Notebooks allows you to quickly write down notes or carefully create documents, manage tasks and projects, and store and organize files in unlimited hierarchies. It converts documents to PDF and produces eBooks with just a few taps, and even offers an optional, full featured PDF Reader. If you are into Markdown, Notebooks is as well.
For now the order of cards is entirely free. If you want reorder them you have to do it manually. If there are lots of cards, that could be a nightmare. The cards in a storyboard are supposed to be in strict order, that is how the story goes. So to be a storyboard app, Cardflow needs add this feature.
If you want to manage all your documents, writings, notes, tasks and files in one app, Notebooks is the app you have been looking for. With Notebooks you get the power of multiple apps:. Text Editor and Note Taker. Word Processor. Markdown Composer.
HTML to Markdown Converter. Task Manager and Reminder. File Storage and Organizer. Voice Recorder.
Clipboard Manager. PDF Converter. PDF Reader (in app purchase).
eBook Creator Its robust Dropbox and WebDAV synchronization options make it easy to share your collections of documents not only across multiple iOS devices, but also with your Mac or PC. Dedicated desktop versions of Notebooks can seamlessly pick up your work exactly where you left it on your iPhone or iPad. What Users Say “Notebooks is a wonderful App, which is so much better than the dozen other note apps I tried. It is sophisticated, in an unassuming way, so that you find yourself greatly rewarded and being productive without sacrificing time/effort to the App. I cannot tell you how much productivity I have gained. I am having a huge amount of fun, I use it constantly, more than the phone on my iPhone in fact.'
“You are GTD in every way that makes it efficient and makes me efficient.” More Detail - Notebooks allows you to conveniently write, capture and organize your ideas, notes, reminders, journals, diaries or details of life that you want to keep close at hand. If you need to take an important note, or search for one, you'll always have the ultimate notebook at your fingertips. Notebooks stores and displays almost any document you want to carry with you: text and HTML, PDF, MS Office or iWork documents, web pages, photos, videos, music and even your Palm memos. Everything you would usually print out and file you can put directly into Notebooks, without adding bulk. Notebooks also keeps your task lists and lets you tick off your to-dos as you complete them. You can divide your projects into nested sub projects, which makes them easier to handle, and with Notebooks' links you can cross-reference to documents which may be stored elsewhere in Notebooks.
When a task reaches its due date, Notebooks' badge on the home screen reminds you of pending business, and an optional acoustic alert tries to draw your attention. Notebooks provides tools to further process your documents; you can convert them to PDF or turn them into eBooks, but you can also merge multiple documents into one, or split meeting minutes into separate tasks and route them directly into your inbox. Whether you want to draft a business presentation, type a chapter of your short-story, save web pages to read later, write an entry in your diary or journal, tick off your tasks, or just capture notes and ideas on the go, you need to have Notebooks today. Long plain text documents reliably scroll to the last visited position again. Tapping a link in a formatted document no longer shows the keyboard but jumps to the link target. This applies to formatted Markdown documents, too. Formatted documents update their title when editing the first line of text even after rotating the device or opening action sheets (iPhone).
When inserting photos, large collections display much faster. Fixed an issue when creating an eBook from a single book by swiping left across its title. 8.10.4 Dec 2, 2018. This update contains usability enhancements and stability improvements. Auto correction is properly enabled when creating new plain text documents.
Dictation in empty plain text documents works as expected (iPad). When dragging files from other apps, Notebooks detects and accepts a wider range of file types. Text dropped into a plain text note picks up the correct text color, in dark mode especially. Images dropped into documents are correctly saved. This fixes the occasional issue that images just left a white square. Markdown documents no longer fail to display after adding the current location when 'smart quotes' are enabled in iOS keyboard settings.
An occasional crash when selecting 'Open in.' For PDF documents with PDF Reader installed has been addressed. When sending text as tasks to other apps, Notebooks tries to keep the receiving app from mistaking certain characters as commands.
Enhancements - Plain text documents show a few lines of extra space at the bottom when editing. This keeps the text from sticking too close to the keyboard (overscrolling). Smart Books do not show + button. Automatically numbered lists in plain text take the first line's number as initial value, so lists don't need to start at '1'. They also contain a few other tweaks.
Added support for additional URL-schemes to open other apps. Improved compatibility with new iPad Pro.
