How to Import and Export Scrivener Customizations

Scrivener lets you customize many elements of the app’s interface and behavior, and you can export and import some of these customizations. You may want to do this to customize Scrivener on one computer, export the files, and import them on a second computer. Or you may want to send some of your customizations to friends or writing partners. 

In this article, we look at several customization options that you can export and import: appearance themes, templates, styles, compile formats, and global settings. 

Why export and import customizations?

Scrivener allows you to make many types of customization, from general settings that adjust how the app functions to settings that change its appearance. You can export and import a number of these settings so you can use Scrivener with the same settings on a second computer or share these settings with someone else. 

Most of the customizations discussed in this article allow you to save a file from one copy of Scrivener and import it on another to apply the customizations to the second computer.

Import and export themes

Scrivener allows you to fine-tune the way the app displays, changing the colors of windows and different interface elements, such as the Binder or Corkboard backgrounds, as well as changing fonts and their sizes. Scrivener calls these display settings themes.

You create themes in the Appearance settings. On Mac, go to Scrivener > Settings, then click the Appearance tab. On Windows, go to File > Options, then click Appearance. Customize the Way Scrivener Looks with Themes tells you how to customize, save, and change themes.

At the bottom of the Settings / Options window, click the Manage menu and choose Save Theme to File (Mac) or Save Theme Options to File (Windows). From the same menu, you can choose Load Theme from File or Load Theme Options from File to load a theme you have saved. 

Import and export templates

Scrivener projects begin with templates, and the app offers you a number of options, optimized for writing projects such as fiction, non-fiction, and screenplays. Different templates contain different files and sometimes different folders, and have some different internal settings, such as for compiling your draft.

You can create your own templates, and you might want to do this if you’ve gotten your Binder exactly how you like it and want to use the same project settings in the future. This can be especially useful if you’re writing a series and have character sketches and setting sketches that you want to reuse. Read Create Custom Templates for Your Scrivener Projects to learn how to do this.

You can save a project as a template at any time: choose File > Save as Template, name the template, then save it.

After saving the template, you can create a new project with the template by choosing it in the Project Templates screen (File > New Project). If you right-click the template in that screen, you can choose Export Template to save it as a file with a .scrivtemplate extension. You can then double-click this file on another computer to start using it.

Import and export styles

Scrivener’s character and paragraph styles let you save formatting settings and apply them quickly and easily as you work on your projects. You can use one of a number of built-in styles, or create your own. You can learn about styles in How to Create, Edit, and Import Scrivener Styles on Mac and Windows.

You can’t export styles, but if you’ve set up styles for a project and want to use them in different project, you can import them. Choose Format > Styles > Import Styles. Scrivener asks you to find the project you want to import the styles from, then gives you some options as to how the styles are imported.

Unlike the other customizations in this article, this import process requires the original project. So if you want to share just the styles from a project, you can make a copy of the project, delete all your text, empty the Trash, and send the project to someone else. 

Import and export compile formats

When you have completed your Scrivener project and compile it, you may tweak a lot of the compile settings so your final document looks exactly the way you want. In Create Custom Scrivener Compile Formats, we look at how to customize compile formats.

As with other customizations, you may want to use this compile format in other projects. This is especially the case if you self-publish your books and make a lot of adjustments to create EPUB files. 

To do this, select your custom compile format in the Compile screen, then click the … icon below the sidebar and choose Export Format. Scrivener saves the compile format in a file with an .scrformat extension. You can add this compile format to another project by choosing Import Formats from the … icon menu. 

Note that you can also create a custom compile format and save the project as a template as mentioned earlier in this article. If, however, you tweak the compile format later, you will need to export it, create a new project from the template, import the compile format, then resave the project as a template so the edited compile format is available in that template.

Import and export global settings or options

You can also save all the settings in the File > Settings or File > Options screen to a file, but does not include styles or compile formats, discussed above. You might want to do this if you’ve set up Scrivener on one computer exactly the way you want and want to use the same settings on another computer. 

To do this, in the Settings / Options screen, click Manage, then choose Save Settings to File (Mac) or Save Options to File (Windows). On the other computer, from the same menu, choose Load Settings from File or Load Options from File. 

You can also reset all of Scrivener’s settings and options by clicking the Defaults button on the Settings or Options screen. This resets everything that you have changed on that screen, and is sort of like a factory reset, so be careful! It can be a good idea to first export your settings before doing this, in case you want to change back.