Since English isn’t my first language I use Grammarly to help me write better English texts. On the website, I saw that Grammarly can be connected (It helped me decide for Scrivener) but I haven’t found out yet how it can in the current Windows version. If it is not possible, will it be possible in the updated version?
No. Grammarly does not work conveniently with Scrivener. You’ll need to copy and paste your sections into their Windows app. It is also very expensive unless you get a deal or stick with their free version.
ProWritingAid works better with Scrivener. It will read and write Scrivener files. You close Scrivener and then open ProWritingAid. Make whatever adjustments you like and then save. They will be there when you re-open the document in Scrivener. Works fine, but not quite as convenient as if it was built into Scrivener, like it is with Word.
You might also check out Ginger, which specializes in helping people using English as a second language and developing English skills.
I wrote an article about writing aids here:
steveshank.com/cgi-bin/article.pl?aid=801
but did not include Ginger as my audience has few if any English as a second language readers.
Thank you, Steve! I’ll check them out (and your blog)
Jolanda
Hi Steve, could you confirm if Ginger works better with scrivener than grammarly? Thanks
Hi Steve, could you confirm if Ginger works better with scrivener than grammarly? Thanks
I doubt it. Possibly worse. I checked their site, and it only “live corrects” in Word and in a browser using their browser extension. They are not compatible with Libre or Open office, so I doubt if it will read RTF files (Scrivener) at all.
For Scrivener, I think it is best to stick with ProWriting Aid.
- Setup a sync for the manuscript (produces another copy of your manuscript)
2 when wanting to edit, sync and exit scrivener
3 Run prowriting aid on the synced copy on the documents you changed - Save and Exit Prowriting aid
5 Reopen scrivener and sync back
This works very well and the RTF files even get named understandably.
I can confirm that Grammarly will import Scrivener .rtf files without any issue directly related to pulling in the contents. However, there are a few issues I haven’t worked out yet:
- The formatting doesn’t import
- I haven’t found a way to export the data back to Scrivener once it is corrected
- It is a serious pain to locate the .rtf file in the first place
All that said, the fact that there is a connection point between the two softwares, integration might be possible. Granted, I haven’t developed in decades and have had a stroke since then, sooo … you can take my thoughts with a grain of salt 
.
You could try using “Sync with External Folder”—read it up in the manual—run Grammarly on those files and then re-sync back to Scrivener.
Mark
That is because you are making the mistake of running on the Scrivener file instead of the synced file. Syncing renames the articles so they are understandable and easy to find. Syncing is safer, easier, and the recommended way of changing scrivener files with another program.
ProWriting Aid only works well with documents under 10,000 words. My dissertation freezes on ProWriting Aid and causes an error when I try to open it again in Scrivener. I contacted Pro Writing Aid and their response was:
'Our app works best when computing 10,000 words at a time. You can either copy and paste smaller sections into our editor or highlight smaller sections before running reports. Highlighting a section will have the report run on only the highlighted words. Hope that helps!
Their advice did not help because as soon as I opened my dissertation in Pro Writing Aid and clicked on any section with more than 10,000 words it froze.
If I am required to copy and paste smaller sections at a time, I might as well use Grammarly.
One difference for me was that Grammarly was MUCH more expensive.
thank you for letting me know that ProWriting Aid has trouble with more than 10,000 words. It is good information, however, my Scrivener articles I use it for are well under that, so currently that doesn’t affect me. When you operate on the sync files, you only open one article (document) at a time…
I’m new to this integration problem and I’m not techie so I’ll explain what happened for me. I found the Pro Writing Aid Plug In for Scrivener, downloaded PWA to my MacBookPro and opened my Scrivener file in it. It’s a novel about 41,500 words, broken into chapters and scenes. I was able, a chapter at a time, to run PWA and do considerable checks and edits (tho a bit laggy if adding new text to the file)
I saved frequently and finished the entire book. I closed PWA
But upon re-opening the file in Scrivener, it was full of garbled text. Anywhere I’d made an edit in PWA everything was scrambled. Total garbage.
I’m able to salvage my edited text from PWA and paste it back into Scrivener, but it appears my Scrivener file is ruined.
And of course my scene and chapter breaks are lost unless I paste it piece by piece.
Anyone used this new plug in with a file this size and sync it with success? Did I do something wrong or is my file just too big? Is there a quick fix? Rules to follow next time? Any other suggestions? Thanks.
As you’re a Mac user, you should post this in the appropriate Mac forum. This forum is for Windows version 1.9—nearer to Mac v. 2 but with many issues—which doesn’t have the plugin. So your problem is not relevant here; post it in the Mac forum and Mac users who use PWA are more likely to come to your aid.
Mark
Thanks Mark… but I have no idea how to find that forum… I just searched topics and chose the only one where PWA was being discussed. Can you direct me?
Go to the top of the page; click “Board index”; click “Scrivener for MacOS”; click "Technical support (Mac); click the “New Topic” button at the top, if you want to start a new thread, otherwise click in where you see “Search topics in Technical Support MacOS” and type “Pro Writing Aid”. If you think you’ve found a bug, rather than Technical Support, click "Bug Hunt (Mac) and start a new thread in the same way.
As a shortcut for you:
viewforum.php?f=28
Mark
Developing plug-in support would give this elegant piece of software more flexibility. Grammarly is quite remarkable even for the price. Scrivener with Grammarly plug-in would be a dream for productivity.
The easiest way to do it is to have an empty word document then copy and paste via (control a & control v) make sure to keep text format when you paste into windows. Do your corrections then copy and paste back into Scrivner. If you kept the source formatting in word your format should stay the same.
Most universities and writers use Grammarly. Cutting and pasting are ridiculous. Scrivener is a writing program and should allow a Grammarly plugin like other software. In the end, people will choose a program on its ease. If you had read the number of books I have with appalling grammar and spelling, that have written in Scrivener or Vellum on them in the end credits you wouldn’t think twice about this. Seriously, no matter what Scrivener offered, why would I write a book, thesis or complex paper in it, when I have to cut and paste into word to check with Grammarly. Grammarly isn’t just spelling and grammar, it also checks for plagiarism etc. I have to say I don’t use my Scrivener as much as I would like to because of this issue.
No. They don’t
Yes, they do. In Australia many universities have licensed it for students, my university doesn’t but I have purchased it. Many Authors (self-publishing) that I converse with also use it. It has over 20 million users per day. It’s not a small fly by night program. It is particularly useful for those international writers that don’t have as good a grasp on English as they might their own language i.e. international students and writers. To just say “No they don’t” without justifying it is ridiculous. It achieves nothing. As a mature age student and writer, I am fully aware of the dangers of plagiarism, Grammarly is a fantastic program, If you are going to offer writing software, enable it for university thesis work, then you should enable Grammarly in it, if not you reduce your viability of use. Once again it is the same for writing books and plagiarism. I have no issue with you or anybody disagreeing with me, but if you are going to do that then I suggest you back it up with cold hard facts. As with Grammarly, I would suggest that Endnote is supported for cite as you write, not just temporary placement holders.