Status, Labels and Collections

Status tracks how far along each document is. Labels mark whatever you like. Collections are saved filters: the documents that match rules such as "Status is First Draft" or "Mara appears", kept up to date as you write.

Status and labels

To set a document's status or label, Control-click it (or touch and hold) in the contents or on the corkboard and choose Status or Label. The inspector's Metadata section and the Outliner have them too.

Status options run in order: To Do, First Draft, Revised Draft, Final Draft, Done. On the Mac, Structure ▸ Next Status (⌃⌘]) moves the selected document on to the next one, and Previous Status (⌃⌘[) moves it back. To rename the options or change their order, see Fields.

Library ▸ All statistics has a Status card showing how much of the manuscript is at each stage, by documents and by words.

Collections

The quickest way to make a collection is to filter the contents (see Filtering the Contents) and choose the pencil on the filter's card: Save as Collection…. You can also choose New Collection… from the tile above the contents, the Project menu on the Mac, or the ⋯ / + menu on iPad and iPhone.

Name the collection, and give it a colour and an icon: they mark it in the tile's panel and on its card. Then add rules with Add rule:

  • Status, Label, Tag, Section Type or another field: is, or is not, a value (or one of several)
  • Character, Place or Object: appears in the scene, on stage or as point of view; Point of View is a character's
  • Kind: scenes, notes, research, folders
  • Text, Title, Synopsis or Notes: contains, or doesn't contain, some words (words match from their start; case and accents are ignored)
  • Date Modified: changed, or not changed, today, in the last 7, 30 or 90 days, or this year
  • Include in Compile, Locked, Words, Word Target, Comments and Suggestions
  • your own fields

The word in italics between a rule's name and its value is its condition: choose it to turn the rule round ("is" becomes "is not"). Choose whether documents must match Any or All of the rules, and where to look: the Manuscript, Research (Research & Notes) or Everything. The foot of the dialog says how many documents match as you go.

The tile's panel lists your collections with how many documents each holds now. Choosing one filters the contents by it: its card names it, counts what matches, and shows its rules as chips joined by "and" or "or"; what matches shows in its place in the book, in Write and Plan too. Change the chips and the card says Edited: Update saves the change into the collection, Revert puts its rules back. A research collection opens in Research, a manuscript collection in Write or Plan.

To change a collection, choose the pencil on its card. To delete it, Control-click the card (or touch and hold) and choose Delete, or do the same to the collection in the tile's panel.

Compiling a collection

A compile preset can name a collection. To compile only what's in it, with the chapters above those documents kept as headings:

select:
  include: [{ collection: Final scenes }]

To leave a collection out:

select:
  exclude: [{ collection: Cut scenes }]

Collections imported from Scrivener can be named the same way.