Scrivener
Typewriter. Ring-binder. Scrapbook. Scrivener combines everything you need to craft your first draft, from nascent notion to final full stop.
- Paid • Proprietary
- Novel Authoring Tool
- Note-taking Tool
- Word Processor
- Mac
- Windows
- iPhone
- iPad
- PlayOnLinux (PlayOnMac)
- Wine
What is Scrivener?
GROW YOUR MANUSCRIPT YOUR WAY Tailor-made for long writing projects, Scrivener banishes page fright by allowing you to compose your text in any order, in sections as large or small as you like. Got a great idea but don't know where it fits? Write when inspiration strikes and find its place later. Grow your manuscript organically, idea by idea.
SEE THE FOREST OR THE TREE Whether you plan or plunge, Scrivener works your way: hammer out every last detail before typing a word, or carve out a draft and restructure later. Or mix your methods and do a bit of both. In Scrivener, everything you write is integrated into an easy-to-use project outline. So working with an overview of your manuscript is only ever a click away, and turning Chapter Four into Chapter One is as simple as drag and drop.
RESEARCH WITHIN REACH Need to refer to research? In Scrivener, your background material is always at hand, and you can open it right next to your work. Write a description based on a photograph. Transcribe an interview. Take notes about a PDF file or web page. Or check for consistency by referencing an earlier chapter alongside the one in progress.
GETTING IT OUT THERE Once you're ready to share your work with the world, compile everything into a single document for printing, self-publishing, or exporting to popular formats such as Word, PDF, Final Draft or plain text. You can even share using different formatting, so that you can write in your favorite font and still satisfy those submission guidelines.
MORE FEATURES:
- Familiar Text Editing
- Formatting Presets
- Import: Word documents, plain text files, Final Draft scripts, images, PDF documents, movies, sound files and web pages.
- Corkboard
- Outliner
- Templates and Icons
- Scriptwriting
- Tools for Non-Fiction
- View Documents Side by Side
- Full-Screen Writing
- Metadata
- Collections
- ...and more!
Linux appimage available at https://www.wayoflinux.com/blog/scrivener-returns
Scrivener Features
- Corkboard
- Integrated Search
- Document compiler
- Multi-document View
- Visual Organization
- Scene Management
- Character database
- Project Management
- Folders
- Split files into sections
- Word counter
- Outline mode
- Export to Word
- Distraction-free Writing
- Quotas support
- Screenwriting
- iPhone/iPod sync
- Export to PDF
- Outliner
- Write in separate docs
- Export to EPUB
Scrivener information
Supported Languages
- English
- French
- German
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
- Portuguese
- Chinese
- Spanish
- Swedish
Apple AppStore
- Updated
- 4.31 avg rating
Comments and Reviews
Tags
- Novel Authoring
- Word Processor
- Writing tool
- scrapbook
- research-writing
- Audio Transcription
- Note-taking
- scriptwriting
- typewriter
- Drafting
- essay-writing
- writing-environment
Lists containing Scrivener
Literature • Outliners • Softwares with Corkboard, Pinboard & Index Cards (for Windows) • Productivity - Note Taking and Notepad (Top 20)Recent user activities on Scrivener
Lyra70 added Scrivener as alternative(s) to World Scribe
Lyra70 added Scrivener as alternative(s) to Fortelling - Writer Tools
lancerfour Upvoted a comment on Ulysses as an alternative to ScrivenerPrimarily oriented towards "scripts" for film, play, etc. Might be useful for (non)fiction writing but does not share the wider array of tools found in Scrivener.
Scrivener is a specialized word processing and file management system for writers. It allows you to develop a new work, or import an existing work, and break it up into manageable parts. While designed primarily for fiction writing, I have also used it on a manual that required little advanced formatting.
I could not find a comparable product on Windows, however it should be said that the Mac OS X version is far more advanced than the Windows version - with features unimplemented on Windows. The Windows version is being actively developed but L&L hasn't really made much of an attempt to 'catch up' the Windows version. Despite this negative, I haven't found a better platform for writing fiction on Windows.
Scrivener does not have sophisticated formatting tools - but it does have some. It has everything you'd expect from a word processor, plus a whole lot more. However a major omission is two column formatting, which is necessary for a lot of publishing.
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.
Reply written ago
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.
Reply written ago
If Windows users are 3rd class then what are Linux users?
Reply written ago
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
Great software, but only if you are using a mac. As noted by other users, the business prioritizes mac users over everyone else, going so far as to port over to ipad while the Windows version hasn't been updated since Version 1 (mac is currently on version 3).
Also, thanks to their last license management company going under, their software now uses a service that will not allow offline activation. That's a big deal breaker for me.
You will find a plenty of reviews of Scrivener on how good it is. But this program has its bad side.
Scrivener save files can get corrupted. We don't know when and why. Backups made by Scrivener can fail too.
Scrivener 3 (Mac) save format is not compatible with Scrivener 1 (Windows). Scrivener 3 beta (Windows) is not made for work and has fixed expiry date. Exporting then importing save file back and forth is not that smooth.
So, when will Scrivener 3 for Windows out? It has been like forever.
If you're on Windows, take a look at SmartEdit Writer (free).