Scrivener
Tailored for extensive writing, this tool offers flexible structure and organization, integrates project outlines, supports various formats, and allows reorganization through drag and drop, ensuring research materials are within reach for efficient work.
Cost / License
- Pay once
- Proprietary
Application types
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- iPhone
- iPad
- PlayOnLinux - PlayOnMac
- Wine
Features
- Corkboard
- Document compiler
- Scene Management
- Character database
- Visual Organization
- Split files into sections
- Support for scripting
Support for LaTeX- Integrated Search
- Multi-document View
- Folders
- Word counter
- Outline mode
- Distraction-free Writing
- Quotas support
- iPhone/iPod sync
- Screenwriting
- Outliner
- Write in separate docs
- Export to EPUB
- Export to PDF
Scrivener News & Activities
Recent News
Recent activities
honestcritik added Scrivener as alternative to WriterCroft
Bluxon added Scrivener as alternative to Writing Desk
blAkeMusic added Scrivener as alternative to WriteGeist
ForgeTalesStudio added Scrivener as alternative to ForgeTales
KRANNIE added Scrivener as alternative to Krannie Manuscript Framework
SceneWright_Studio added Scrivener as alternative to SceneWright Studio
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What is Scrivener?
Scrivener is a writing software with features for drafting, editing, and compiling manuscripts. It's suitable for various projects like novels, screenplays, and non-fiction. The software offers tools like sectioned writing, outlining, and corkboards. It's designed for long writing projects, allowing flexible composition and organic growth of manuscripts. It adapts to different writing styles and integrates work into a project outline for easy restructuring.
Scrivener includes research tools, allowing access to reference materials alongside your work. It also aids in transcribing interviews, taking notes on PDF files or webpages, and cross-referencing earlier chapters. When ready to publish, it compiles work into a single document for printing, self-publishing, or exporting to formats like Word, PDF, Final Draft, or plain text.
Other features include text editing, formatting presets, import capabilities for various file types, corkboard, outliner, templates and icons, scriptwriting tools, non-fiction tools, side-by-side document viewing, full-screen writing, metadata, collections, and more.
Scrivener Videos
Scrivener information
Developed by
Literature & Latte Ltd Licensing
Proprietary and Commercial product.Pricing
One time purchase (perpetual license) ranging between $60 and $70.Rating
Average rating of 3.4Alternatives
179 alternatives listedBadge
Get an embeddable badge for ScrivenerSupported Languages
- English
- French
- German
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
- Portuguese
- Chinese
- Spanish
- Swedish
- Russian
AlternativeTo Categories
News & Books, Office & Productivity, Photos & Graphics, Video & Movies, Audio & Music, Business & CommerceApple AppStore
- Updated
- 4.18 avg rating
Comments and Reviews
Note: it's still possible to find the scrivener.appimage for Linux as of August 2022
Windows users are third class citizens and never get updates within two years of Mac users. Any criticism of this policy on their forums results in locked threads, never admitting any wrong or responsibility to their customers. It's some of the most anti-consumer practices I've seen, especially for such a dedicated, niche customer base.
This. We're in January of 2020, and they have missed yet another deadline. They don't give one single, solitary firetruck about Windows users.
Agreed. I'm starting to think Version 3 for Windows will get here around the same time as Version 4 for Mac. The Windows version is already sliding behind features for the Mac version with excuses like "Well, the Mac OS lets us easily hook into this feature, so the Windows version just won't have it at all." Here we are in September and a simple "Find & Replace" operation in the Windows version absolutely explodes ("whole word" replaces even partial words). If you want to spend money on something and be disrespected, choose Scrivener for Windows.
If Windows users are 3rd class then what are Linux users?
One of the few one-time payment apps left out there. They must-have if you write novels or big projects.
However, do keep in mind that Scrivener has some pretty frustrating syncing issues that can lose all of your work if you're not careful. You're basically limited to Dropbox, and you have to use the app exactly the way the devs tell you, or you'll bork your files. Also, the app is pretty heavy and has a lot of features I don't ever use, so it tends to drain my battery more than other writing apps.
I'm looking forward to the Scrivener Lite Markdown app that's coming in the near future.
Things started out well, but over time as MacOS got more inaccessible, so too did Scrivener. Do not get me wrong, as a tool to write actual novels and make things that are meant to be read for pleasure, it is a great tool.
The trouble starts when you try to put together a draft that you can send to an editor, an agent, or Odin forbid, a publisher. For starters, the text in such boxes as the indicators for fonts and sizes is far too small. Scrivener keeps telling us that they can only use what Apple lets them, but if browsers like Brave can make successful efforts to boost font sizes, it behoves everyone to try.
And Scrivener's text editor can zoom in to increase the size of the text you are working on just fine.
Which brings us to the compile feature. Because you cannot see the indicator for the font face clearly, and because the interface of the compile feature is like a 1999 era Windows networking box, it is like pulling teeth to even get the document to have page breaks in the right places. Then, partly because you can never tell what font the editor thinks you want in the document, the compile has inconsistent formatting.
Reading back the document whilst prepping it for an agent, you find the compile and Scrivener have decided to make some parts a different colour, randomly, without any clue as to why.
Scrivener has always had problems, including an interface that makes finding functions very difficult. But version three makes life far more difficult for authors than it already is. Literature And Latte are also incredibly unresponsive to cries for help, and as already hinted, deflective of complaints about serious issues with the program. They need to go back to the drawing board and rebuild version four from the ground up.
Expensive as hell for what it is, a glorified text editor that once you pay for it, locks you in by making it extremely tedious to migrate.
I'd recommend either Manuskript or Obsidian with a few plugins.
If you are writer it's a good piece of software, it has some sortfalls but - who doesn't.
It certainly focuses on Mac vs Windows.
When the hell is this going to update for Windows?! It's starting to look its age