Every document you add in Deckle's Binder has a type: Chapter, Scene, Part, Folder, Note, or a front/back matter page, and that type quietly determines how it actually shows up in your exported book, not just how it's organized in the Binder.
What You Can Do
- Structure your manuscript with the right type for what each document actually is, and let Deckle handle the export formatting differences automatically.
- Nest scenes under a chapter to have them flow together as one continuous chapter, separated by scene breaks instead of separate headings.
- Use a Folder interchangeably with a Chapter when you want an organizational container that also holds its own prose.
How Each Document Type Behaves in Export
| Document type | What it's for | Exported? | Gets a numbered heading? | How it actually shows up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chapter | A real chapter of your manuscript | Yes | Yes, always | Its own numbered section, styled per your Chapter Header settings |
| Scene, nested under a Chapter | A scene that's part of a larger chapter | Yes | No; scenes are never individually numbered | Merged directly into its parent chapter's single section; separated from the next scene only by a scene-break divider, not a heading |
| Scene, standalone (directly under Draft or a Part, not inside a Chapter) | A scene not grouped under any chapter | Yes | No | Its own section, but with no visible title or number at all, just body text, starting right where the previous section left off |
| Folder, with its own content or scene children | Functionally identical to a Chapter | Yes | Yes, same treatment as a Chapter | Same as Chapter |
| Folder, empty and purely organizational | Groups other chapters/folders without holding content itself | No section of its own | N/A | Transparent: its children nest under the nearest real ancestor in the table of contents instead |
| Part | A Part divider above chapter level | Yes | Its own Part-level styling, not a chapter number | Its own Part-divider page |
| Note | A quick note attached anywhere in your project | Never | N/A | Always excluded, even if it's sitting inside Draft |
| Front/Back Matter (Title Page, Copyright, Dedication, Epigraph, Foreword, Preface, Table of Contents, and similar) | Standard book front/back matter | Yes | No chapter number; its own dedicated layout | Rendered with type-specific formatting; Foreword and Preface specifically get the same "opens like a chapter" treatment (including drop cap) as a real chapter, unlike other front matter |
The One Thing Worth Really Understanding: Scenes Are Never Numbered
Deckle has no concept of "Scene 1," "Scene 2," "Scene 3" anywhere in its export output; only Chapters get numbered. What changes is how invisible a scene is:
- Nested under a Chapter, a scene merges silently into that chapter's flow. The reader sees one continuous numbered chapter, with a scene-break mark (matching your Scene Break style: asterisks, a fleuron, whitespace, etc.) between each scene.
- Not nested under a Chapter, a scene still exports, but with nothing announcing it at all: no title, no number, nothing. It just starts, distinguished from what came before only by wherever the previous section ended.
If you want a visible label on a section of your book, it needs to be a Chapter (or a Folder acting as one). Scene alone never produces one, wherever it sits. The Outliner is the fastest way to see this structure at a glance, since nested scenes and standalone ones look identical there even though they export differently.
A Couple of Things Worth Knowing
💡 Folder and Chapter are functionally the same type for export purposes, as long as the Folder has its own content or scene children. An empty organizational Folder, by contrast, doesn't appear in the export at all; it's just a grouping convenience in the Binder.
💡 A Note document is excluded from export no matter where you put it, even directly inside Draft alongside your real chapters.
FAQ
Can I get my scenes individually numbered, like "Scene 1," "Scene 2"?
No. Deckle doesn't number scenes at all, only chapters. A scene either merges invisibly into its parent chapter (separated by a scene-break mark) or exports with no visible label if it isn't nested under one.
What happens if I put a scene directly under Draft instead of inside a chapter?
It still exports, but with no visible title or chapter number. It just appears as an unlabeled section.
Is there any difference between using a Folder or a Chapter for a section of my book?
Not once it has real content or scene children, both get identical chapter-style treatment in export. An empty Folder used purely for organizing other documents is different: it doesn't produce a section of its own.