UI enhancements. 8.10.1 Sep 20, 2018. This update is compatible with iOS 12 and adds a few improvements and corrections. Numbered lists in plain text are dynamically renumbered while editing. When extracting context tags from the body of documents, Notebooks now accepts all characters except space, ',' and ';'. Improved style and print layout for Fountain documents. Performance improvements for Markdown highlighting in plain text.
Corrections - The contents of smart books is displayed correctly even with a huge font selected. Documents shared from other applications are correctly imported despite illegal characters in their titles.
Printing plain text documents avoids white font on white background. Fixed a crash when trying to drag smart books. Addressed a rare issue when starting WiFi Sharing.
8.9.3 Aug 2, 2018. Enhancements. Super- and subscript options for formatted documents are available as extra keyboard keys (if screen size allows), and from the edit popup menu. When using Notebooks' extra keyboard keys, pending autocorrections are silently accepted. The setting for an item's color label has been moved to a more prominent section. Corrections. PDF Reader: on smaller screens, the action button is displayed instead of the bookmark button; bookmarks can still be manipulated from the action menu.
A glitch when inserting the current position on an iPhone has been addressed. Extra keys correctly interpret combinations like. 8.9.1 Jun 7, 2018. Enhancements. Select all books, documents, or everything by holding the list view's 'edit multiple' button. Refined support for drag & drop into formatted and plain text documents. Improved autosave for sketches.
Corrections. When showing two documents side by side, taking notes while reading a PDF works as expected again. 'Compile documents' correctly resolves relative image references and makes sure that all included images have unique names. Screenshots are now shared/imported reliably.
Correctly handle '+' as task marker, especially when updating the task's state in the original document. Avoid duplicate entries in the list of timestamps (region specific). Reliably save bookmarks in PDF Reader.
Fixed an issue when returning to Notebooks with two documents open side by side. 8.9 May 18, 2018. Improved Editing with Advanced Extra Keyboard Keys. The 'forward delete' button removes the character.after.
the cursor; tap and hold the button to delete the rest of the current line (this is what ctrl-k does on macOS). 'Advanced forward delete' (§) deletes words, sentences or whole paragraphs with a single tap. More buttons of that type are available, to delete up to the end of a sentence, paragraph, of up to a specific character. These keys are detailed in the online documentation. Another new extra button (AbC) provides access to the text transformation options 'Capitalize', 'Make upper case' and 'Make lower case' for the selected text. Tap and hold the Undo button to select undo or redo from a menu; this saves space on the row of extra keys, but a dedicated Redo button is still available.
Use the new '##' button to set, increase or reset the Markdown heading level for the current line, independent of cursor position. Tap and hold that button to reset heading. Tap and hold '@' or '#' on the row of extra keys for a list of context tags that you have previously used. When adding a new set of extra keys, Notebooks offers new presets and provides a link to the online documentation; it is worth checking that out.
Function keys have a darker background color to differentiate them from regular extra keys. After rotating the device, the currently selected set of extra keys remains visible. New Word/Character Count Options. Tap to toggle its display modes, tap and hold to change its transparency. The new display modes optionally show relative position of cursor within the text. Improvements for Two-up Mode (view two documents side by side on iPad). Both documents remain in place while Notebooks is inactive in the background; when returning to Notebooks, the documents still appear side by side.
(Does not work across relaunches, though.). Fixed crash when tapping the + button in left document. PDF Reader. Provide settings for transition type and scroll direction. Set and change the annotation author's name in settings. Many additions and enhancements. General Improvements.
The universal version of Notebooks from now on features a slightly modified app icon to distinguish it from the 'iPhone only' version. Optimized the brightness of black theme, in settings especially. When copying text from a plain text note, the pasteboard contains the.plain text. version instead of a formatted version of the text. (This may be relevant when pasting the text into another app when Notebooks' custom font or formatting are not desired.). When automatically extracting context tags from text, don't interpret TaskPaper's '@done' notation as a context. Time stamps: when just a single format is activated, cmd-T (external keyboard) inserts that time stamp instead of the default format.
Showing more 'smart albums' when adding photos from the Photos app. Support for evernote:// links. Corrections. Fixed crash when trying to access the user's photos. Fixed the layout of formatted documents while search terms are highlighted. When creating a new plain text note, auto correction is immediately active. When editing formatted documents on an iPad Pro in 75:25 split screen mode, the keyboard no longer overlaps the last line of text.
