yWriter Comprehensive Help File

This document was recovered from the lost yWriter google sites page, and is still a work in progress

CHAPTERS HOW DO I ?

... add information to a chapter?

Double click on the chapter Title on the Main Screen (or go to Project>Project Settings). This will bring up a dialogue box in which you more fully describe what happens. This box also contains the Project name, Author, Deadlines and Scene summaries.
Single click on the chapter Title to activate the list of scenes you have drafted for that chapter.

... combine chapters?

Highlight all the chapters you want to combine (press shift + left mouse button) and select Chapter>combine selected chapters. All the scenes will appear in the right order. (You can easily reshuffle scenes by dragging and dropping.) The extra chapter titles will disappear, but the chapter descriptions should end up aggregated into one long description.

... create a scene outside of a chapter?

Create a chapter titled 'Other + Unused'. Move it to the very bottom of the chapter list. (So it doesn't get in the way when you want to print stuff). You can move any scene out of here any time into another chapter by dragging it there. (One wit called this 'dump site? his 'whine cellar').

... create a new chapter?

Right click on chapter Title (or click Chapter>Create new chapter.)

... create a Title page?

A Title page can't be added until you export the novel and format it for submission. If you really want one, create a chapter 0, and add a scene. Call the scene Title Page and type in the title. TIP! You may want to MOVE the zero chapter to the end of the book while editing printing the synopsis, then move it back to produce the manuscript you want to print.

... edit a chapter Title?

Double click on the chapter Title. A pop up box will appear. Keep your Title short. Change Title. Any Description below this Title will appear in DESC (adjacent to the title on the Main screen). TIP! It will only show about the first 11 words of your description. Warning! Pressing Cancel in the pop up dialogue box deletes everything!

... get an overview of the contents of a chapter?

Double click on the Chapter Title. Read description and scene summaries.

... insert a DESC (Description)?

NOTE! The word 'Description? appears in two places. [Ed: This really confused me at first Suggest Chapter Summary and Scene Summary consistently used.] There is a difference between a 'Chapter Description? (DESC) and a 'Scene Description? (think Scene Summary)??
A Chapter Description is added by clicking Chapter>Edit selected chapter and going to Description.
A Scene Description (Scene Summary) is added by clicking Scene>Edit selected scene and then writing the Description in the box at the bottom of the Scene Editor page.
TIP! When you open Chapter> Edit selected Chapter, the Scene summaries (read only) give a good overview and synopsis.

... move chapters?

Drag and drop, and then choose Chapter>Renumber chapters if you chose.

... renumber chapters automatically?

When you have to insert, move, or drop a chapter, you can use the Chapter>Renumber chapters option. The auto-renumbering works without messing up the descriptions so you will still know what's going on in each chapter. TIP! Use chapter headings rather than chapter numbers.

... use Mark as Beginning, middle, end?

There are two ways of doing this:
Select the chapter you want for your middle section. Click on this then go to Chapter>Mark as start of middle section. Click. Do the same procedure for you ending chapters.
A more sophisticated approach is this: Let?s say instead of three sections (3 Acts) you could have five sections (Five Acts). Double click on a chapter. A pop up box called Chapter Details will appear. Tick the box: This chapter begins a new section. That bolds the chapter title in the list, which can be a useful reference. There are no named sections, but it does give you as many as you want.
By going to Chapter Details again and unticking the box you can change where the sections start.

... use The Toggle Chapter used/unused or Toggle Chapter/other?

Occasionally you might decide to shelve an entire chapter which contains good scenes that no longer fit in with your story. Simply toggle it 'unused? by right clicking on the chapter and clicking on Toggle used/unused. Notice that the Chapter Icon changes from CH to U. Notice the drop in your word count since this chapter now falls 'outside your book?. If you want to 'restore? the chapter, click Toggle used/unused again.
Some people may prefer to create a chapter called Other which they place at the end of their scene list. This is perhaps handier when you want to print a report. If you toggle Chapter/other the Chapter Icon changes from CH to I.
The toggle used/ unused chapter (the same approach can be applied to or scenes) is what the yWriter uses for "disabling" chunks of text. Unused chapters and scenes are not included in the relevant word counts, but otherwise there's no difference.

... view a chapter?

Select the chapter containing one or more scenes. In the main menu, click Chapter > Print Selected Chapter(s). Click Yes. The entire chapter will now open in your web browser, formatted and ready to print. TIP. You don?t have to print out. You can read what you have written on screen.

How many scenes must a chapter have?

At least one.

What happens when I right click on a chapter Title?

See for yourself! TIP The right mouse key is very useful when editing both chapters and scenes.