Ulysses 2.6
Is this the writing app you’ve always wanted? $69.99 | ULYSSESAPP.COM | NEEDS OS X 10.10 OR LATER
We don’t ask much of writing apps; just that they run really fast, look great, don’t distract us, support iCloud and Dropbox, export in all the key file formats, work well with online content management systems, enable us to manage monster projects, and are utterly reliable on our Macs and iOS devices...
At its simplest, Ulysses is a plain text editor. Each document is a sheet, and you can put your sheets in folders and subfolders. You can track character, word, sentence and paragraph counts and reading times, set and track word count targets, attach or embed related files, and export your work as text, HTML, PDF, ePub or DOCX files, or publish to Medium or WordPress (in its hosted and self-hosted varieties). There’s a range of styles to change how the app looks, and a typewriter mode to make you feel like Hemingway.
Where the app gets really useful is when you start marking up your text. Ulysses uses the Markdown language, enabling you to add formatting commands very quickly. For example, a hash symbol applies the Heading 1 format, six hashes applies Heading 6; a number and a full stop starts a numbered list; a pointy bracket applies block quote formatting, and so on. On iOS, the on-screen keyboard is extended to provide fast access to the same features.
As you add formatting or links, your work’s appearance changes accordingly — with our chosen stylesheet, headings appear in dark red, links in olive green and code in dark grey. That isn’t just useful for writing; it’s also useful for reading. We use Ulysses on air for radio broadcasts, for which our scripts’ colours make it easy to see what’s important.
There are two big benefits of using Markdown. First, it’s very lightweight with tiny file sizes, so Ulysses is lightning fast even when you’re searching through your entire library of sheets — and it won’t have a horrific impact on your online storage if you choose to sync over iCloud or use Dropbox.
The second benefit is that your sheets can be exported in all kinds of ways without you having to make any changes. Fancy a PDF or DOCX file? Pick a template and a page size, and the app converts your formatting to the chosen style. Publishing to an online content management system? Copy your work to the Clipboard and then paste it in, or use the automatic upload ability to send it to WordPress or Medium. Just need text? You have the choice of plain text, rich text, Markdown or TextBundle.
If you’re purely a novelist or scriptwriter, we’d recommend Scrivener: we think you’ll love it. But if you do other kinds of writing, we think you’ll love Ulysses even more.