Scrivener 3 is on the way…

Posted by Graham Rhind
Dec 3, 2017 at 03:55 PM

Dr Andus wrote:
Graham Rhind wrote:
>May I ask why this document needs to end up as an MS Word file? Is it
>your choice or an external requirement?

You may.

It doesn’t actually end up as a Word file. It ends up as a pdf. There are a lot of reasons why this version of this book is managed in Word. The first is history - I write all my books in Word and did so with this one. The first version was around 500 pages and Word managed it fine (and, as that version was published as a physical book, the publisher required it in Word. One of the reasons I continue to use Word is that it does not crash when editing large documents, in my experience. I’ve tried lots of free or cheap word processors that claim to be Word clones but which prove themselves not to be when I try to edit any large document). However, the book is updated regularly and it has expanded to the current 1000+ chapters and 3000+ pages, which Word can manage but which it manages only slowly. I can overcome this easily using Writing Outliner - it’s only the annual step of merging all the files and producing the pdf that can prove troublesome.

Because the resource is now so large moving it to a new platform would be a very, very time-consuming requirement - it took over two years to make a copy in ConnectedText, so it’s not a step I would make lightly. I’m sure that various DTP products might handle the files better, but as I make no money from this free resource I’m not willing to spend too much on it (and Adobe software isn’t cheap). I do look at other ways of managing the chapters, such as with Whizfolders, Scrivener and so on, but RTF-based software doesn’t have the layout options Word has - the document is image- and table-heavy - so those would generally slow me down.

Finally, as mentioned, I have a copy in ConnectedText. The CT version is for publication on a website. The pdf version is for users who prefer a local version. I’m just too nice to my user base, frankly ...