Fixed a glitch in info view that caused all entries to be empty. Dropbox sync now silently ignores conflicts due to illegal characters and continues the process. Fixed the occasional 'sticking Done button' issue when hiding the keyboard after editing plain text documents. Markdown conversion no longer fails when text contains emoji symbols at the end of a line. Fixed a date display issue when presenting email messages. Respect dark theme setting for formatted preview. 8.8.1 Jan 11, 2018.
The new Black Theme perfectly matches iPhone X and helps preserve battery power. Improved photo picker, downloads photos from iCloud if necessary. Notebooks imports images in their original size by default. Dropbox sync: iOS no longer shuts down Notebooks when sync takes a very long time. Dropbox sync: in 'never synced before' situations during QuickSync the user can immediately decide how to resolve the conflict. Fixed multiple smaller glitches with eBook creation, presentation of email messages and more.
8.7.6 Nov 20, 2017. Notebooks 8.7.5 addresses a few issues reported by our users and contains a couple of refinements. Tapping a formatted document to make it editable no longer scrolls to the bottom.
Movies imported from the Photos App display correctly. Photos and movies added from the Photos App use the original file name if possible. Tasks' alert dates respect daylight saving time. 'Copy Plain Text' for PDF documents works as expected (with PDF Reader installed). If the import of large shared items causes Notebooks to shut down, it offers an option to skip these documents on next launch. iOS 10: The extra keyboard buttons no longer overlap with keyboard.
iOS 11: Dragging an email message into a plain text note produces a clickable link that opens the original message. 8.7.4 Nov 1, 2017.
Notebooks 8.7.4 has been prepared to look good on iPhone X, contains a couple of refinements, and addresses a few issues reported by our users. Compatibility with iPhone X, including Face ID.
Improved layout and size of extra keyboard keys on iPhone. Fixed an issue when moving or renaming task lists and syncing with Dropbox. Maintain custom sort order when completing items in task lists. When using the dark interface, MS Office documents correctly appear black on white. Added HEIF and HEIC to Notebooks' known image formats. Compatibility improvements for iOS 11.1.
8.7.3 Oct 16, 2017. Notebooks 8.7.3 further improves compatibility with iOS 11, brings a couple of refinements for drag & drop on iPads, and addresses a few issues. Timestamps appear in user's selected language again.
You can drag and drop multiple documents from Notebooks into other apps. Refined handling of items dropped into Notebooks (including a wider variety of accepted document types). Improved drag and drop into plain text documents.
When sharing URLs from other apps, Notebooks uses the first line of a given description as title. This makes it easy to give URLs useful names. Fixed a crash when taking photos and automatically adding them to the Camera Roll. 8.7.2 Oct 9, 2017. This minor update addresses a few issues on iOS 11 and contains general stability improvements. IOS 11 specific corrections. Navigating between search hits in a document works as expected again.
Links in a table of contents (Markdown or formatted documents) and other #anchors work as expected. Holding the back button in a document reliably jumps to top level. General improvements. When using custom sort order in a task list, done and canceled tasks no longer move to the end of the list.
When sending formatted documents by mail, photos are now embedded at their intended position. Smart quotes are accepted when searching books for a 'quoted phrase'. Notebooks now opens x-devonthink-item:// URLs. Added support for NetFiles.de for WebDAV sync. 8.7 Sep 18, 2017. Notebooks 8.7 adds support for iOS 11, adds Drag and Drop capabilities and allows users to create documents, task lists and tasks through Siri.
It also contains a couple of improvement and corrections. Additions (iOS 11) - Use Drag and Drop to move documents in Notebooks, exchange documents with other apps, import text snippets, photos etc. Use Siri to add notes, tasks and task lists. Changes (iOS 11) - To jump to Notebooks' top level, touch and hold the 'Back' button (instead of the current item's title). To open a document in 2-Up mode (two documents side by side), swipe right across the second document's title in the list (touch and hold initiates drag & drop now). Improvements and Corrections - The keyboard can be dismissed with s swipe-down gesture. Quicksync with Dropbox even when 'Sync on mobile networks' is turned off.
Formatted documents no longer produce an empty trailing page during PDF conversion or printing when using US Letter. Hiding the keyboard in a formatted document in portrait mode correctly terminates the editing session.
