Back to: Scrivener 1 for Windows: The Basics and Beyond
Downloading the Scrivener Software
If you haven't done it already, here's how to download the Scrivener software to your computer.- Go to http://literatureandlatte.com.
- Click the Download Free Trial button.
- Click the Download Free Trial button for the Windows version.
The Scrivener-installer.exe file downloads to you computer, most likely to your Downloads folder.
Installing Scrivener
Here's how to install Scrivener once you've downloaded the file.- If you got a bar at the bottom of your browser while the file was downloading, click Run (see image above). If not, go to your Downloads folder and double-click the scrivener-installer.exe file.
Scrivener runs the installer. - Follow the prompts to install the software.
- Once Scrivener is installed, delete scrivener-installer.exe from the Downloads folder.
Registering/Paying for Scrivener
Scrivener comes with a 30-use free trial. Every time you open the software during the free trial, Scrivener will remind you how many days you have left and prompt you to pay and register. — Click Buy Online to purchase Scrivener. (Or click here to purchase now.) Upon payment, you'll receive a registration code via email with your unique serial number in the following format: SCRVNR001-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX TIP: Save the serial number and name you registered under in a safe place. You'll need both again if you install Scrivener on an additional computer in your household (must also be a Windows PC), or if you have to reinstall after a hard drive failure, etc. To register your copy, do the following.- Open Scrivener. You should get a “Scrivener is unregistered!” text box prompting you to pay and register. (If not, go to Help—>Registration.)
- In the Serial Number Name text box, enter the name you used when you paid.
- In the Serial Number text box, enter the serial number (or copy and paste from your confirmation email).
- Click Register. Once your information is authenticated, you can begin using Scrivener immediately, and you won't receive the prompt to register anymore.
Hi there, I don’t mind paying, but I DO mind paying upfront when I’m not sure this is going to be what I need. Please tell me, will the 30 day free trial be long enough to complete these lessons? I’m just wondering what the odds are that I may not like Scrivener…
Hi, Rita. I understand. Obviously, it depends on how quickly you work through the course, but the 30-day trial is actually a 30-use trial. That means every time you open and close Scrivener counts as one use. So, if you don’t use Scrivener every day, you could stretch out the trial quite a bit.
Hi, Gwen:
I initially bought Scrivener in April 2012 on an Educator’s License. I have since upgraded it to Windows Version 1.9.8.
Is that the latest Windows version?
Thanks,
Sarah Gunning Moser
Long Beach, Washington
Hi, Sarah. Yes, 1.98 is still the current version. They’re going to skip a number when the new version comes out later this year and go straight to 3 to show that it’s in line with Scrivener 3 for Mac.
If you’re ever not sure if you have the latest version, you can go to Help>Check for Updates (or something similar, I’m not at home and don’t have a PC in front of me).
Thanks, Gwen, it’s good to know I’m up to date for now. It’s also good to know Literature & Latte are upgrading again soon. I assume they’ll let existing customers know when the upgrade is available to 3.0?
I am so glad I found your Scrivener course. I found you via a post on Writers in the Storm a couple of days ago.
Sarah Gunning Moser
Sarah: Yes, they’ve been working on the update to 3.0 for quite a while, and it’s going to be great. You’ll definitely hear about it. 🙂 Thanks for letting me know how you found me. I’ve become a quarterly contributor for WITS. Great group of people over there.
i have trial version.
i will purchase during the course of my learning when I will gather some confidence.
I need Scrivener for my short stories
You can definitely use it for that, Thison. I’d probably store them all in one project and organize by date written, or topic, or genre.