Create a New Manuscript from Scratch

You don’t have to use a pre-existing template to create your own manuscript, though this certainly helps when creating manuscripts that conform to a publisher’s requirements.

  1. Choose Create new manuscript on the Welcome screen or select File > New > Manuscript with Template… from the main menu.
  2. Click Create Empty Manuscript.
    A new manuscript with no defined sections opens.

    Empty manuscript template
    From here, you can:
    • Define sections, specifying word and character counts, as well as page behavior, using the Section palette, in the content tab of the Inspector.
    • Set styles for text elements using Paragraph Styles palette, in the style tab of the Inspector.
    • Set citation styles, element labels, layouts for figures and tables, and more using the Manuscript palette, in the style tab of the Inspector.