I have just finished the tutorial and am ready to begin, what should I do first?

The first thing you should do is close the tutorial and create a new project. The tutorial was designed to be an interactive way to learn Scrivener, and is thus a fully editable project. However you will want to create a new project file for your first endeavour, either using one of our built-in templates, or begin from scratch with the Blank template.

To create a new project, select "New Project..." from the File menu and complete the short wizard. This will save a project file into your Documents folder (though you can change this location if you like). The project templates can be useful for starting a new project, but most likely you'll come up with your own designs and when you do, they can be saved as templates for future projects.

Scrivener works with project files, which exist on your hard drive. It is best to make a new project file for each book (or collection of smaller projects). There are some exceptions to this rule of thumb. Serial works which all use the same pool of background information and research can benefit from all being written in the same project file. As with most things in Scrivener, the program is flexible, and the most comfortable way to use it will often be the best way to use it.

The user manual can be accessed from the Project Templates window, from the Help menu within Scrivener, or from our website. This manual exhaustively documents the entire application from start to finish, so if you ever have a question about how one particular piece of the program works, chances are you will find your answer there.

We also have a lively forum community which you are invited to join, or you can just read the existing threads without making an account. We discuss everything from Scrivener itself to writing, technology, workflows, companion software, current events, or even just what sort of ink we prefer in our pens. We also have many video tutorials which are designed to supplement the main interactive tutorial, and the Knowledge Base where we address frequently asked questions. We hope you find everything you need to make your work as easy as possible, but please feel free to contact us with any questions you might have about getting started.