A few chapters into my first book, I got fed up with all the scrolling. Many authors use apps such as Scrivener to more easily move between chapters and scenes. Scrivener has many other functions, but I prefer working in Microsoft Word. I decided to take advantage of Word’s table, linking, and formula functions, and the result is a template, that after much tinkering, does everything I need it to do. It allows me to:
- Have a legend at the top of my document in which chapters/scenes link to where
they are in the manuscript. - Compare manuscript/chapter/scene actual word counts to target word counts.
- Retrieve my daily word count totals.
Feel free to download the template here.
I wrote this post for the monthly Insecure Writers Support Group blog hop. To continue hopping or to join the hop, click here. (There are more than 200 of us, and it’s fun!)
Which word processors or other apps or combination thereof do you use when writing books? Are you happy with the process, or are there shortcomings? Tell me all about it in the comments.
Raimey Gallant 
That is so cool. I use both Word and Scrivener but I think I wrote more when I used just Word so was thinking of doing more in Word this year. I’ll try out the template.
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I hope you like it!
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So helpful of you! I will be checking it out in the days to come.
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Thanks for stopping by, Jennifer! Looking forward to checking out your post. 🙂
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Clever! I prefer to just use Word as well, so this will be very helpful. Thanks.
And Happy New Year!
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Happy New Year, Alex!
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I use Word too, so I may try this. Thanks for sharing it. Happy New Year!
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I hope you find it helpful. 🙂 Happy New Year to you, too!
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I use Word 🙂 Can’t wait to try out your template!
I hope you have a successful 2019 🙂
Ronel visiting on IWSG day 2019 Goals, Resolutions and Questions
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Your name gave me a chuckle. 🙂
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LOL. I’m still figuring out the new Gravatar for my site 😉
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Happy IWSG Day!
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Thanks! And to you, too, Ann. I’ll hope over to your blog soon. 🙂
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You’re welcome Raimey! Thanks and Blessings 🙂
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Happy New Year!
Lady, you are tops! I have Scrivener but to be honest, I don’t use it much because I love to use Microsoft Word. So, guess what I’m going to do? I am going to download your program right now. This has made my day.
Wishing you all the best for 2019 and that you have a prosperous year.
Shalom aleichem,
Pat G @ EverythingMustChange
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Well, your comment made me smile very wide. 🙂 Shalom aleichem to you, too!
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Whaaaaat? Trying this out for sure. Thank you!!
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Oh good! I hope you find it useful. 🙂
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Happy New Year Raimey. I used to use word but got frustrated with scrolling and the ability to work between my phone, Ipad and computer. The scrolling got me on my phone too. I very much enjoy Scrivener. Thank you for sharing your template 🙂
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Loved your post, Erika. And yes, I also find it difficult living in this PC versus Mac operating systems world. Everybody’s gotta go and be proprietary and incompatible. 🙂
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The template is incredible, Raimey! I use Scrivener for novels, but it doesn’t work as well for me for short stories. (My shorts tend to run long.) I bet your template would be a perfect fit. I’ll definitely give it a try and let you know. Thanks for sharing! Cheers to 2019!
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I’m so happy to hear this might be useful to you! 🙂
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Happy IWSG Day and thanks for stopping by my blog.
I usually love trying out new software and or templates, but every time I’ve tried to use anything other than WORD for writing, it’s been a mess. I’m really excited to try out your template.
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Fantastic! I hope it makes your life easier. 🙂
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I use YWriter and LibreOffice for the most part. YWriter doesn’t have the learning curve that Scrivener has, so I was able to jump right in and start using it.
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Interesting! I’ll have to look into those. 🙂 Thanks!
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I’ve never even tried Scrivener; Word does what I want it to so I live with that. These days I often just use Google Docs or Wordpad for typing the drafts and just save Word for final formatting. I’m not fancy. I have been using your trick for awhile of using the Navigation pane to jump between chapters and scenes. It saves a lot of scrolling and makes things easier to find.
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Have you ever heard of GoogleDocs messing up a document? It happened to a friend of mine…shouldn’t be a problem though if you’re occasionally saving your GoogleDoc docs as backups.
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I’ve never used Scivener. People either love it or hate it, I’ve heard! I just use Word and pen and paper. KM Wieland’s Outlining Your Novel is the best!
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Agreed!
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Great idea!
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Why thank you, Mike. 🙂
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What an interesting approach. I never thought of that. I use Word, in its simplistic form, don’t like its many gimmicks. But maybe I should try something like your template. Might be helpful.
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It saves me time in the long run. 🙂
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Thanks for the free download! So far, I’ve been happy with Word, but I’m giving Scrivener a try for this next project, since my critique partners rave about it. To navigate scenes in Word, I just label them (in red, on drafts), then use the Find feature to jump to that scene. I also have a binder full of Lisa Cron’s scene cards which I write on in pencil, since they change. I’m hoping to streamline this bulky process.
Wishing you happy, productive, organized writing in 2019.
