For many writers, Scrivener is a godsend. Writing a novel—whether it’s a run-of-the-mill manuscript or a literary great’s magnum opus—is a Herculean undertaking. Like a marathon, there’s no sprinting through it. The level of detail, planning, attention, humility, and sheer volume of information a good writer must keep in their head like a constantly turning cement mixer is incomprehensible to those who’ve never really given it a chance.

For many, Scrivener is to writers what Photoshop has become to digital artists; the de facto standard for specialized software. For those who call Scrivener’s complex, clinical interface home, the bare-bones word processor simply doesn’t cut it anymore. At its core, Scrivener is just an organizational tool, allowing you to organize your thoughts and your work however you want. With character sheets, scene notes, a pinboard, and so many other features, Scrivener comes with a wide arsenal of tools specifically designed for the writer to get them to the finish line.

But then what? Once the dust has settled and the final draft of your manuscript lies before you, it’s time to compile. To shed all the wonderfully useful stuff that got you there—the character sketches, the development beats, the notes upon notes—so that all that remains is your shiny, naked manuscript.

The compiler is one of Scrivener’s most useful tools. Depending on the parameters you give it, the compiler will automatically organize, format, and polish your manuscript all at once, saving you what for many writers throughout history has been more of a headache than the icing on the cake of reaching a literary finish line. Below, we’ll explain step-by-step how to compile in Scrivener and how to make sure you get the most out of this great tool.