Scrivener or Manuskript?—Help me decide.

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1

Scrivener or Manuskript?

  • Very strong recommendation for Scrivener
  • Recommendation for Scrivener
  • Try both—you should know before the trial ends
  • Recommendation for Manuskript
  • Very strong recommendation for Manuskript
  • Programs are comparable; either will be worthwhile
  • No opinion; flip a coin

0 voters

I’m working on a novel (24 chapters so far; starting Act III) and I recently received a recommendation for Scrivener. I don’t object to the pricing; if I go with the competition I’ll probably make a similar donation to support continued development. What’s coloring my decision is the fact that I generally prefer open source software to proprietary software…especially when it comes to operating systems. I use Windows much of the time, but I hold my nose while doing so. I’m migrating to Linux as much as I can, and I currently use LibreOffice for word processing.

I’d like to hear recommendations from those who have used both programs and/or are strong supporters of one or the other. And it would also be helpful, either way, to hear concrete examples of how either program could help with my current disorganized mishmash of files and note cards. Thanks.

2

The best way to determine if Scrivener will meet your needs is to download our free trial, which allows 30 days of actual use.

Note that there is currently a public beta version of Windows Scrivener 3. Regardless of your views on beta software generally, I’d recommend looking at the beta for evaluation purposes, to see where Scrivener is going rather than where it’s been.

Katherine

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Thanks for replying, Katherine. How is Scrivener at importing from and exporting to LibreOffice (.odt) and, possibly, WordPerfect (.wpd)? I wouldn’t use Microsoft Word on an ongoing basis even if they paid me.

4

You don’t have to use Word, but the .docx file format is fairly ubiquitous in many alternative apps – as is .rtf.

5

Scrivener supports import from/export to .odt, but not .wpd.

While I share your disdain for Word, it is widely supported and therefore is often the best exchange format. For example, Apple hasn’t published the Pages format, and the Pages ,rtf converter is terrible. But the Pages Word converter is quite good, so we recommend Word as the exchange format for our Mac-based Pages users.

Katherine