for writing your novel, one for revisions, one for storyboarding, and one for writing blog posts. When you save a layout, it’s available to all projects, thus saving you even more time.

I like to think of saved layouts like a magic Rearrange button. A couple of clicks, and your workspace is just the way you want it; a couple more, and it’s changed again.

Here’s a sample of elements that get saved in a layout (for a complete list, check the Scrivener User Manual):

Visible or hidden status:

• Binder

• Collection tab interface

• Inspector

• Header and Footer bars

• Ruler and Format bar

• Toolbar

Split type (horizontal, vertical, ...