Scrivener For Dummies

Making Text Conversions

Not all software programs play nicely with Rich Text, and some publishers have strict guidelines regarding the use of special characters (for example, em-dashes and ellipses) and formatting (such as italics).

By dealing with these differing needs in Compile, you can write the way you want because these options affect only the compiled output, not your writing in Scrivener.

The following sections run through the options for converting special characters and formats during the compile process so that you don’t have to worry about it while writing. You can make all these changes in the Transformation tab.

Converting special characters to plain-text versions

Some special characters — such as em-dashes, smart (curly) quotes, and ellipses — aren’t compatible with plain text editors or the Plain Text Screenplay Compile format that you can use to export to Celtx or Movie Magic Screenwriter.

If you’re outputting to a plain text format, or even to Rich Text Format, you can convert special characters to their plain text–friendly counterparts. Just select the desired conversions from the options that appear in the Transformation tab.

If you select the Convert to Plain Text option, Scrivener enables a drop-down list that lets you substitute spaces and carriage returns for indents and paragraph spacing:

Paragraph Spacing: Approximates paragraph spacing by inserting carriage ...