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Upgrading from Scrivener 2 to Scrivener 3: Who moved my cheese? | ScrivenerVirgin

Managing change is a skill.

For those of us who had reached the comfortable stage with Scrivener 2, to be confronted with Scrivener 3 is more than a challenge!

Literature & Latte released the upgrade in the middle of November when many writers were busy with NaNoWriMo and I for one have only just about found time to have a serious look at it.

The user interface – and knowing where everything is – is a learnt skill. It becomes second nature. You don’t have to think about it. And now – with Scrivener 3 – we have to start all over.

A bit like when supermarkets decide to move stuff around, the weekly shop takes twice as long because you have to hunt for every single item.

So what has moved? This post looks at three basic tools and compares where they are in Scrivener 2 with where they are in Scrivener 3.

Managing change: Binder / Collections

In Scrivener 2, there are two separate icons on the far left of the toolbar. Each toggles between Show and Hide.

In Scrivener 3, they are combined into one drop-down option. You can still Show/Hide as you wish, but there are other features incorporates into this dropdown – which we’ll discuss in a later post.

Managing change: Search

In Scrivener 2, the Search tool is on the right-hand side, next to the Inspector toggle button. When you click on the magnifying glass, you can customise your search.

For more details on how to use the Search tool in Scrivener 2, check out this series of blog posts:

In Scrivener 3, the magnifying glass identifies the Search tool and it is on the left, just beside the new Binder / Collections icon.

If you choose ‘Search in Project’ you get the Scrivener 2 version of the Search tool appearing beneath the tool bar, with very similar controls:


I’ll look more closely at the ‘new’ or ‘moved’ controls in a later post …

Managing change: Label and Status

In Scrivener 2, the Label and Status are displayed within the Inspector area.
In Scrivener 3, this information appears at the bottom of the window.

Next time, I’ll be looking at what’s been moved within the menus …

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2 Comments
  • Linda

    1 April 2021 at 19:42

    How do get my stories from scrivener 2 into scrivener 3?
    Thank you

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