Although Craft has been mentioned on this forum, I can’t see a dedicated thread on Craft anywhere, so I’m starting one here.

Craft (website: craft.do) has been around for a little while, but last year matured into something really quite exceptional. It’s not a conventional outliner, but does have outliner-like attributes, notably the ability to nest pages within pages within pages.

The basic model is precisely that: the first thing you do is create a document (a top-level page). When you create the document/master page, you can start writing text on it. Each paragraph forms a block, and you can spontaneously transform each block into a sub-page. You can also group multiple blocks and transform them all into a sub-page. Nested sub-pages can be formatted in various way, so they appear as highlighted blocks or as cards (prettier, and capable of being arrayed alongside each other). You can embed pages in sub-pages to any depth. You can also insert images and PDF files. PDF files can be annotated.

A sub-page can also be converted into a separate document. The fairly powerful search function tracks text down to any level in your page hierarchy.

This model is already unusual, but what sets it apart and makes Craft truly alluring is the beautiful formatting. Sound silly, doesn’t it? But Craft is a truly gorgeous writing tool, with a very comprehensive set of keyboard shortcuts. It also works (very) well on iPad and even on iPhone. Although you can’t create your own styles, every style and formatting option created for Craft has been very carefully thought-out so that it looks as clear and attractive as possible. It also supports multiple open windows (a big relief after the disappointment of Agenda); there’s full windowing support on iPadOS, too.

Even more impressive are the sharing options, however. You can save out pages (including their subpages) as PDFs, Markdown files, Textbundles, and MS-Word files. You can also share them using “secret links”, which create gorgeous documents hosted on Craft’s own website. In fact, Craft’s own help files on the Craft website have clearly been generated directly from the app using secret links (to take a look at the “Getting Started” help section, for example, see https://www.craft.do/s/gy4OMeABSTIlUw You can send links to the generated web pages to friends or colleagues and even give them permission to comment on them (they don’t have to own Craft to do so, although see below for more on another option: shared workspaces).

PDFs are especially amazing. If your page has nested subpages, the PDF will faithfully replicate them in linear form (i.e. master page first, then subpages, then sub-subpages, etc.), complete with links to the master page and backlinks to the original reference text. In fact, Craft is worth acquiring for its ability to generate beautifully interlinked PDF documents alone.

There are plenty of other things Craft can do, but I urge Mac/iDevice users to take a look – if you want to experience it in full, they offer a month’s subscription for not a lot of money which allows you to play with things like folders, shared workspaces (yes, you can invite other Craft users to share a workspace with you, in which case they can access your documents directly in Craft – the app preserves a history of activity, changes etc.) and a couple of other features.

I’ve only touched on the main points above, but the app is in very active development and has, thus far, met with a rapturous reception. The developers are amiable and responsive.

Oh, and did I mention that pages include backlinks, and that besides linking to pages, you can also link to individual paragraphs/blocks…?

Have fun!
Bill

Hi, Bill,

Thanks for starting this Craft thread. If anyone is interested, I wrote a superficial review of Craft and posted it as a Craft document online:

https://www.craft.do/s/3dyJhymyZVrE14

I've become more impressed by Craft since then, but I am still having trouble figuring out what I can do with it.

Steve

I’m starting to view it as a potential writing tool of considerable power. Possibly even as an organisational tool – I’ve been experimenting with writing a hierarchical project management tool using Craft, and it’s been surprisingly successful. So successful, in fact, that I’m thinking of trying it out with a team.

But I agree, it’s a very different concept that takes a little while to position in one’s head.

I’ve suggested to the developer that integration with Apple Calendar and Apple Reminders would be useful, as would transclusion (you can copy and paste a document into a page, whereupon it turns into a subpage; you can turn any page into a separate document. But transclusion would make it even more flexible).

What I didn’t suggest, but should have, is tagging. But I’m reluctant to make too many suggestions because I think Craft deserves careful contemplation with a view to establishing exactly what it’s good for. It’s very good fun to play with, for a start… ;-)

Cheers,
Bill

I’ve added a comment to your published review, Steve, just to demonstrate one of the unexpected benefits of Craft ;-)

Nice! I didn't know about this feature.

