What is the best Mac writing software for novelists?

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16

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63

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Apr 29, 2021

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Updated

Here’s the Deal

15 Options Considered

Best Mac writing software for novelists	Price	Platforms	License
-- Ulysses III	$44.99	MacOS, iOS	Proprietary
-- iA Writer	$9.99	MacOS, iOS, Android, Windows	Proprietary
-- Scrivener	$44.99	-	-
-- Scapple	$14.99	-	-
-- FocusWriter	Free	-	-

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Marked 2

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score 25 · Answer 1

Ulysses III

Top Pro

Multiple preview and export options

The editor can export to Plain Text, RTF, Word, HTML, ePub and PDF with customizable styles for each option. It can also preview HTML directly in the browser. See More

Top Con

Proprietary file format

Text is saved in a database in proprietary format. Meaning, your notes can't be accessed other than through the app, and cannot be moved other than by exporting them. See More

Specs

Platforms:MacOS, iOS

License:Proprietary

Export:Plain text, Rich text, Markdown, HTML, ePub, PDF

Sync:iCloud

See All Specs

Top Pro

Polished UI

Ulysses has a clean, unobtrusive, easy to overview interface that allows focusing on writing. By default it's split up in 3 panes with sidebar, sheet pane and content pane from left to right. Unnecessary panes can be hidden. See More

Top Pro

Great tools for organizing and finding files

Ulysses saves everything in the app so there's no file management outside of the editor involved. It organizes content in groups (folders) and sheets (files), has a powerful, easy to use search and allows adding keywords to attachments to help them be organized and found quickly. Groups can have an unlimited amount of subgroups and the title of subgroup shows up in the pane view. Sheets can be split up, merged, glued together and easily moved around in the sheet pane by dragging and dropping. Great for splitting up larger documents into manageable chunks while still keeping an overview of the whole project and having the ability to move sections around quickly. Contents of a group can be filtered by text, keywords or change date within headings, code blocks, images or any other marked up text. Filters can contain a combination of conditions and be saved to make a new group. Saved filters can be moved around to different groups and will return filtered results for that group. Selecting multiple groups will show the combined sheets of those groups. See More

Top Pro

Comprehensive documentation

Ulysses comes with an excellently written documentation that covers everything there is to know about the software, including an extensive list of keyboard shortcuts as well as short and sweet introduction to Markdown and its benefits. See More

Top Pro

Syncs via iCloud

Content can be synchronised across devices via Apple's iCloud. See More

Top Pro

Attachments can be added

Attachments such as images, text notes, keywords and writing goals can be added to content. And to organize them keywords can be added. See More

Top Pro

Does not distract the user

Ulysses has a clean, unobtrusive, easy to overview interface that allows focusing on writing. By default it's split up in 3 panes with sidebar, sheet pane and content pane from left to right. Unnecessary panes can be hidden. See More

Top Pro

Highly customizable

A few themes are baked in and a big selection of user-contributed styles to choose from are available on the Ulysses Style Exchange. See More

Top Pro

Has a trial

The trial is a 10 hour demo, which allows users to check out the software in order to see if they like it or not. See More

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score 12 · Answer 2

iA Writer

Top Pro

Has a mode that helps you focus only on the sentence that you're working

Enabling Focus Mode will dim the whole text except the sentence you are currently writing on. See More

Specs

Platforms:MacOS, iOS, Android, Windows

Top Pro

Has a great distraction-free writing mode

iA Writer offers a noise-free writing experience that removes even the program bar. See More

Top Pro

Supports Markdown

Top Pro

Calculates how long it would take to read through what you've written

See All

score 8 · Answer 3

Scrivener

Top Pro

Almost every parameter, from window layout to text-revision colo(u)r can be tweaked to your style

Top Con

Can be overwhelming, with some features not being useful for casual user

CompetentIoke's Experience

Although it may be overwhelming for casual use, the more you get into it, the more you appreciate what it does. It's also quite flexible, fitting into your workflow and third-party software with minimal fuss. See More

Specs

Platform:Windows, OSX, Linux (beta)

Revision tracking:Yes

Notes:Yes

Reports:Yes

See All Specs

Top Pro

Keeps everything together: notes, drafts, references, links

Top Pro

Offers free trial

The trial is good for 30 days of actual use, not the typical 30 days from install date. See More

See All

score 3 · Answer 4

Scapple

Top Pro

Has trial

30 days of actual use, not the typical 30 days from install date. See More

score 2 · Answer 5

FocusWriter

Top Pro

Open Source and free

Top Pro

Can save as ODT, RTF, DOCX and TXT

In addition to Text Open Document (ODT), FocusWriter allow to save as Office Open XML (docx), Righ Text Format (RTF) and text file (TXT). See More

