Sometimes an application has an iconic feature that it's renowned for. In Scrivener that feature is the Corkboard view.

The Corkboard is an easily understood, visual, way of viewing documents in your Binder as Index Cards

Index Cards

Index Cards are a completely different view of the documents in the Binder. It doesn't matter if the content of the document is text, an image, a PDF or another file format.

Every document has an index card

At its most basic the index card will display the document's icon, title and is home to the Synopsis. The Synopsis is a very useful short description of the document contents or purpose.

Linear v Freeform Corkboard Views

Scrivener supports 3 powerful Corkboard views:

Linear View: The index cards can be organized in a linear grid view where changes made in the Corkboard view are reflected in the position of the documents in the Binder.

Freeform View: Alternatively, the Corkboard can become a completely freeform area where the index cards can be moved around freely, having no impact on the arrangement of the documents in the Binder unless you choose to commit the changes you have made moving the cards around using the Commit Order option.

Arrange by Label: This view can be used in conjunction with either the Linear View or the Freeform View. The Label applied to the document is used as a way to visualize the cards along a vertical or horizontal axis. This is perfect for creating a timeline of progress.

A Rainbow of Organization

The myriad colour coding options inside Scrivener mean you are able to add a rainbow of meaning to your work. Colours can be added to an entire index card or be more subtle, displayed as a stripe of colour along the edge of the card.

The colours come from the Labels applied to documents and everything about them can be customized, including the name "Labels". For some projects I have a subtle pastel palette and for others it's a full on vivid gamut.