The next beta version of PageFour will be available for download in a few days. This version will contain the new “Merge Pages” feature, which was designed to make putting your finished work together a simpler process.
Most PageFour users structure their work in such a way that each chapter takes up a single Page, but the time does come when the finished work needs to be taken out of PageFour and sent elsewhere - beta readers, publishers, best friends who NEVER criticize, etc. Extracting your work from PageFour is a simple enough process - as existing users know - but with 30 or more chapters in your novel, this comes to a lot of files.
The Merge Pages feature was created with this scenario in mind.
The dialog is very easy to understand, and is accessed from the right click menu after selecting a folder or a number of Pages. These Pages can then be moved up or down before the merge is carried out, and any unwanted Pages (notes for example) removed. The newly merged Page is then written to a PageFour folder for you to edit, export, or do whatever you wish with.
At no point are any of the Pages you are merging over-written, so there is never any danger of losing your work through misunderstanding the feature.
A fuller description will be available next week when the beta is released.
May 4th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Way cool, Derek! Looking forward to using the new feature - I can see it being very useful
May 4th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
Thanks Tess. It’s Darren though, but I won’t hold it against you.
May 5th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
I like that alot!
May 6th, 2007 at 5:18 am
Merging all my pages together in the end was the only reason I had not to like PageFour. (I have every scene on a different page right now). I’m so excited to see that you’re releasing a feature to make it easy. Now I wholeheartedly love PageFour!! Thanks.
May 6th, 2007 at 8:25 am
Good to know Jennifer. Keep an eye on the blog for an early release date of the beta version.
May 7th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
Is it stable?
May 7th, 2007 at 10:01 pm
As houses.
Every PageFour feature is built with security and safety in mind - don’t want to be losing that extra special chapter that you wrote when the creative juices were in full flow…
May 8th, 2007 at 2:51 am
Whew, or that homework assignment…. I don’t know, whenever I hear windows and beta in the same sentence I run like hell! But if it is stable, then why is it a beta? Also, you are good at answering questions quick. I like that. It shows that you are on top of you game. Rack up one more for Darren!
May 8th, 2007 at 8:15 am
The reason for the betas is to give people the option of commenting on and influencing new features before they are officially released. This helps the development process along as it means feedback comes in regularly rather than once every 6 months when a new ‘release’ appears. Beta features are often changed slightly because of this feedback, before they are officially released.
Official releases take up a lot of time - writing the help file, updating all the download sites, contacting all existing users etc. so they occur only rarely.