Scrivener Vocabulary

Having a basic grasp of Scrivener vocabulary makes it a lot easier to talk about the software. For instance, instead of saying “that column on the right, which may or may not be visible depending on your settings” I can say “the Inspector,” but the term doesn’t help much if you don’t know what that word means in the context of the Scrivener platform.

So for today’s post I’m going to review 4 basic Scrivener terms that will hopefully make future posts easier to understand. Here goes…

1. The Inspector

As mentioned above, the Inspector window is the column on the right hand side of your Scrivener screen. A lot happens in the Inspector, from notes and comments to meta data and snapshots. I’ll get to all of those in the next few weeks, but for now, just know that you can show or hide the Inspector by clicking the little blue circle icon at the top right.

2. The Binder

The column on the other side is called your Binder.

Suffice to say, a lot goes on here too, but for now, just know that you can make it appear and disappear by clicking on the little drop-down menu at the top left.

3. The Editor

The part in between the Binder and the Inspector is called the Editor. When you click on something in your Binder, you will see its contents in the Editor. This is where the magic happens.

There’s a lot you can do here too, like split your screen (to see two parts of your project at once), change fonts, or switch to cork board or outline view. (Again, we’ll get to all of that.) It’s also worth nothing that you can change the width of any of these windows by clicking and dragging on the lines that separate them.

4. The Compile Button

When you’re ready to print part or all of your manuscript, this is the button you click:

You can also go to File -> Compile. This gives you a window where you can say what prints and how. There are so many options here, it definitely needs it’s own post.