Popular long-form writing suite Scrivener reached a significant milestone late on Monday, with the long-awaited release of its third major iteration since its debut on Mac over a decade ago. Scrivener 3 brings a host of new features and improvements, including an overhauled interface with a more modern look, and a Compile system that is easier to use but also more flexible.

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The Compile window has been redesigned to present users with formatting options for exporting their project, a preview pane, and settings for the project, offering a more streamlined system for regular users but also quick access to more advanced options. In addition, support for ePub 3 and enhanced compatibility with the Kindle format are also now available.

Meanwhile, a new bookmarking feature in Scrivener's Inspector pane works as a powerful cross-referencing tool, by allowing users to link individual documents in a project to other documents, to other locations on a Mac, or even to locations online.

The application's metadata fields have also been improved, so that users can now use multiple-choice lists, customizable checkboxes, and dates to help organize their documents and research. Both the metadata fields and the aforementioned new bookmarking feature integrate into Scrivener's existing outliner view as well as its search function, making both features more powerful than ever before.

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Elsewhere, there's a new, more comprehensive system for styling text in documents, additional writing statistics for keeping track of progress, and a new "Copyholder" feature that enables users to refer to up to four documents in the main window. Draft and session progress bars have been added to the toolbar, while a new "Dialogue Focus" function highlights only dialogue in text. Lastly, the entire app codebase has been re-written for 64-bit, and extensive Touch Bar support has been added.

Scrivener 3 is available now on macOS for $45 from the Literature and Latte website. Customers with an earlier version of Scrivener for macOS that was bought through the web store are eligible for an upgrade discount. Users who purchased Scrivener 2 on or after August 20, 2017, can update to Scrivener 3 for free. Scrivener 1 or 2 users who purchased before that date, can update to Scrivener 3 for the discounted price of $25.

Top Rated Comments

Traverse Avatar
99 months ago
I love this application - it's one of the few apps that actually had a lasting impact on my daily life because it inspired my love for writing.

I purchased this app through the Mac App Store originally - and I do prefer consolidating my apps there - but this time I decided to buy this directly from the developer as they work so hard and get so few opportunities to profit that I didn't want Apple taking a cut.

I was going to take advantage of their discount and I dug out my old iTunes receipt and realized that I bought this app in 2014 for $22.99 on sale so they only received about $17. For 3 years I've used this app for personal writing, school, my these, etc. They deserve far more than my $17 so I elected not to use that discount.

Ha! Writing that made me sound so snobby - I didn't mean it that way.

---------------

As for the app itself, it's a really nice upgrade. The updated composition mode aligns with the dark theme of the iOS app. The user interface is much more refined, and the new Preferences pane is far more approachable even to someone that has some Scrivener experiences.

Overall, a solid job.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mw360 Avatar
99 months ago
About time. I haven't given L&L any money in ages and they really deserve it.

There's a scapple update too!
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Val-kyrie Avatar
99 months ago
This is one of the few programs which I gladly pay for updates. Excellent software and support.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
harrisondavies Avatar
99 months ago
I use this all the time for my series of novels. Best novel writing software out there, particularly for exporting to ebooks. Time for an upgrade.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
danckwerts Avatar
99 months ago
I must commend L&L for giving Apple Appstore customers the same upgrade deal as direct purchasers.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Traverse Avatar
99 months ago
Sorry for the question, I just haven't found the answer yet. Does Scrivener automatically backup the latest version of a writing project to dropbox or do you have to manage each version. Example, If I add to a current project will that auto update my changes to dropbox like iCloud does with the Notes or Pages app, or will I need to go into dropbox each time to add the new and delete the old? Hope that makes sense..
You save the scrivener file in Dropbox and changes save sync like a regular file.

You can also specify a folder for .zip backups to be save on project open, close, and each manual save.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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