Context tags that appear at the beginning of a document (1st character) are correctly extracted. The extra keyboard keys use an improved layout on wide displays. Voice memos are reliably uploaded to Dropbox (if enabled). When closing Notebooks, PDF Reader's annotations are reliably saved.
The Markdown conversion better deals with various text encodings. Document's icons are correctly updated when toggling 'Show as Task' or 'Show as Task List'. 8.6.3 Jul 17, 2017. This update contains stability improvements and corrects issues reported by our users. Thanks a lot for your feedback. Formatted Documents - The flickering effect when activating the keyboard has been eliminated. Formatting buttons appear with a smoother animation to avoid any extra scrolling.
Extra keyboard keys show up as expected in split view on iPad Pro. Opening 'Look Up' to find a definition no longer terminates the editing session. Markdown - Reliably convert very long Markdown documents. Address a potential crash when using automatic Markdown detection in combination with automatic Dropbox sync. Resolve an issue when the title contains umlauts on iOS 10.3.3.
Misc - Select the correct file extension when importing from other apps (avoid.file-url). Using 'Apply Current Style' for multiple books or duplicating books works as expected again. Renaming a PDF document no longer produces the 'Document not available' message.
When editing a document with an external keyboard on an iPhone, the toolbar no longer overlaps the text. 8.6.2 Jun 15, 2017. Notebooks 8.6.2 addresses Dropbox connectivity issues when using mobile networks (LTE), fixes a problem when searching the contents of PDF documents and corrects layout glitches when using Notebooks in iOS split view mode. New in Notebooks 8.6. Notebooks 8.6 requires iOS 9 or later.
Notebooks 8.6 is a recommended update for all users who rely on Dropbox sync. Additions and Improvements - Tap and hold any task's icon to set or change its due date. You can now change the sort order of Due Tasks. The formatting toolbar provides a dedicated Camera button.
Tap and hold it to take a photo with the camera, or tap it for a list of options. This button is available on all iPads, but on iPhones only when the screen is wide enough. New Gesture: long-tap with two fingers scrolls to the bottom of the current document. New keyboard shortcuts are available for search, toggling fullscreen and more. Hold down the cmd key for a full list.
Settings: 'Add Photos to Camera Roll' automatically adds photos taken in Notebooks to the Photos app. Some timestamp formats have been optimized. The Today extension shows all tasks that are due today (instead of due.now.). The Share extension accepts and imports a larger number of document types. iPad in 2up mode: the info for the document in the right window now correctly appears in the left window. On iPad Pro, we have optimized the typewriter mode's layout. EBook Creation - Notebooks now accepts a custom table of contents file (.ncx) and provides more attributes.
To improve compatibility, Notebooks now uses 'id' tags instead of 'name' tags for anchors. Dropbox Sync - Notebooks 8.6 uses the new Dropbox API v2, which is mandatory after June 30, 2017. Users should not notice any difference, except for better performance. Improved conflict handling: Notebooks inspects the contents of the local and remote versions of a document in addition to the modification dates. Fixed an issue when the users wants to resolve a conflict by importing the version from Dropbox (iOS 10.3 only).
New settings to show sync status of system files. The update also contains corrections and fixes. 8.6.1 Jun 13, 2017. Notebooks 8.6.1 corrects an issue that kept new users from logging in to Dropbox. It also addresses a few glitches that have been reported. New in Notebooks 8.6. Notebooks 8.6 requires iOS 9 or later.
Notebooks 8.6 is a recommended update for all users who rely on Dropbox sync. Additions and Improvements - Tap and hold any task's icon to set or change its due date. You can now change the sort order of Due Tasks. The formatting toolbar provides a dedicated Camera button. Tap and hold it to take a photo with the camera, or tap it for a list of options. This button is available on all iPads, but on iPhones only when the screen is wide enough.
New Gesture: long-tap with two fingers scrolls to the bottom of the current document. New keyboard shortcuts are available for search, toggling fullscreen and more. Hold down the cmd key for a full list. Settings: 'Add Photos to Camera Roll' automatically adds photos taken in Notebooks to the Photos app. Some timestamp formats have been optimized. The Today extension shows all tasks that are due today (instead of due.now.).
The Share extension accepts and imports a larger number of document types. iPad in 2up mode: the info for the document in the right window now correctly appears in the left window.
On iPad Pro, we have optimized the typewriter mode's layout. EBook Creation - Notebooks now accepts a custom table of contents file (.ncx) and provides more attributes. To improve compatibility, Notebooks now uses 'id' tags instead of 'name' tags for anchors.