Answer 6

typora

Platforms:Mac OSX; Windows; Linux

License:Proprietary

Export:HTML; HTML (pure); PDF; Word; OpenOffice; RTF; Epub; LaTeX; Media Wiki; ReStructuredText; Textile; OPML

Sync:iCloud

See All Specs

score 2 · Answer 7

Fountain

Top Pro

Plain text format

Since .fountain files are just a plain-text format, they are completely future proof and very exportable. See More

score 1 · Answer 8

First Draft

Top Pro

Tracks not just word count, but also time spent writing

Many writers don't aim for a word count, but instead aim for amount of time spent writing. First Draft allows you sets targets for word counts or writing times, with a calendar showing the full history of your writing done per day. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, MacOS

score 1 · Answer 9

OmmWriter DÄna II

Top Pro

Set your own price

Minimum price is $5.11 through the developer's website, customers are welcome to pay more. On the Apple Store it's a set $5.99. See More

Top Con

No trial or demo available

Answer 10

Final Draft

Top Pro

30 day trial available

Documents created during trial are intact even when trial ends. See More

Top Con

iOS apps should be free

With the price tag on this package I would expect the pro version of the mobile apps to be free. (They do have a limited free iOS app). As of this writing May 9th 2016 the pro app has been marked down from $29.99 to $9.99. See More

Specs

Platform:Windows OSX

Revision tracking:Yes

Notes:Yes

Reports:Yes

See All Specs

Top Pro

Educational discount for students and educators

Price is $129.99 for students and educators, that's almost half off the regular price. http://store.finaldraft.com/final-draft-9-edu.html/ See More

Top Pro

Recognized as industry standard

The same way Microsoft .doc docx formats are ubiquitous in everyday document publishing, the Final Draft .fdx format is expected in the film industry. See More

See All

score 1 · Answer 11

Storyist

Top Pro

Offers free trial

A 15 day trial is available for those that would like to see how the software works. See More

Specs

Platform:OSX iOS

Revision tracking:Yes

Reports:No

Notes:Yes

See All Specs

score 1 · Answer 12

Fade In Professional Screen Writing Software

Top Pro

Open format

Documents produced are in Open Screen Format (XML) so you don't get locked in, and documents can play nice with other software. See More

Top Pro

Cross platform

Available for Mac, Windows, and Linux, and has separate Fade in Mobile app available for iOS (IPhone, iPads) and Android. See More

Answer 13

Hemingway

Add Video or Image

Answer 14

WriteRoom

Top Con

Only available on Mac

score 2 · Answer 15

15 Options Considered

My Recommendation for Ulysses III

My Recommendation for Ulysses III

Multiple preview and export options

Proprietary file format

Polished UI

Great tools for organizing and finding files

Comprehensive documentation

Syncs via iCloud

Attachments can be added

Does not distract the user

Highly customizable

Has a trial

My Recommendation for iA Writer

My Recommendation for iA Writer

Has a mode that helps you focus only on the sentence that you're working

Has a great distraction-free writing mode

Supports Markdown

Calculates how long it would take to read through what you've written

My Recommendation for Scrivener

My Recommendation for Scrivener

Almost every parameter, from window layout to text-revision colo(u)r can be tweaked to your style

Can be overwhelming, with some features not being useful for casual user

Keeps everything together: notes, drafts, references, links

Offers free trial

My Recommendation for Scapple

My Recommendation for Scapple

Has trial

My Recommendation for FocusWriter

My Recommendation for FocusWriter

Open Source and free

Can save as ODT, RTF, DOCX and TXT

My Recommendation for typora

My Recommendation for typora

My Recommendation for Fountain

My Recommendation for Fountain

Plain text format

My Recommendation for First Draft

My Recommendation for First Draft

Tracks not just word count, but also time spent writing

My Recommendation for OmmWriter DÄna II

My Recommendation for OmmWriter DÄna II

Set your own price

No trial or demo available

My Recommendation for Final Draft

My Recommendation for Final Draft

30 day trial available

iOS apps should be free

Educational discount for students and educators

Recognized as industry standard

My Recommendation for Storyist

My Recommendation for Storyist

Offers free trial

My Recommendation for Marked 2

My Recommendation for Marked 2

My Recommendation for Fade In Professional Screen Writing Software

My Recommendation for Fade In Professional Screen Writing Software

Open format

Cross platform

My Recommendation for Hemingway

My Recommendation for Hemingway

My Recommendation for WriteRoom

My Recommendation for WriteRoom

Only available on Mac

Don't see your favorite option? Add it.

My Recommendation for Storyline Creator

My Recommendation for Storyline Creator

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My Recommendation for OmmWriter DÄna II

My Recommendation for OmmWriter DÄna II