REVIEW: Scrivener (iOS) (iPad)

If you often write, whether recreationally or for work, you have probably frequently encountered frustration with getting all of your notes and research organised for a big writing project. Such inconvenience is what Scrivener has long been sorting out for Mac and Windows users – and the software has just recently arrived on iPad.

Many inexperienced scribes could be tempted to think that, once youโ€™ve got a decent word processor like Microsoft’s Word and Internet access at hand, youโ€™ve got pretty much 90% of what you need to research and write up a big body of text – whether thatโ€™s a novel, play, essay, thesis, business report or something else.

However, this would be overlooking the rather haphazard way in which a lot of writers work. Putting together the kind of lengthy literary masterpiece that would make Charles Dickens proud isnโ€™t a case of just starting with the opening paragraph and continuing to type away until you reach โ€˜The Endโ€™. Various parts of a work can be reshuffled and rejigged as the writer struggles to figure out precisely what looks best where.

REVIEW: Scrivener (iOS) (iPad)

Software that is tailored to writersโ€™ unique needs

Thankfully, this is something that Scrivener coder Keith Blount understands. That’s likely because Blount was a budding novelist, not a programmer, when he originally got the idea for a hugely comprehensive piece of software that, across the Mac and Windows desktop platforms, he has sold over 500,000 copies of over a decade.

Unsurprisingly given how incredibly feature-packed those desktop versions are, not every aspect that Scrivener veterans will be familiar with has made it to iOS. However, the core essentials – like editing multiple documents simultaneously, making hyperlinks between different sections, and exporting a finished manuscript to formats ranging from PDFs and Kindle eBooks – have done.

REVIEW: Scrivener (iOS) (iPad)

A true iPad app through-and-through

While Scrivener has also been made available for the iPhone, limitations with both the smartphoneโ€™s version of iOS and screen size mean that a number, though still only a minority, of features are iPad-only.

These include the corkboard – whereby images and notes can be attached to a virtual board for easier, at-a-glance perusal – and support for the iPad multitasking functions Slide Over and Split View. The latter especially, which is available only on the iPad Pro, Air 2 and Mini 4, can prove invaluable for projects that are heavily reliant on online research.

REVIEW: Scrivener (iOS) (iPad)

Of course, thereโ€™s nothing wrong with occasionally whipping out your iPhone to do some quick edits on Scrivener while out and about. However, the software simply makes more sense on iPad – especially given Appleโ€™s recent attempts to significantly bolster the productivity features of its tablet line. And, while the $19.99 price could seem hefty by the standards of most iOS apps, professional wordsmiths in particular could find that Scrivener on iPad soon starts easily paying for itself.

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