Dropbox Sync - Notebooks 8.6 uses the new Dropbox API v2, which is mandatory after June 30, 2017. Users should not notice any difference, except for better performance. Improved conflict handling: Notebooks inspects the contents of the local and remote versions of a document in addition to the modification dates. Fixed an issue when the users wants to resolve a conflict by importing the version from Dropbox (iOS 10.3 only). New settings to show sync status of system files. The update also contains corrections and fixes. 8.6 Jun 11, 2017.
Too late we discovered an issue that keeps new users from logging in to Dropbox. We are sorry for that glitch and will fix it as quickly as we can. Notebooks 8.6 requires iOS 9 or later. Notebooks 8.6 is a recommended update for all users who rely on Dropbox sync. Additions and Improvements - Tap and hold any task's icon to set or change its due date. You can now change the sort order of Due Tasks. The formatting toolbar provides a dedicated Camera button.
Tap and hold it to take a photo with the camera, or tap it for a list of options. This button is available on all iPads, but on iPhones only when the screen is wide enough. New Gesture: long-tap with two fingers scrolls to the bottom of the current document. New keyboard shortcuts are available for search, toggling fullscreen and more. Hold down the cmd key for a full list. Settings: 'Add Photos to Camera Roll' automatically adds photos taken in Notebooks to the Photos app.
Some timestamp formats have been optimized. The Today extension shows all tasks that are due today (instead of due.now.). The Share extension accepts and imports a larger number of document types. iPad in 2up mode: the info for the document in the right window now correctly appears in the left window. On.iPad Pro., we have optimized the typewriter mode's layout.
EBook Creation - Notebooks now accepts a custom table of contents file (.ncx) and provides more attributes. To improve compatibility, Notebooks now uses 'id' tags instead of 'name' tags for anchors. Dropbox Sync - Notebooks 8.6 uses the new Dropbox API v2, which is mandatory after June 30, 2017.
Users should not notice any difference, except for better performance. Improved conflict handling: Notebooks inspects the contents of the local and remote versions of a document in addition to the modification dates. Fixed an issue when the users wants to resolve a conflict by importing the version from Dropbox (iOS 10.3 only). New settings to show sync status of system files. The update also contains corrections and fixes. 8.5 Feb 9, 2017.
New setting 'Dark Theme for Documents' to present documents on dark background. The list of books and documents displays titles in bold font on Retina displays. The option to hide or show done tasks is now available from a task list's action menu. In formatted documents, shift-TAB outdents lists (that was impossible in earlier iOS versions). GoodReader's URLs can be opened from Notebooks documents again ('gropen' URL scheme). Improvements - 'Add Photo from Link' option appears only if the pasteboard contains a valid URL. When assigning context tags, the tags now appear in the same sort order that has been selected for the Contexts smart book.
When pasting contents from Apple Notes, Notebooks now makes sure to import contained images as well. Corrections - The list of recent items shows correct icons for regular documents in task lists.
Deleting custom background images from Notebooks' 'Papertype & Colors' settings works as expected. 8.4 Dec 19, 2016. Additions - When removing a document from a context with a swipe gesture you now have the option to remove it from all contexts.
It is now possible to select multiple documents and assign or remove context tags to all of them in one step (via edit multiple). The 'Show Task as Document' setting can be toggled for multiple items (via edit multiple). Full text search includes notes and free text annotations in PDF documents. Improvements - When importing documents from other apps ('Share.' Or 'Open in.' ), Notebooks detects duplicates and ask whether to overwrite the original or create a new document. When importing contents from Safari via the Share sheet, the original URL is stored in document's info.
The 'Reset Format' action for formatted documents more carefully removes custom styles of pasted snippets. The contents of smart books is sorted by document title instead of document path.
Corrections - Fixed an issue that could have shown duplicate due tasks when the title of the task list contained special characters. Unlock with Touch ID avoids a deadlock if Touch ID has been disabled system wide but is still enabled in Notebooks. Goldensunflakes, Easy, so it gets used I’ve been using this for about two years now—my original review still holds. This is one of the few apps that I use daily. Original review: I was looking for something that I could use to simply record highlights of each day, and after searching, I purchased this and Day One.
