Characters (Notes) Counter (created items counter)

[enzogianvittorio]

Hi, I'm getting a bit confused by the panel that looks like a file tree navigator ("Project Content").

I was expecting the Characters section to show how many characters I have created for the novel, but the only information I can see is the word count.

I've gone through the preferences and settings, trying to find a way to change what is displayed in that panel, but I haven't been able to find any option related to it.

I'm also having a similar issue with the Outline View. There seem to be menu options that should allow me to switch between different structural elements, but I can only see the chapters I've created for the novel.
For example, I have created two location notes and quite a few character notes, but I cannot find anywhere that displays the number of items created in those categories. I was expecting to see some sort of count for Characters, Locations, and similar project elements.

At this point, I'm getting quite confused. It may simply be that I need more time to understand the philosophy and workflow of the program, but for some reason I'm struggling with this particular aspect.

Is this the expected behavior, or is there something wrong with my setup? Am I overlooking a setting or feature somewhere? Hope it makes sense...

Thanks for any help.
I'm attaching a few screenshots in case they help illustrate what I'm seeing.

[vkbo]

The only counts available are text counts. There is no way for the app to know how many story characters or locations you have because there are no restrictions on the way you use note documents or tags that makes it possible to just simply count them.

The characters and plots columns will show the references used in the project. A note document are just files, and do not on their own count as a character or location. It is the tags that do this. How to use tags and references is explained in the documentation, with some minimal examples. It is not obvious from the app alone how the tags and references system works. You really need to read the relevant sections of the documentation under "Getting Started". You can also create an example project which shows you how to do this. The tip box at the top of the page on the ling above explains how.

[vkbo]

By the way, if you want a list of all your character tags, there is a panel below the viewer pane that can list them. The panel is hidden by default I think, but the first button on the view pane footer will reveal it. It looks like this for the example project:

[enzogianvittorio]

Thanks a lot for your prompt reply. In that case, I will certainly try using tags, or simply adapt to the idea of not displaying the number of items created for each category.
I’ll also try to focus a bit more on writing. However, as you can probably guess, I first need to become familiar with the philosophy of the software through my own experience and learn what to expect—and what not to expect—from it. In my case, even when I read the documentation, I learn much more by experimenting and trying to build a specific project myself.
To be honest, I’m not particularly good at following manuals or step-by-step instructions; I tend to learn much faster by doing things and discovering them along the way. 😉
Thanks again, I really appreciate your help!

[enzogianvittorio]

Wow, I’ll try to find where that panel is—very interesting indeed.
Once again, many thanks for your help!

[enzogianvittorio]

wow the Manuscript export settings -about been able to choose displaying the chapter numbers and not the titles etc is simply amazing.. very useful indeed. Thanks a lot !

[vkbo]

Sure, I too prefer to explore instead of reading. But I have to admit that it gets me stuck a lot too. The Tags and References system is a fairly unique feature of this application, and it is in no way obvious how it works, so it's hard to get around reading the docs there, or at least look at the example project.

Before making novelWriter, I made a simple command line tool that processed a bunch of text files with a similar tag syntax, so that whole feature predates novelWriter itself. In fact, it's loosely based on a text format I used for a hobby project about 30 years ago.

In any case, the TLDR of the docs is that you can set a tag for any section of a note document defined by a heading using the @tag: my_tag syntax, and reference it anywhere in your project by using its correct reference based on category. For a character, it is @char: my_tag. This creates cross-links between those files in several places, and populates the outline columns. An auto-complete meny will help you write these. Just type @ on an otherwise empty line.