Ulysses 13
A streamlined tool for serious writers
Free (IAPs) From Ulysses, ulyssesapp.com Made for iPhone, iPad Needs iOS 10 or later
Ulysses was originally designed as a tool for creative writers, when co-founder Marcus Fehn was writing a novel back in 2003. The creative focus is still there, but Ulysses has developed over the years and now offers many features that will appeal to technical users and other types of writer as well.
Ulysses isn’t a conventional word processor – there are no fancy fonts and newsletter layouts on offer – as the program eliminates those distractions and just allows you to concentrate on writing and editing simple, unformatted plain text.
It’s easy to get started, as the program’s familiar threepanel interface is cleverly modelled on Apple Mail. Like Mail, Ulysses has a Library panel on the left, where you organize your documents into ‘groups’ (similar to mailboxes in Mail). The Sheet list to the right shows all the documents, referred to as ‘sheets’, within each group; then there’s the main Editor window where you write and edit each sheet.
Like Mail, Ulysses allows you to add attachments to your document. However, the Attachments panel in Ulysses also allows you to add text notes to documents, as well as keywords to help you sort and locate related documents.
Creative writers can experiment with a number of tools to help them focus on their work, such as a Dark mode, or Typewriter mode which fades everything except the single line of text you’re currently typing. Ulysses also includes Markdown, which can be used to define the structure of a document, and this latest version gives you the ability to insert blocks of code and highlight syntax for manuals and technical documents.
Many people will be happy to stick with Pages or Word for routine word processing, but professional writers who need to churn out page after page every day will appreciate Ulysses’ ability to avoid distractions. It’s a shame that the app requires a subscription, but the subscription does cover both Mac and iOS versions.
the bottom line. It’s a tool for professional writers, but Ulysses can help you get the job done.