I continue to use Scrivener on my Mac, for over two years now. I just love it. I use iOS Scrivener too when I have my iPad with me and not my Mac. Apple’s magic keyboard sure makes using the iOS version of Scrivener a lot easier. Well, it makes using most apps easier I guess.
I write academic work in Scrivener, random notes in Bear, and everything else in BBEdit.
1 Like
Well, this is a Scrivener forum. Did you really think people here wouldn’t “still” be using it?
Okay, so obviously I use Scrivener. The new 3.0 is amazing but I admit I’m still trying to work out some details. That said, I do use some plugins with it. I use Grammarly and Zotero.
Technically Zotero is not exactly a plugin but it’s so simple to add citations to Scrivener when using it that I’m not going to complain. Although, I do have a formatting issue for pasting into my Scrivener blog posts, which I posted about in this L&L forum.
Grammarly (via free beta version for now) also has an issue I don’t like . For whatever reason you have to be online for it to work, even if you’ve download the software.
Actually, the original poster really seemed to be pushing another application … for a while he was answering a wide range of requests for help with “use that other application”. He was called out on that and seems to have gone quiet since.
I have recently tried that other application in relation to preparing stuff for a website, but actually found it intensely irritating. I haven’t yet dumped it, but I probably will.
Scrivener has been my main writing app since January 2007—when I first joined the forum, but I may have been using it for a few weeks before that—and will continue to be so.
Mark
1 Like
For years, I stubbornly pursued the mythical One True Writing app. I like simplicity. But like the man said, as simple as possible — but no simpler. Different kinds of writing better suit different apps, and even hardware.
Like many, I’ve flirted with other apps like Ulysses (easier than, y’know, actually writing!), but for my professional work, Scrivener for Mac has remained the go-to app nearly since it began all those years ago. That said, I’m kind of appalled at how many different writing apps I use in a given week!
-
Scrivener for Mac: for writing a book, play scripts, and long form journalism. Nothing I’ve found better that allows me to write in chunks and rearrange them in different ways, and to keep all my research for each project in one place. Generally I export the finished project to MS Word, pdf, or WordPress.
-
Apple Notes: as it’s improved substantially in recent years, it’s become where much of my non-long form writing starts, the way I used to use Drafts. It’s just so easy to open and write on my iPad, phone, and MacBook, as I’m doing now, then sort out where that writing goes later. I’m looking forward to trying the new tagging capabilities in the next version.
-
Google Docs: I hate it in many ways, but haven’t found anything better for collaboration. One of my books and several plays have been co-authored, and it’s the easiest way for both of us to work on a single document in progress. When possible, I start a project in Scrivener and then use Docs for collaborative revision and rewriting. If someday Scrivener added collaboration functions, I’d try even harder to convert all my writing partners to it.
-
iA Writer: for short articles that don’t demand Scrivener’s organizational capabilities. But I rarely write that sort of thing anymore. Of all my writing apps, it’s probably the one I could most easily give up if I had to, but it’s also the one I wish I could use for everything, it’s so well designed. If Scrivener and iAWriter produced a love child, I’d adopt it. (And no, Ulysses ain’t it for me.)
-
Pages: mostly for creating invoices and such, and for editing other writers’ work using the comment and change-tracking functions. I use it when the other writer also uses a Mac or iPad, and use Google Docs for the unenlightened others.
-
Scrivener for iOS: generally when working away from home. Unlike others here, I actually prefer the simplicity of the iOS version to the original, but a few missing features, well documented elsewhere on this forum, prevent me from using it nearly as much as the Mac version.
Previous posters here have asked why some of us prefer writing on iPads. That’s a whole other discussion that has been amply aired in many, many other venues. If you’re interested, check out Matt Gemmell and MacStories’ respective iPad only series. For many of us, iOS just feels more fun and natural to use than MacOS, even t hough I’ve used a Mac every day since the 1980s.
I probably spend 90% of my screen time (reading and writing) on my iPad. At home, I often use it with an external display or stand to elevate the display to ergonomic eye level, plus bluetooth keyboard and trackpad — both Apple’s old, pre-Magic wireless devices, still going strong lo these many years! That set up allows me to write with the screen in portrait mode, my preference when I don’t need to see more than the single document I’m writing. The pencil is handy for editing.
I second Katherine’s recommendation of iPads for portable work. I use a 10.5” iPad Pro with apple’s Smart Keyboard in libraries and on the couch at home, as I’m doing now. Earlier this summer,on my first trip since the pandemic began, I left the MacBook at home for the week, and wrote a couple of stories on the iPad, one using Scrivener. It was all I needed, for writing, listening to music, video watching, book and news reading, etc. And much slimmer, lighter, and wieldier for travel than even my MacBook. It’s the ideal portable writing machine, like the old 11” MacBook Air was for many, but even lighter and thinner and of course far more versatile.
When my 2015 MacBook Pro eventually goes to the great recycling center in the sky, I hope to be able to get by with just an iPad, often connected to an external display, keyboard and trackpad. By then, I hope Scrivener for iOS will have added the missing features I need to make that possible. I think it’s the only app I use anymore that still requires a Mac for my needs.
1 Like
Using toys like iOS may be fine for writng fiction, but not for any real non-fiction or academic project that requires a lot of research material plus a citation manager. The thought of doing what I am doing on an iOS device would be give me migraines. You need an actual computer for doing heavy lifting.
3 Likes
I think “toys” far undersells iOS. More importantly, different tools for different contexts. Citations, etc. don’t work on iOS, iirc, and that’s fine. The work of getting words down works swimmingly on iOS. It works better than notes on the phone, allowing for some organization One the iPad, it nearly matches the flow on the Mac. I’m sure there’s more, but that’s how I use them. MacOS is for the heavy lifting and is as it should be.
iOS won’t allow for parity, but that’s on Apple.
It’s a toy if you require a citation manager, and you have 180 GB of pdf reference material. I clearly specified my situation. If your situation is different then good for you.
1 Like
No, that just means you need higher tech than most. It doesn’t make it a toy, just not for your specific case. Thousands of others, on the other hand….
Maybe let’s not put down other people’s (choices in) tools just because they’re not suitable for our own needs? My Swiss Army Knife is an endlessly handy tool that I always have with me, but it’s not suitable for driving deck screws as a carpenter or carving steaks as a butcher. Doesn’t mean you have to call it a toy just because you have no use for one.
3 Likes
It’s not a toy, it’s just not the right tool for your requirements. A hand drill is still a very useful tool, even when you are doing a job that needs a drill press.
2 Likes