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Using the Status Field to Track Progress (Scrivener) | ScrivenerVirginStatus field to the rescue

In the past fortnight, I’ve continued to work through my NaNo novel, Aide Memoire, completing the tasks I set myself (and you!) in the post published on 16 April: Scrivener: The Editor’s tool.

I’ve had to break several longer documents into separate scenes and, in doing so, I’ve spotted scenes (already!) that I need to write, to fill gaps or expand on an event.

Knowing which documents need working on – when I take off my editor’s hat and put on my creative writer’s hat again – will save time later.

So, I decided to employ the Status field.

Status field to the rescue

This is the Scrivener default. It’s a good starting point?

Status field defaults

I decided, though, that I needed to have additional details of my progress for each document/scene. Especially, I needed a Status of ‘To be written’.

Status field customised

Because part of my editing process is to submit, chapter to chapter, to my Ria View Writers group, I included two more: ‘Revised first draft ready for review’ and ‘Reviewed draft with amends to do’.

Applying the new status options, the corkboard didn’t look any different!

Corkboard without Status field

The Show Status Stamps option

Then I remembered … displaying the Status field on the corkboard is an option. I needed to turn that option on.

Status field visible option
Still no sign of my stamps … so I checked the Scrivener / Preferences / Appearance to find that the default is a midway opacity.

Status field opacity control

I needed to slide that to High. The net result: my stamps are visible, although I’m now rethinking my choice of colours for the Label field.
Status field visible
Still not content with how it looked, I checked Scrivener / Preferences / Appearance again and, yes, the colour of the Status stamps can be changed.

After a bit of experimentation, I settled on a bright blue. I also tweaked my messages because of the fewer characters, the greater the point size and the better clarity.

Now, I am happy!

Questions? Need a helping hand? Want a demo?

To watch me go through the process of editing the Status options, tweaking the appearance via Scrivener / Preferences, or to ask any questions, book a Simply Scrivener Special.

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2 Comments
  • Scott

    23 August 2019 at 19:18

    Do you know of any way to show the history of status changes in Scrivener? My editing workflow includes a few iterative processes, where the status may go back and forth a few times, such as “In Editing Review” or “Return to Author” which have distinct meanings with my editing team. Being able to see how often the state changes is really useful, and I track it right now in a spread sheet.

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