A little while ago, I noticed subtle differences in the appearance of my binder icons. (If the term “Binder” isn’t familiar, jump back to this post on Scrivener Vocabulary for a quick review.) Some of the page icons had folded corners, some looked like note cards.
What does it all mean? And why do they change as we work on our project? Turns out, the way the file and folder icons display actually tells you something about what (or how much) content you have in them.
The Notecard Icon
You’ll notice that Part 1 of this project has a little notecard stuck to the bottom right of the folder icon. That means that I’ve written something in the Synopsis Section. This note is not something I’ve actually written as part of the story, but rather just something I want to keep in mind for Part 1. On the flip side, notice that Part 2 has no such note card image stuck to it. If I click to view the synopsis for that Part, it will be empty.
The Blank Page Icon
When I create a scene, it shows as a blank page (see scenes 1 and 2 of Part 1). But if I add notes to the synopsis for that particular scene, the blank page will become a notecard.
It’s not until I actually start writing the content of scene 3 that the icon switches to look like a page with writing on it.
The Snapshot Icon
And what about that icon of the written page? Have you noticed that sometimes the top right corner of the page is turned over, bent like it’s been dog-eared? That means something too.
That little turned corner means that the scene has a snapshot associated with it. If you’re not familiar with the snapshot function, check out my post about it here. It is a super-handy way to keep track of drafts without junking up your computer with files.
Scrivener Binder Icons
Knowing what these subtle differences in appearance mean can help you see how your project is coming along with just a glance.
Apparently, you can even change the icons all together so that they’re not folders or pages, but flags or emojis or whatever. That’s one step too far for me to pretend that I’m not just procrastinating.
Thanks so much! Great to get such a clear answer to the little note card puzzle (as well as a heap of other useful advice).
Right? So glad it was helpful. Cheers.
This was really handy! I google the problem and your page came up – great work!
So glad to hear it. Cheers!
April, thanks again for this advice post. I revisited your post on snapshots and can’t believe I haven’t been using them. What a feature!
Just a question: will your novel appear in parts, or do you just work in parts as an organisational tool? For my current WIP, I selected to work (way back when) in the standard novel format, but now I’m pretty certain I want to separate the novel into four parts, according to the seasons. So I guess I’ll have to copy and paste everything into a new parts document. Anyway, I was just curious about your take on working in parts. Thanks again. Appreciate your work so much.
Good question. This is the first time I’ve written something in parts. My vision for it is to be published in parts, because the story has distinct times and places. But even when I wasn’t writing into that structure, I used colors in my binder to divide the parts of my story up visually (that’s the story that’s coming out at the end of the month: 142 Ostriches.
Good luck with it. I’m so glad my posts are helpful. Cheers!
Can someone tell me why to have the Windows Scrivener Team abandon us Windows 10 Scriveners? I bought Scrivener when I won NaNoWriMo back in the day. It goes back to 2001 and we have been abandoned. No one shows what is going on with Scrivener 3 and I cannot comprehend as to why No One wants to show features for Windows 10. Can you tell me is there any Help in the site, or should we just trash Windows Version and Buy a Lap Top Mac?
Try tweeting or emailing them. They are actually really response to inquiries and almost always working updates to old versions. It may actually be in the works…
I hadn’t even noticed the dog-ears. Thanks for that!
However, if you change icons, all the status based changes won’t happen. It will stay the same icon regardless of the lifecycle of the document.
Ah, yes, Erik, good point. I forgot about the custom icons. Thanks!
Nice blog post. How about enlightening us on why some footnote markers appear as solid boxes, while others appear as outlined boxes? Example from Scrivener attached. Thx
Hi, PJ,
Great idea. I will look into that.
This looks way different from my Scrivener, which I got in 2015. I wouldn’t have recognized it!
Hi, Nadja, that’s interesting. I think I bought mine in 2015 too. I’m on a Mac. I wonder if you’re on a PC? Or maybe I bought mine just before they did an overhaul on the look of it? Curious. And worth looking into before I do more posts on Scrivener. Thanks!
I don’t worry so much about the varying appearance of the icons, though I will pay more attention to them now that I’ve read your post. However, I am pretty religious about color-coding my text files in the binder so I know what kind of files they are.
Right now, I’m working on a collection of three short stories. I have three story sub-folders inside the main book folder. Each sub-folder contains all the text files for that story. The text files for all the scenes are shaded red. But I also have another set of text files within each sub-folder for the front and back matter that are shaded yellow. Whenever I finish each story, I package it with the front and back matter and make it available online free for a short time to attract reader subscribers.
So the front and back matter files (color-coded yellow) can easily be transported from one story sub-folder to another so I can package each story and publish it, with some editing, in a relatively short amount of time. Of course I’ll only have one set of “yellow” files once the whole book is done, but in the short term, color-coding those files in Scrivener helps me develop each story.
Hi, Jay,
I downloaded “Billy Madox Takes His Shot.” Can’t wait to read it. Thanks for sharing!
-April