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Scrivener 3 is on the way…
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Posted by MadaboutDana
Nov 28, 2017 at 02:07 PM
I’m truly impressed by version 3.0. It’s a lovely, subtle but comprehensive rework of an already very powerful app.
I’ve been playing with the trial version, having barely used the earlier Scrivener 2.0 despite having had it for years.
The speed and precision of the whole thing has improved exponentially (okay, I don’t know if it’s actually exponential, but it certainly feels like it!), especially in terms of accessing research documents (Word, PDF files etc. etc.). The search function is extremely fast and highlights text in a variety of file formats. No hanging about - just wham, blam, instant find!
Hey, listen, I’m an inveterate user of Ulysses, but this is in an entirely different league. Not that I’d necessarily want to use Scrivener for some of the things I use Ulysses for. But hey, maybe I will as I become more familiar with the platform, who knows?
For the first time, I really feel that Scrivener is the perfect platform for writing one’s magnum opus. That’s not to say it’s entirely straightforward - there are so many features lurking beneath the surface that you could spend many hours just reading through the tutorial/extensive user manual. But it all feels so much more lively, and the user interface is so much friendlier!
I shall be investing in the Mac App Store version so I can use it easily on different machines.
Posted by Paul Korm
Nov 28, 2017 at 02:27 PM
A tiny, barely noticeable feature in Scrivener 3 that told me this was thoughtfully crafted software: on macOS the icon on Scrivener 3 files now show the author’s name and name of the manuscript in tiny type. Not something one would ever notice unless they were looking for it, but someone cared enough to make that happen.
Posted by MadaboutDana
Nov 29, 2017 at 10:03 AM
Cool! I hadn’t noticed that, either, but now you’ve pointed it out, I’m even more impressed!
Posted by MadaboutDana
Nov 30, 2017 at 05:21 PM
Good grief, Scrivener goes WAY beyond just being a writing tool - it’s a complete knowledge management system. What with the extensive possibilities for modifying labels, keywords, status etc. of every item, creating links between them, creating new “Collections” from searches for items (using any of the above-mentioned criteria), using multiple window panes for interacting with items as editable notes, outlines or card indices, it’s astonishingly powerful. Not totally unlike ConnectedText, in fact.
I can see why it overwhelms people (I was overwhelmed by version 2.0), but having now spent some time getting to know it (and bringing to bear experience gathered with other very competent writing/info management systems like Ulysses, Outlinely, Bear, Firetask etc.), I am beginning to realise why people spend their entire time in Scrivener. I’m currently experimenting with transferring my personal task management system to it, and so far, it’s blown me away; I now have two sets of task in outline format side by side (Personal + Work), with “copyholders” below each of them, linked to each outline so that the text/notes in a given (i.e. clicked-on) to-do item in the outline appears in the copyholder immediately below the relevant outline. This arrangement means you can write extensive notes for a given item, and if you use a folder other than “Drafts” as the basis, you can also store all kinds of documents alongside/as sub-items of your to-do items. Or link to documents in other folders, of course.
Hem! ANYWAY, moving on… I’m very impressed, especially now that the search function works so fast. I’m contemplating moving my personal journal and other research databases over to Scrivener as well, although DEVONthink is a close contender as the ultimate research repository. But the sheer flexibility of Scrivener is difficult to overstate.
And that’s before I even attempt to write a book with it!
Cheers,
Bill
Posted by Chris Thompson
Nov 30, 2017 at 07:28 PM
Another thing that impressed me and shows a lot of care for detail/product quality is that Scrivener for iOS actually shipped with support for Scrivener 3 styles, months before the actual Scrivener 3 release. This feature was entirely hidden (you couldn’t access it from a Scriv2 project) but the programmers spent the time putting it in anyway just so that everything would work instantly once Scriv3 was available, without having to wait for a separate iOS Scriv feature update. A small little thing, but shows that they care about not disrupting users and have a long term plan they’re capable of executing on even when the public can’t see it yet.