yWriter Comprehensive Help File

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

WORK METHODS How do I?

?change a folder name to match the title when it is changed?

You can simply rename your folder that holds the yWriter folders. You can rename your .yw5 file. You can do both.
(2) On the main yWriter screen (where all the chapters are listed) you can change the project title by going to Project>Project Settings
(3) You can change the folder name from Windows. Just make sure you don't have the project open in yWriter at the time. The main potential drawback is if you need to restore your project from a backup made before you changed the name, the restored version will have the old name. You can rename the project file from Windows, too, save caveats.

?change the order of the columns on the right side of the Main Screen?

The standard view is Viewpoint ? words ? Scene ? Status ? A/R ? Filename ? letters ? characters ? locations?items date/time.
You can change this by dragging on the header and moving it left or right. One experienced used preferred this layout:
Viewpoint, Scene, Status, Filename, Words, Letters, Characters, Locations,
Date/Time, Items, A/R.

? enlarge a font?

There's a desktop setting which will increase the font size in all your applications by 25%, and the good news is that it's OFF by default!
The following instructions are for Windows XP. They're similar on Win 98, but I don't have that running to tell you the exact steps.
Right click your desktop
Choose Properties
Click the Settings tab
Click the Advanced button
Now, change 'Normal Size (96dpi)' to 'Large Size (120dpi)' and apply
It'll tell you to reboot - don't just yet
(Note - this next bit is XP only)
Go to the Appearance tab (same form as Settings, one to the left)
Click the Effects button
Tick 'Use the following method to smooth the edges of screen fonts'
Select Cleartype
Click OK
Now you can close the original dialog and reboot. If you don't like the changes you can simply reverse the instructions above and reboot again.
Note that some poorly-written applications might exhibit graphics glitches. E.g. in Microsoft Word 97 some of the program settings dialogue is obscured.

?enter information on the Contents page fast

Enter a few words on the one, hit the 'next? button, enter words on the next scene, etc. When finished, Save and exit. These words will be saved on ALL scenes without you having to tell yWriter to save! Flipping marvellous. Works for the description part too beneath the scene title.

? find out how many words I have written today?

(1) At the bottom of the Main Screen.
(2) Also on the Main Screen go to Tools>Daily Word Count Target.

?find Shortcut keys?

Menu options can all be selected the Windows way - for your Print>Chapter
Descriptions for example, press Alt, C, Enter, P, P, Enter. Or, instead of the
letters, you can use the keypad arrows to move through the menu options.

? get my imagination going?

Try this. Go to the website and copy and paste scenes of places, people, towns, situations, in Scene Notes and then write about them. istockphoto has photos you can use.

? keep track of various drafts if you mostly have been using the program to write and edit?

Export to .RTF after each draft is complete, so you have a backup copy.

?. make use of the keyboard?

Shot cut keys. Anything special tips?

?save all scenes for a new project?

Use Project> Export Selected Chapters. More explanation needed?

? synchronize stuff between my computer at home an my laptop?

Some people recommend Allway Sync (a free program). It tells which are the two locations that it needs to compare. It adds a folder to each location that allows it to keep its data in to know which is the latest version. You can also set it to replicate file deletions or not.

? transfer my existing yWriter project to my memory stick?

Open Windows Explorer or equivalent. (2) Find the folder that contains your project. (3) Drag and drop the folder, including all contents, to your memory stick.

... use the 'calendar? on the Details page tab in Scene editor?

You can either choose the specific time and date or show the day hour minute the scene begins using the toggle sw.
You can also record exactly how long this scene lasts.
TIP! In terms of your timeline, set a start date, work out how long the event (boat trip from UK to USA will take), then slot in the number of days.

?use the Daily Progress Log?

Click on Tools>Daily progress log. This is a useful reminder of how much you are writing each day ? and the progressive totals.

? use yWriter with Storybook?

Storybook is another very useful free 'Open Source tool for writers. See http://storybook.intertec.ch/joomla/ It has a good storyboarding feature but because the one story board scrolls horizontally (yWriter) and the other vertically, there are a few hurdles.

? work on more than one book. How do I handle this in yWriter?

When you need another project open, just start another copy of yWriter, and open that project in it.

What do you use project notes for?

Possibilities: To collect data from the Internet (for example, what happened in a particular year): to store ideas I may have for sequels.

Where shall I place any citations?

You could put citations in the scene description; or
(2) or create a new scene just for citations.

When should I use the right mouse key?

On the Main Screen you can use the right mouse key to do a number of different things in both the right and left panels.
In Scene editor window you can use the right mouse key for cutting, pasting, moving things around, looking up words, etc

Are unused scenes and chapters included in the word count?

No. You can tell this by watching your word count in the bottom right hand corner?