After using both for a couple of days, I quit using Day One. Notebooks lets me do everything I wanted, and more that I wasn't intending. A new entry can be quickly timestamped in your choice of formats, and just as easily marked with a georeference (i'm a biologist and this will be handy in the field) if you want to. Having a task list integrated is fantastic, and I've set up a keystroke that, when used, puts what follows automatically into my task list even when I'm writing a note.
There is a lot more power than I'm currently using, and I'm looking forward to learning all the bells and whistles over time; importantly, though, the app is easy enough to use that I do use it. Its become one of the few apps I actually use every day, and multiple times at that. Its replaced a few other apps I tried to use for this or that, but never kept with them because they were all separate from each other. The integration of notes with tasks, multiple levels of organization, and the ease of time and geostamping is what makes this five stars for me. Goldensunflakes, Easy, so it gets used I’ve been using this for about two years now—my original review still holds.
This is one of the few apps that I use daily. Original review: I was looking for something that I could use to simply record highlights of each day, and after searching, I purchased this and Day One. After using both for a couple of days, I quit using Day One. Notebooks lets me do everything I wanted, and more that I wasn't intending. A new entry can be quickly timestamped in your choice of formats, and just as easily marked with a georeference (i'm a biologist and this will be handy in the field) if you want to. Having a task list integrated is fantastic, and I've set up a keystroke that, when used, puts what follows automatically into my task list even when I'm writing a note.
There is a lot more power than I'm currently using, and I'm looking forward to learning all the bells and whistles over time; importantly, though, the app is easy enough to use that I do use it. Its become one of the few apps I actually use every day, and multiple times at that. Its replaced a few other apps I tried to use for this or that, but never kept with them because they were all separate from each other.
The integration of notes with tasks, multiple levels of organization, and the ease of time and geostamping is what makes this five stars for me. Clurichaun, Perfect Notebook App One of those apps that gives you an uncluttered, distraction free place to just bust out on a writing jag. It is also a powerful tool for formatting if and when you need it, which makes this app the best of both worlds. I use it on my iPhone 8, iPad Pro and on a MacBook Pro and it syncs perfectly without any hassle. The developer is also not raping you with pricing or subscriptions although for further development I wouldn’t mind some IAPs or tip jar to show some gratitude for all of the dev’s hard work.
There are also great tutorials if you want to take your writing to another level or format in a slew of different ways. It holds every kind of file you can imagine such as folders, PDFs, Word, Power Point, obviously text, RTF and a powerful markdown tool.
Generally I want just about everything in PDF format, and this app will duplicate anything to just about any format that matters, plus you can also annotate with loads of full featured tools, usually only included in separate apps that do that solely. Awesome price for a universal app that does it all! PS, I don't own an iPhone X but somehow this developer has created a true black in this app where everyone else seems to fail, unless you have the X. That is what makes this app superior because it has an abundance of features with all of those little extras that everyone says isn’t possible. Clurichaun, Perfect Notebook App One of those apps that gives you an uncluttered, distraction free place to just bust out on a writing jag.
It is also a powerful tool for formatting if and when you need it, which makes this app the best of both worlds. I use it on my iPhone 8, iPad Pro and on a MacBook Pro and it syncs perfectly without any hassle.
The developer is also not raping you with pricing or subscriptions although for further development I wouldn’t mind some IAPs or tip jar to show some gratitude for all of the dev’s hard work. There are also great tutorials if you want to take your writing to another level or format in a slew of different ways. It holds every kind of file you can imagine such as folders, PDFs, Word, Power Point, obviously text, RTF and a powerful markdown tool. Generally I want just about everything in PDF format, and this app will duplicate anything to just about any format that matters, plus you can also annotate with loads of full featured tools, usually only included in separate apps that do that solely. Awesome price for a universal app that does it all! PS, I don't own an iPhone X but somehow this developer has created a true black in this app where everyone else seems to fail, unless you have the X. That is what makes this app superior because it has an abundance of features with all of those little extras that everyone says isn’t possible.
RustVel, Nothing compares for typed writing I love how I can sync this and have this “noteboooks” folder on the app and on my computer at the same time. I love to journal, study, write and all of it is in one place. The app has so much to offer. RustVel, Nothing compares for typed writing I love how I can sync this and have this “noteboooks” folder on the app and on my computer at the same time. I love to journal, study, write and all of it is in one place. The app has so much to offer.