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The search/find method works, too, definitely. This method would save you a couple of steps, but not much. Good luck with Scrivener!
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Thank you. Generous as always, but I’m a Scrivener fan through and through. 😉
Anna from elements of emaginette
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I’ll know where to come if I ever decide to try it again. 🙂
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How wonderful of you to share. It’s not as easy as it sounds to get that stuff right!
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I had to look some of it up to remember how to do it. Creating functions in Word, for instance, is not as easy as in Excel, and the options are far more limited. 🙂
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I”m a Scrivener fan – but I love the template you created! Making those up is so much fun!! You’re very generous to share it so freely! Hope 2019 brings you all kinds o joy! 🙂
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Shucks, thanks, Jemi. 🙂
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I use Microsoft Word, too, Raimey. I’ll need to give this template a try. Thanks so much for all you do to assist your fellow writers. All best to you in 2019!
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I hope it ends up saving you time. 🙂
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Have downloaded, it looks good I use a mixture of Scrivener n word. But more word now I am editting strangely enough…. But then again I wrote it in word and then transferred to Scrivener so a pretty much jumbled up way of doing it! Happy New Year X
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You’re probably a good judge of which application works best for you, though. 🙂
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Great idea! I used to write only with Word. Now I’m trying Scrivener. I had the same issues as you with Word, and am finding different issues with Scrivener! Not sure yet which one I prefer. Happy New Year!
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Hi Lisa! I think that’s ultimately why I haven’t really given Scrivener a fair shot yet. When I tried it, it didn’t do everything I wanted it to do.
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What a great idea! I also work in Word – tried Scrivener and it just didn’t take. I’m looking forward to trying out this new tool. Thanks!
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I hope it ends up saving you time, Lee. 🙂 Lots and lots of time. 🙂
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Oh wow. I had no idea Word even did that. I usually just use the navigation pane so I can click back and forth between the chapters. I’m a Word or Google Doc user (when on my Chromebook) so thank you for this. Happy new year.
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I sometimes use that for quick shifts between chapters, too. 🙂
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I use Word, in part because during my first several years I accessed my manuscript on so many different computers I needed a word processor common to all of them. I use to walk around with a memory stick in my pocket containing all my chapters, so all I had to do was find a computer with Word on it and I was ready to go.
Have a great 2019!
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That’s smart. Happy 2019 to you too, Ken!
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Thanks for the template. The writing apps I use are Grammarly and the Hemingway Editor. One for type-o’s the other for sentence structure. Great for English, but not when I try to add slag to a character’s dialogue. Nothing replaces a trusted reader for that.
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The Hemingway Editor interests me, but I think the price tag was a bit much for me back when I checked it. 🙂
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I abandoned PC when it came out with Vista. I do miss Word, but since I’ve gone over to the dark side, there’s no turning back.
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Vista was a nightmare!
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This came at the PERFECT time as I’m a bit flustered with Scrivener. I’ll look at the template, thank you 🙂
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My pleasure, Christy! I’ll visit you back soon.
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Wow, now this is helpful! Happiest of new years to you, and thank you for generously sharing your hard work!
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I’m so happy it’s something people seem to want. I wish I’d shared it a long time ago.
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I’m a fan of MS Word too, Raimey, and I use Styles to keep track of chapters and scenes, but not with quite the functionality as you’ve built in. I also keep an Excel workbook to track details related to plot and characters. I love how all of us find what works for us. Thanks for sharing!
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It sounds like you know what you’re doing. 🙂 I use Excel to track some things, too. 🙂
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Great post! I prefer Word. It works better for me. I’ll check out the template. Thanks.
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My pleasure. 🙂 I hope you find it useful.
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Hi Raimey!
I use the word doc. I’ve never used Scrivener and have no idea what it’s all about.
Thank you for the template!! Such a generous gesture. I’ll definitely check it out later.
By the way, my blog is up and running and I managed to sneak in the monthly post, amidst much trauma and drama 😱
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I almost forgot – A Happy New Year to you!!!
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I’m so happy it’s back up! I’ll be over to check it out soon.
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This sounds like a really good idea! I use word too, so I might try it 🙂 Happy New Year! ❤
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cool….
happy new year
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Thanks, Tanza!
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Happy New Year to you, too!
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This is awesome 🙂 At the moment I’m using a separate Open Office document for each chapter, but with all the different versions that’s getting really messy!
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I can see how that would work, too. Mind, with a lot of chapters, I would need an awfully big screen. Mine’s pretty small at the moment.
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Same, I’m still working on a rather decrepit laptop with a small screen, and my chapter numbers are only increasing. Since I got a free student copy of Word I think I’ll go with your template for my next draft 🙂
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I like pages! I’m too use to it to change. Thanks, Raimey, great post.
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I totally understand where you’re coming from.
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Since I’m only just now entering the self-publishing fray, I’m still trying to work out the best software cocktail. I love finding help like yours! x
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