It occurs to me that Craft could also be used as a very quick way to produce elegant blogs, rather like Medium. I’ve asked the developer whether assigning dedicated URLs/domain names is on the roadmap.

I’ve asked the developers, and they’re considering whether to enable users to generate static websites from Craft, too. I’ve had a little experiment of my own, and Craft is perfect for generating very good-looking, if (currently) simple, websites. Templates and tables are both on the roadmap, as is integration with Apple Calendar, so the future is looking bright!

One of the interesting aspects of Craft is its seamless inclusion of PDFs. In fact, you can generate a complex PDF from a Craft page, then include the PDF as an element in another Craft page. On the downside, Craft doesn’t yet index embedded PDFs (at least, my tests suggest it doesn’t), so you can’t search PDF content within Craft.

Cheers,
Bill

Craft just announced a significant update, including export & import improvements (w/ full backlink support), draggable tabs, and Craft Connect, which will allow direct sharing of data to other apps. As of now Craft Connect "can send content directly to Things, Drafts, OmniFocus, iA Writer, Ulysses, Bear, Day One, and NotePlan" with more to come.

https://www.craft.do/s/KbvqOMU1Ejpp6k

And Craft has just become directly relevant to this forum by introducing outlining – in the sense of folding. This is in addition to its ability to perform infinite nesting.

The latest update has slightly refined folding, and now supports saving of Craft files to local storage so you can use them as totally private, fully encrypted spaces.

Finally, the search function has been radically improved.

The app is progressing at astonishing speed, and becoming more useful all the time.

Its features look better and better (and the app itself looks gorgeous) and for many people the easy ability to share a link with people (outside Craft too?) is a great option for a lot of creative work. Alongside Notion's ability to publish good-looking wiki pages the abilities of document and knowledge organizers and editors is finally expanding and adapting to how a lot of people want to work. I think its main competitor in features and looks might now be Taskade?

I don't need to share much so I might be outside the Venn diagram of ideal users. And for me there persists an aversion to writing inside a box, something which seems idiosyncratic and somehow backwards, and I still want to host my own documents where I want. Although I grudgingly allow some apps like my task manager and calendar to maintain files and some of my most personal information, I don't feel great about it, and I'm considering moving to more privacy-conscious alternatives (Fastmail or Posteo for mail and CalDAV calendaring, probably Things as a task manager), so I don't want to take what I'd consider a step backwards with document editing/storage.

Still, it seems like a beautiful and intriguing app, and its feature-set is expanding quickly.

Not only is all of this true, but they posted a little treatise on Data Ownership and it was that post that earned them my dollars for the foreseeable future.

Link: https://www.craft.do/s/5EYqvXdOUIrNu5

MadaboutDana wrote:

And Craft has just become directly relevant to this forum by introducing
outlining – in the sense of folding. This is in addition to its
ability to perform infinite nesting.

The latest update has slightly refined folding, and now supports saving
of Craft files to local storage so you can use them as totally private,
fully encrypted spaces.

Finally, the search function has been radically improved.

The app is progressing at astonishing speed, and becoming more useful
all the time.

Indeed! It’s also worth noting that (as the URL shows), the little treatise was generated and published from directly within Craft itself. The same applies to their help files – all generated from Craft.

And to reassure @satis: the latest release’s ability to save your Craft files to your own private data repository means that Craft is less and less risky, privacy-wise. Their privacy disclosures on the (Mac) App Store(s) are alarming, but cover the full range of Craft services, including proprietary syncing, sharing and publishing. Their little treatise is consequently reassuring!

JakeBernsteinWA wrote:

Not only is all of this true, but they posted a little treatise on Data
Ownership and it was that post that earned them my dollars for the
foreseeable future.

Link: https://www.craft.do/s/5EYqvXdOUIrNu5

Nice overview from Christopher Lawley (TheUntitledSite): "Craft - The Best Notes App for the Apple Ecosystem"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHheJCVYahw