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docs/source/int_introduction.rst

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@@ -12,16 +12,17 @@ text without having to deal with formatting until you generate a draft document
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Instead, you can focus on the writing right from the start.
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Of course, you probably need *some* formatting for your text. At the very least you need emphasis.
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Most people are familiar with adding emphasis using underscores and asterisks. This formatting
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standard comes from Markdown_ and is supported by novelWriter. It also uses Markdown formatting for
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defining document headings. If you need more specialised formatting, additional formatting options
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are available using a shortcode format. See :ref:`a_fmt_shortcodes` for more details.
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Most people are familiar with adding emphasis using ``_underscores_`` and ``**asterisks**``. This
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formatting standard comes from Markdown_ and is supported by novelWriter. It also uses Markdown
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formatting for defining document headings. If you need more specialised formatting, additional
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formatting options are available using a shortcode format. See :ref:`a_fmt_shortcodes` for more
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details.
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.. admonition:: Limitations
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novelWriter is designed for writing fiction, so the formatting features available are limited to
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those relevant for this purpose. It is **not** suitable for technical writing, and it is **not**
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a full-featured Markdown editor.
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those relevant for this purpose. It is *not* suitable for technical writing, and it is *not* a
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full-featured Markdown editor.
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It is also not intended as a tool for organising research for writing, and therefore lacks
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formatting features you may need for this purpose. The notes feature in novelWriter is mainly
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structure without having to cut and paste text between chapters and scenes.
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There are two kinds of documents in your project: :term:`Novel Documents` are documents that are
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part of your story. The other kind of documents are :term:`Project Notes`. These are intended for
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part of your story. The other kind of documents are :term:`Project Notes`, which are intended for
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your notes about your characters, your world building, and so on.
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You can at any point split the individual documents by their headings up into multiple documents,
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**Focus on writing**
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The aim of the user interface is to let you focus on writing instead of spending time formatting
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text. Formatting is therefore limited to a small set of formatting tags for simple things like
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text emphasis and paragraph alignment. When you really want to focus on just writing, you can
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switch the editor into **Focus Mode** where only the text editor panel itself is visible, and
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the project structure view is hidden away.
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text emphasis and paragraph alignment. Additional shortcodes are available for special
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formatting cases.
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When you really want to focus on just writing, you can switch the editor into **Focus Mode**
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where only the text editor panel itself is visible, and the project structure view is hidden
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away.
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**Keep an eye on your notes**
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The main window can optionally show a document viewer to the right of the editor. The viewer
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**Multi-novel project support**
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The main parts of your project is split up into top level special folders called "Root" folders.
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Your main story text lives in the "Novel" root folder. You can have multiple such folders in a
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project. This allows you to keep a series of individual novels with the same characters and
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world building in the same project, and create manuscripts for them individually.
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project, and rename them to whatever you want. This allows you to keep a series of individual
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novels with the same characters and world building in the same project, and create manuscripts
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for them individually.
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**Keep track of your story elements**
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All notes in your project can be assigned a :term:`tag` that you can then :term:`reference` from
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any other document or note. In fact, you can add a new tag under each heading of a note if you
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need to be able to reference specific sections of it.
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need to be able to reference specific sections of it, or you want to keep several topics in the
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same note.
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**Get an overview of your story**
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It is not the documents themselves that define the chapters and scenes of your story, but the
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headings that separate them. In the **Outline View** on the main window you can see an outline
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of all the chapter and scene headings of your project. If they have any references in them, like
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which character is in what chapter and scene, these are listed in additional columns.
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of all the chapter and scene headings of each novel root folder in your project. If they have
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any references in them, like which character is in what chapter and scene, these are listed in
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additional columns.
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You can also add a synopsis to each chapter or scene, which can be listed here as well. You have
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the option to add or remove columns of information from this outline. A subset of the outline
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Whether you want to assemble a manuscript, or export all your notes, or generate an outline of
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your chapters and scenes with a synopsis included, you can use the **Build Manuscript** tool to
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do so. The tool lets you select what information you want to include in the generated document,
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and how it is formatted. You can send the result to a printer, a PDF, or to an Open Document
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file that can be opened by most office type word processors. You can also generate the result
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as HTML, or Markdown, both suitable for further conversion to other formats.
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and how it is formatted. You can send the result to a printer or PDF, or generate an Open
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Document file that can be opened by most office type word processors. You can also generate the
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result as HTML, or Markdown, both suitable for further conversion to other formats.
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.. _a_intro_screenshots:

docs/source/int_overview.rst

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The chapters below labelled "Essential Information" are the ones you need to know to use the
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application correctly. By "correctly", it is meant: in a way so novelWriter understands the basic
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structure of your text. It collects a lot of information from your text and uses it to display the
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structure of it in various ways to help you get an overview of your project.
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structure of it in various ways to help you get an overview of your writing.
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The chapters labelled "Recommended Reading" includes additional information on how the different
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parts if the application work and what the features do.

docs/source/project_overview.rst

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Each document or folder of type **Novel** can be given a "Status" label accompanied by a coloured
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icon, and each document or folder of the remaining types can be given an "Importance" label.
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icon with an optional shape selected from a list of pre-defined shapes. Each document or folder of
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the remaining types can be given an "Importance" label with the same customisation options.
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These labels are there purely for your convenience, and you are not required to use them for any
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other features to work. No other part of novelWriter accesses this information. The intention is to

docs/source/usage_breakdown.rst

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.. versionadded:: 2.2
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A number of new formatting options were added in 2.2 to allow for some special formatting cases.
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At the same time, a small formatting toolbar was added in the editor. It is hidden by default,
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but can be opened by pressing the icon button in the top right corner.
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At the same time, a small formatting toolbar was added to the editor. It is hidden by default,
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but can be opened by pressing the button in the top right corner of the editor header.
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Project Tree and Editor View
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.. versionadded:: 2.4
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Switching Focus
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---------------
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If the project or novel view does not have focus, pressing :kbd:`Ctrl+T` switches focus to
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whichever of the two is visible. If one of them already has focus, the key press will switch
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between them instead.
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Likewise, pressing :kbd:`Ctrl+E` with switch focus to the document editor or viewer, or if any of
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them already have focus, it will switch focus between them,
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These two shortcuts makes it possible to jump between all these GUI elements without having to
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reach for the mouse or touchpad.
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.. _a_breakdown_project:
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Project Layout

docs/source/usage_project.rst

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* The next two buttons can be used to move items up and down in the project tree. This is the only
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way to move root folders.
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* The next button opens a dropdown menu for adding new items to the tree. This includes root
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folders. You can also activate this dropdown menu by pressing :kbd:`Ctrl+N`.
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folders and template documents. You can also activate this dropdown menu by pressing
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:kbd:`Ctrl+N`.
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* The last button is a menu of further actions you can apply to the project tree.
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Below the project tree you will find a small details panel showing the full information of the

docs/source/usage_shortcuts.rst

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":kbd:`F9`", "Re-build the project's index"
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":kbd:`F11`", "Toggle full screen mode"
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":kbd:`Ctrl+,`", "Open the **Preferences** dialog"
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":kbd:`Ctrl+E`", "Switch focus to the document editor"
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":kbd:`Ctrl+E`", "Switch or toggle focus for the editor or viewer"
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":kbd:`Ctrl+T`", "Switch or toggle focus for the project tree or novel view"
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":kbd:`Ctrl+Q`", "Exit novelWriter"
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":kbd:`Ctrl+Shift+,`", "Open the **Project Settings** dialog"

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