
novelWriter
Multi-document markdown-like editor for writing novels.
What is novelWriter?
novelWriter is a Markdown-like text editor designed for writing novels and larger projects of many smaller plain text documents. It uses its own flavor of Markdown that supports a meta data syntax for comments, synopsis and cross-referencing between files. It's designed to be a simple text editor that allows for easy organization of text files and notes, built on plain text files for robustness.
The plain text storage is suitable for version control software, and also well suited for file synchronization tools. The core project structure is stored in a project XML file. Other meta data is primarily saved in JSON files.
novelWriter is not a full-feature Markdown editor. It allows for a minimal set of formatting needed for writing text documents for novels. These are currently limited to:
- Headings level 1 to 4 using the # syntax only.
- Emphasized and strong text. These are rendered as italicized and bold.
- Strikethrough text.
- Hard line breaks using two or more spaces at the end of a line.
Features not supported in the editor are also not exported when using the export tool.
The core export format of novelWriter is HTML5. You can also export the entire project as a single novelWriter Markdown-flavor document. In addition, other exports to Open Document, PDF, and plain text is offered through the Qt library, although with limitations to formatting.
Other features include:
- Syntax highlighting for the editor and syntax highlight themes
- User interface themes including dark theme
- Auto save documents and project files on a set timer
- Document stats including word count
- Easily organize files in root folders and sub folders
- Assign tags to notes
More information can be found on the Github page.
novelWriter Screenshots



novelWriter Features
Comments and Reviews
Said about novelWriter as an alternative
WriteMonkey is for distraction-free writing, and novelWriter helps you organize your story. Therefore these two applications have different purposes, but I like them both, depending on what I intend to do.
Tags
- Novel Authoring
- Text Editor
- Writing tool
- Office & Productivity
- Productivity Tool
- visual-overview
Lists containing novelWriter
Linux Apps for Writers • Literature • Write On • writing and planning software to tryRecent user activities on novelWriter
- desbestliked novelWriterde
- added Support for MarkDown as a feature to novelWriterGu
Lyra70added novelWriter as alternative(s) to Notion Story Wiki
has just the right amount of structure to help with your writing, without getting in your way
It cleanly separates content from metadata, allowing you to leave in-line comments and headings in your writing, without polluting the finished product
as well as being open source, novelWriter is actively maintained