Scrivener For Dummies

Getting the Skinny on References

Back in the old days — when I was, uh, five — I had to trudge to the library to do my research. And if the books I needed were part of the reference section that couldn’t be checked out, or my sources were on microfiche, I had to make copies to lug home, where I might or might not be able to find them again when I needed them.

Now, so much is available online or in electronic format, the lugging part is easy — but that doesn’t always mean you can find a resource again when you need it.

Scrivener solves this problem with references. References provide you with quick access to research files or websites that you want to associate with your project or document, but don’t want to import into the project.

Unlike importing (covered in Chapter 2), when you add a reference, all that’s stored in Scrivener is the link to it. When you open a reference, you always get the most up-to-date version. However, if the file or website is moved — or the filename changes — the link doesn’t work anymore.

References are also great for files that can’t be viewed within Scrivener, such as spreadsheets, presentations, or other files created with specialty software.

Access references by clicking the References button at the bottom of the Inspector (refer to Figure 5-1).

Linking to a reference is incredibly handy, but before you start, consider a couple of things:

Do you want ...