Jill Duffy The Best Writing Apps of 2018 Novelists, screenwriters, book authors, and bloggers: Look no further for the best dedicated tool for your craft. Dedicated Writing Apps What constitutes the best app for writers depends on their process, genre, and conditions in which they are most. Additionally, it depends on what they intend to do with the finished work: publish it online, send it to an agent, or shoot a film. There is no single best app for all writers, but there are plenty of excellent writing apps that cater to different needs, work styles, and genres. Priced for the Starving Artist (Mostly). Apps for writers tend to be less expensive than other kinds of software.
Many sell for a one-time fee, although a few require a subscription. The least expensive writing apps cost only around $10. Final Draft, one of the most expensive writing apps, costs $249.99, but even that is a one-time fee, meaning you pay once and own the software for life.
Ulysses used to sell for a standalone fee but recently moved to a subscription model, now costing $39.99 per year. If you own an older copy of Ulysses, it's still yours to keep and use, but you won't receive any updates. When an idea strikes, many writers want to be able to jot it down or immediately add it to an ongoing project. To do that, they likely need a companion mobile app to go along with their desktop software. Support for mobile apps isn't particularly strong in the writing category.
A few companies that make software for writers offer iOS apps, but it's rare to find anything for Android. Additionally, mobile writing apps typically cost a good deal more than what people are used to paying for an app. Scrivener for iPhone and iPad, for example, runs $19.99.
Storyist's iOS app is $14.99. To get over this price hurdle, I recommend thinking about the combined cost of the mobile and desktop software together and considering it a bundled purchase. What's the Best Screenwriting Software? As a genre, screenwriting has unique requirements. Scripts for movies, television, and the stage must make clear the difference between direction, setting descriptions, spoken dialogue, and so forth. This allows all the people involved in creating the final product—actors, film crew, editors, and directors —to do their jobs. As a result, the formatting for screenwriting is exceedingly precise.
A few writing apps cater specifically to professional screenwriters. Final Draft is one, and it continues to be an industry standard. If you're actively employed in film or television, you might already own a copy.
When you purchase Final Draft, you can use the app on two computers, and it's compatible with both Windows and macOS. Another app that specifically handles scripts is Adobe Story. The app costs $9.99 per month, but it's also available to anyone who has an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription.
Story is unusual because it's not just writing software. It also lets you make notes about the actual production of a script. For example, you can write a detailed description of shots you want to see or provide information about shooting locations. The app can generate a production schedule based on all the metadata associated with each scene. Adobe Story is also compatible with, so after the footage has been shot, you can pipe in the script to run alongside the video, helping the editors do their job, too. Alternatives to Microsoft Word Why would a writer use a dedicated writing app instead of (or, or any other typical word processor)? There's no reason you can't use any of those apps, but they don't have many of the special features you get from apps that are specific to writers.
Fiction writers, book authors, and screenplay writers often change the order or scenes, sections, and chapters. That's easy to do when an app is designed specifically with professional long-form writers in mind. With the right drag-and-drop tools, you can quickly and easily reorganize your files.
It also helps if footnotes and endnotes renumber accordingly, when you move parts around. Another feature that office apps typically don't have is a writing target.
It's common for professional writers to strive to meet a daily word or page count goal. So while Word, Google Docs, and Pages all have word count features, they don't have the same options for setting and tracking goals over time. Some writers need to keep exhaustive notes regarding plot points and characters, and possibly even visual references, such as an image of a shoot location or faces that inspire characters. The best writers' apps include tools that make it easy to see reference material and notes whenever the writer needs, and then get back to writing quickly.
Finally, the word processors in suites are generally heavy-duty apps that can do everything from formatting and footnoting to headers, footers, and special pagination. That's handy for many kinds of business and academic writing, but for the average creative writer, all this may just be a major distraction. What's the Best Distraction-Free Writing App? Writers who find themselves in the less-is-more camp will want a writing app that strips away anything that could possibly be the least little bit distracting.
Distraction-free writing apps are a dime a dozen; the trick is to find one that also offers the tools you need when you need them. The best distraction-free writing apps hide the tools you need until the appropriate time, rather than omitting them altogether. With that criterion in mind, Ulysses is my favorite distraction-free writing app, and a PCMag Editors' Choice. A well-designed interface makes Ulysses easy to use and easy on the eyes.
