Scrivener Quick Tip: Document Wordcount Target

(I’m using the Mac version of Scrivener, v 2.2)

I’ve talked about Project Targets before, and Outlines & Synopses and the different View Modes.  One thing about the Outline Mode has bugged me.  A lot.

Here’s my Sample Project we’ve seen before.  Note that I’m in Outline Mode:

Because I have Chapter 1 selected in the Binder, I’m looking at the Outline for the Scenes/Scrivenings inside that Chapter in an Outline.  Each Scene has its own Synopsis/Title, Label, Status, Word Target and Progress Bar.  BUT WHAT THE HELL FEEDS THE WORD TARGET AND PROGRESS BAR?!

I have torn Scrivener apart trying to figure this out.  When you set your Project Targets, even if you tell it to calculate word counts based on a deadline, it doesn’t feed this spot.  And when you’re in Outline Mode, these areas aren’t editable. And I couldn’t find how to set these when looking through the Scrivener Manual!

I had about given up when I noticed something while doing last week’s Bottom Toolbar post.  When I had an individual Scene selected in the Binder, the Bottom Toolbar changed, displaying this icon in the right corner (before the Inspector):

When I clicked it, I got this:

Sure enough, this sets the Target for the individual Scenes and displays them in the Outline Mode:

Whew!  That was really bugging me.

Oh, and these Word Count Target’s don’t seem to feed the Project Targets.  It’s just for you, as the writer, to have as a sort of ‘at a glance’ thing.  Once you set a target, your Bottom Bar changes to give you a Goal Bar:

Cool, huh?

More Scrivener Quick Tips are coming – watch for them!

Don’t have Scrivener?  You can try it free here (no, I don’t get paid for pointing you at them!).