Scrivener App Reviews

A great app for authors. I use this to write my novels. I probably only use half of the features available to me, and I still love it! The most useful things are being able to jump from scene to scene without scrolling through the whole story; exporting as epub amd mobi; full screen writing with a fancy backdrop; and the word count goals.

Been researching various program for about 6 months before deciding to go ahead and get Scrivener. Within minutes of using the program, I am hooked. All of the scattered notes, Word documents, setting environments, and character sheets are being imported manually into one area that is very easy to sift through compared to my old methods. From fiction fantasy to spur of the moment screenplay ideas, this is going to be the answer to my dreams. I will most certainly acknowledge this program should I win a second Emmy in the near future. Thank you Scrivener!

This app is great, which is why it gets 5 stars. It makes organizing stuff very easy. I would love AppleScript support for my custom LaTeX needs.

The best creative writing program. Excellent for organizing ideas. Therefore, also excellent for organizing projects. Editing and formatting of “word processing” finally integrated with the creative and organizing power of 3x5 cards.

I bought Scrivener’s after reading the great reviews of it here. Was intimidated at first, til I finally decided to watch the tutorials, and give it a whirl. Well, I probably only used 10% of whtat it can do, but it was all I need—and it made writing my book an absolute joy. Each chapter of my book is comprised of short stories or scenes, and I was able to see them all beautifully organized on the left side of the screen, and move them around to get a better flow with a simple move of the mouse (moving stories within chapters, and chapters themselves). The research tool is amazing. I was able to keeo research resources—PDFs, websites, and other docs—immediately and beautifully organized and accessible. Can’t say enough about this app and how much I appreciate it. When the rough draft of the manuscript was done, I exported it as a Word doc, and that was it. Well worth the investment.

I haven’t gotten to properly use this piece of software yet, although I must say that the tutorial is in depth and amazing. Bravo! Well done! Leaves nothing to question at all. I intend to update this as I use the program, but from first impressions. Yes, 5 stars.

OK, so I’ve had my software for like two hours and I am already floored by the fact that I have to format NOTHING! Once I got the hang of it, I was speechless! It took care of everything for me, and the printed manuscript looks great - writing is my forte, not formatting, and this took all of the guesswork out of it! Oh, and I love the corkboard and spent a fair amount of time just moving the cards/chapters around. The software performs flawlessly!

This is an excellent product. Easy to use and a complete delight to behold.

Years ago I phoned the now late William A. Sabin, author/editor of “The Gregg Reference Manual”, from work, and told him I kept three books on my desk: the Bible, the dictionary, and the Gregg Reference Manual. Keith Blount and team, consider this my phone call. The best tools I use today are the Bible, Accordance software, Scrivener, and the dictionary. This is the best, smoothest software I’ve ever used, including all the the wonderful graphics and design programs. See what a computer can do with an app that’s conceived and designed so thoughtfully, so well.

Finally took the plunge and o=purchased this app to help me organize my thoughts, ideas for my writing projects. Awesome. App. Much more productive than my old MS Word App. This app does everything for me: organized my ideas, characters, notes, research and in an easy to find manor. This app is missing one star in my opinion and it iof for reasonsw I will note here that I think are essential to everyday writers: 1. Definately needs a day mode to changed the text background to black and letters to white providing writers with flexibility for writing in day and night environments. 2. The default text disp;ay area is limited and small. Increse this to full scrren with with the ability to hide the side panel and increase the text display as you will have the perfect app.

I use the screenwriting format on this app every day. I have to admit its a bit buggy— I’ll close and reopen the app, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t. BUT— the idea of the program is kind of awesome. And, even though I feel like a real nerd using it, it helps create a kind of digital workspace. What I really wish is for an even more intuitive workflow…. I hope this program moves towards is a cleaner workspace area. I hope for a redesign in which the corkboard, outline and other features literally surround the writing space - allowing for drag and drop of images, quotes, music and other media. There has to be a more inuitive vibe— and they’re going for it, it’s almost there.

This is the best writing program I’ve ever used. There are videos on the internet with tutorials that I have found very helpful. However, they are not necessary to use the program.