It has good tutorials and help menus for newcomers, including a cheat sheet for Markdown language. Markdown is a very lightweight set of codes that can be used instead of the rich formatting options that are common in word processors. If you've ever typed asterisks (.) around a word in a chat app to make it bold, that's similar to Markdown.
It's very simple, and takes no time at all to learn, especially when you have a cheat sheet to guide you. The idea behind Markdown is that you can apply basic formatting, like marking titles and subtitles, bold and italic text, without moving your fingers from the keyboard. It's also less distracting than having a panel with 50 alluring typefaces that you're dying to try. Ulysses is only available for Mac and iOS. Windows users might also try yWriter. Note that we have reviewed, but it didn't score well enough to make this top-ten list.
If you're curious why, please feel free to read the review. What Are the Best Writing Apps for Novelists? Book authors spend a lot of their time simply organizing their manuscript. Whether it's fiction or nonfiction, the work doesn't always shape up as the author originally intended.
Chapters sometimes move. Stories aren't always told in a linear fashion. And scenes sometimes become more effective when their order changes.
To facilitate the shaping of a story in this way, you need a library, or a pane within the writing app showing file folders and their organization. Not all writing apps have one, as you can see from the chart above. Writing for Medium, WordPress Blogs, and More.
Book authors and screenwriters aren't the only types of writers, of course. Many writers create shorter pieces that they publish online directly, without ever passing through the hands of an agent, publisher, or movie producer. If you're publishing on Medium or WordPress, it sure is handy to have a writing app that can export each piece directly to your platform of choice.
Ulysses and iA Writer both have integration options for those two platforms. Like Ulysses, iA Writer is a distraction-free writing app, but it's much more pared down. It has some neat functions, such as text transclusion, that can be fun to learn for people who think more like programmers than traditional writers. Text transclusion allows you to create a final document of many smaller pieces by, essentially, giving commands about which files to pull together and in what order. 'First display the introduction.
Next add an image. Then include my argument. Finally, show my author bio.' The text of your document could be all of four sentences long, but it might whip together a piece that, when exported, is 25 pages. Your Writing, Your Choice Every writer has unique needs and desires.
Do you need an app that works on both Windows and macOS? Is learning a new way to format text a deal-breaker?
Does your final submission need to meet industry standards the way screenplays and teleplays do? The range of software dedicated to writers is impressive. If nothing tickles your fancy from the full reviews linked below, you should also read our, as well. Finally, if you decide that a dedicated writing tool just isn't for you, and you'd rather just use a plain old word processor, we've rounded up the, too. Pros: Well tailored for screenwriters. Powerful tools for both writing scenes and crafting the larger story. Plenty of view options.
Offers a variety of templates. Collaboration supported.
Cons: Collaborative editing restricted to one person at a time. Inadequate default auto-save and revision history.
Bottom Line: Final Draft is the software you need if you are in the screenwriting business or aspire to be. It has all the tools you need to get the script right, both from a story perspective and a technical one.
Pros: Beautiful and clean interface. Excellent selection of distraction-free modes. Tracks writing goals.
Filters help organize content. Can publish directly to WordPress. Cons: Now sold as subscription. Requires some learning, especially for those unfamiliar with Markdown.
![Notice boards for writing notes organising collections of notes mac app store download Notice boards for writing notes organising collections of notes mac app store download](/uploads/1/2/5/4/125408500/885779901.jpg)
No audio file uploads. Bottom Line: Ulysses is the most elegant distraction-free writing app for Mac. It's ideal for writers who prefer a minimal interface and total flexibility, rather than a lot of structure and hand-holding. Pros: Inexpensive. Uses distraction-free style with Markdown language. Offers transclusion method for embedding images, tables, and so on.
Can export directly to Medium and WordPress. Cons: Few tools for organizing and arranging files. No templates for genres.
Not ideal for code-phobic writers. Bottom Line: Taking minimalism to the extreme, iA Writer might be the writing app with the fewest built-in distractions, and it's inexpensive, too.
But this Mac app is also BYOE: bring your own everything. Pros: Distraction-free writing app with support for Markdown language.Supports direct publishing to popular online sites. Good export options.
Cons: No library or tools for reference materials. Not ideal for long-form writers. Lacks templates. Solutions to common technical problems require macOS Terminal. Bottom Line: Byword, an inexpensive writing app for Mac and iOS, publishes your work directly to Medium, WordPress, and other platforms. It's not ideal for long-form writers, however.