Scrivener App Reviews

When I sit down to write, I want to write. I don’t want to relearn a program that I knew so well. There are so many changes here that I don’t know where to start and it has severely impacted my workflow - not to mention it has stifled my creativity. Next time you update with major design changes, please include a walkthrough on what has changed so I don’t have to go looking everywhere on how to use the program again.

I have tried it all, Final Draft, Ulysses, Pages… Nothing, absolutely nothing compares to Scrivener’s power, organization, and options to make this your writing app for everything. It is lovingly updated and cared for, and there is the strong change of an iPad version being released soon! (If this recent update is any news to that.) So buy it, spend the extra time to learn it, and customize it to your liking. You will not regret it, guarunteed.

Not sure what changed, but the latest version crashes constantly and creates more headaches than ideas. I conduct experiments and write scientific papers for a living— the layout of Scrivener is amazing for organization, writing, editing, etc., and pairs well with citation software (e.g. Papers3). But all of that went away with this update. Prior to this new version, I would definitely give Scrivener five stars. However, I cannot justify such a high rating when the stability of the program detracts from its functionality. I have this software installed on several Mac products: a 2009 MBP, a 2014 MBP, and a 2012 Mac Mini. Scrivener crashes regularly on all of these devices. I save my files directly to iCloud to keep my devices synced. I thought this may be the problem; however, I also saved to iCloud prior to updating to the latest version and did not have this problem. I started saving my files locally, but the program still crashed. I do not know what is causing this. I’ve noted some patterns when Scrivener crashes. It often crashes when I click the “add” tab to start a new page or create a new folder. It also crashes periodically when I attempt to use split screen with one window used for writing and the other used to view a .pdf. I hate to write such a negative review for such a stellar product, but my experience with this software has become sour with the latest update. update: uninstalling and reinstalling has fixed this problem.

This app would be way more valuable to me if I could work on the same project on my Mac and my MacBook. I can’t seem to get them to sync.

I bought Scrivener a little while back, thinking it might help me with my short form writing (blogging and magazines). And while it can be pressed into duty for this sort of work, I didn’t really see the power of this tool until I jumped into the NaNoWriMo 2015 event. Using Scrivener, I was able to do a little planning in October. I liked how the tool made it easy for me to set up note cards for my characters and locations. After watching some YouTube videos to get over some of the learning curve of the tool (and make no mistake, there is a learning curve) I started outlining my novel. I started writing it on November 1 and had it done 18 days later. Never once did I curse at Scrivener or have any reason to be frustrated with it. I also really liked how I could set it up to be paranoid with backups. Though I gave it five stars, I’d be over the moon if they’d enable deeper Evernote integration. Evernote is also one of my favorite creative apps. It would be neat to be able to live sync notes, notebooks, and stacks of notebooks within Scriveners own hierarchical project structure.

I found the app from my friend and he told me it helped students to organize article well, so I bought it with an educational lisences before. While I tried it to write my article, I found my thought well defined and my words could explain much better. If you are trying to find an app to write better, please try Scrivener, which is powerful and useful. Today I found the price dropped and I contacted with the service, they replied me at once and helped me get the refund. They I bought the app here, I can only say Scrivener’s support is so humanize. Five star, it’s really an amazing team.

I used Scrivner on my PC last year to write my first book. From organizing ideas via different tabs to full on using a corkboard to plan out chapters or scenes, this is a one-stop shop for any writer. It’s a powerful tool for anybody looking for something a little more thorough than Pages. Can’t beat the Black Friday price. I still wish there was a way to transfer licenses between PC and Mac, or at least offer a discount. No worries, though. $25 is more than a fair price. Happy writing.

How did I write before Scrivener? I have no idea how I kept track of everything in Word. Scrivener is made for authors. Buy it and you’ll never look back.

I have loved Scrivener for years, but I’m really upset with this new update. Although I haven’t yet updated to El Capitan, I updated Scrivener, and upon launching it, found that it no longer could find the most recent revision of my manuscript. Lucky, I sent the plain text copy of the main body of it to myself and others via email, and was able to at least keep that, but all my formatting is gone, all my research files are gone, all my notes, all of them gone. In short, I am livid. I spent years writing this, and now I have only the bare bones of it left. I don’t usually write reviews like this, but this is unacceptable. I’ll be looking for a new program to write with from now on.

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An excellent and versatile writing tool. It was worth 5-stars until the latest update that rendered it unstable. The program will suddenly stop working, i.e. will not even start. This is a failure of basic functionality. Having to frequently delete the application, reboot the computer and reinstall from the App Store repeatedly is a nuissance and needs to be fixed. Any productivity gained is immediately nullyfied by the program’s current instability.

I’ve written and self-published two novels using Scrivener and love its many benefits: flexibility of formatting, relative ease of use in self publishing ebooks and hard copy, having research/maps/images as well as manuscript in one convenient file, all of it is brilliant. I’ve updated my 3 computers (MacBk Pros and one Air for travel) to El Capitan without trouble and updated this application when prompted. Yesterday, I was working away; today, I can’t open it on my main workhorse MBP. I back everything up on a time capsule, so no worries about having a most recent version. And I was able to share/shift the document to another mac and open it there to keep going but what MUST I DO to open it where I want it? I can’t find guidance through the L&L channels, I’m at a loss. It was 5 star for years, this is a hassle at a bad time for me so it’s gone down a star for instability.

I am able to keep everything orginized in one probram before I had hand written notes several other applications open Audio note etc. Now I just have two Kurzweil 3000 that reads each word as you type and each line once you hit a period. As well as reads entire document highlighting each word as it reads it to help editing. I transfer each section to this program witch keeps my book orginized wish I had found this before. LOVE it. Havien notes about each caractor in the story no long wondering who is who. I can pick pictures off the internet to help me see the caractors as I write helping me keep them all straight. My main issue is changing names of caractors. Thanks so much for havign a way to keep things orginized.

I mulled over this purchase for a while, since $50 is a pretty no-nonsense price to pay for an app. However, I should have plunked down the cash a lot sooner. Scrivener is worth every penny. Even my writer’s procrastination is productive with Scrivener—sometimes I get bored and I go hunting through the toolbar just for fun. Every time I do this, I locate a new tool that I consider to be not just productive, but essential. Composition Mode is a great example. It transforms what is admittedly a massive, slightly cluttered toolbox into a minimal, full-screen text editor, with full access to your entire manuscript and some other useful functions in a popup menu at the bottom of the screen. Want to see the big picture again? Hit escape. There are tools for storyboarding, note-taking, character development, settings, and those are just a few of the many tools for fiction writing. There are also plenty of useful research functions that I have yet to monkey around with. Sure, it’s expensive, but it has 757 lifetime ratings with a five-star average for a reason. It’s that good! P.S. — When you search for something in the help menu and find it, Scrivener opens the corresponding menu in the toolbar and highlights the exact location of the tool you’re looking for! Did I mention this program is worth every penny? :)