This is simply an oustanding piece of software for anyone looking to write in a non-liner fashion. This is actually how I use Scrivener now and discover new features and why I fall in love with it all over again! I did the big tutorial and read all the crap, but ultimately I forgot it. I just started working with it. As I wrote more and more I would naturally think “you know, I wish I could do this” or “I would like to be able to do this.” I would Google it and Scrivener would be able to do it!!! I would discover new features and enhance my own process as I went along. This is unlike most other software where I had to read manuals and get told what it could do and how to do it! It’s really different and really makes the process fun and makes Scrivener stand out. Very little software has that. This dramatically helped speed up my thesis work and finally gotten me to pursue personal writing, which is someting I had put off for a long time.

Functionality, features, presentation, flexibility, it’s all there and available for you to use. BE ADVISED, you will need to take some time to learn the ins-n-outs, but once you get past the learning you won’t be comfortable in any other program.

While there are many other templates, I mostly make use of the screenplay outline, and it’s outstanding. Anyone who’s written a script knows that format is key, and the tools in Scrivener take care of all the margins and alignments for you. It’s easy to cycle through the components of screenwriting (heading, actions, characters, etc.) and I was amazed by how customizable that tool was. For example, when you enter your character names, it’ll add them to a drop down menu that lets you auto-complete when you use them later on. This also applies to everything from transitions to locations. However, the most impressive thing to me is how incredibly streamlined the process is with Scrivener. You tweak Scriveners settings to fit your personal preference, and it just works (screenwriters will most likely be the only ones who can relate to this next part): - You start with a scene heading; Scrivener knows these are in CAPS, so don’t worry about that part. - In the heading, you type the letter “E,” and pressing the return key automatically completes your “EXT. “ before you add the location. - Now that the heading’s done, the return key will take you to the next line, which is already formatted as an “action.” Finish that one, and the return key starts another. - If you don’t need another one, TAB will take you to where you put a character’s name for their dialogue — in CAPS of course. - Finish the name, the return key starts your dialogue entry; alternatively, TAB sets up a (parenthetical) for you. - When you’re done with the dialogue, all you need is the return key to start another “action” line. - If you’re looking for a transition instead, press TAB twice. It’ll offer auto-complete phrases like “CUT TO:” and “FADE TO BLACK.” From here, the return key begins your next scene heading. Buy it.

Their website says they’re still developing the mobile app and it’ll be here soon (hopefully) but the current lack of mobility is the only reason this isn’t getting a full 5 starts. Sometimes I’ll only have my phone or ipad with me when I get inspired to write part of a developing story, maybe integration with some note-taking apps would resolve that issue too. The current iOS apps that claim to support Scivener aren’t very friendly when it comes to syncing content. Best cost-effective app for writing with the most well designed features on OS X. Very good purchase, and bound to get even better with their pending mobile release.

I have no interest in writing novels, screenplays, or even long paragraphs, but I’m finding Scrivener to be immensely useful for documenting my work projects, travel plans, etc. Each small chunk of a project becomes a text item consisting of screen shots together with a few words of description. Several text items are indented beneath a summary page. Then with just a few clicks I can compile a PDF, complete with table of contents, document title in header, date and page #s in footer. It sure ain’t literature, but its invaluable for keeping track of projects and sharing the latest status with colleagues. Also: I had a minor problem with resizing images, and found the tech support to be outstanding!

I purchased this almost three years ago and I have used it almost every day since then. I have had no problems and it’s so easy to work with. It allows you to create character profiles, scene details, multiple ‘books’, and it organizes everything so well I know where everything is when I need it. This app is so easy to use and is worth the price and it proves you of that every time you use it. I reccomend it to all my friends who love to write because it’s such a fun and easy app to use.

Okay, I’m fine with updating to keep everything working, but you’re color scheme with this update is counter productive to me. Is there some way to change this? Before, there was more contrast between some of the windows, the document notes in yellow and the cork board background to the index cards. This helped my eyes to focus on the window I wanted. Now with everything white and slighly off white, I can’t separete all the information on the screen and focus on what I want to focus on. I love your product, but this is a step backward, another hurdle to overcome while I’m still trying to learn everything about how to use the software.

This application is near perfect, and I enjoy and use most of the features. I kindly ask the developers to give us back the corkboard background. It might not look “slick” but it helped. An optional feature, that can be turned on or off, with multiple background choices would be amazing. Thanks for the great program.