DocumentationWriting
The writing screen
The outline, the manuscript and the panels: what each column is, and the panels that show you where a line falls, how it reads, and where the book disagrees with itself.
Four columns, left to right:
| Column | What it is |
|---|---|
| Outline | Every section of the book, in print order |
| Manuscript | The text, set in the book’s own typography |
| Panel | Whichever rail panel is open |
| Rail | Icons for the seven panels |
Drag the edge of the outline or the panel to resize. Widths are remembered per book.
Zen
The Zen button in the top right hides the outline, the panel and the rail, leaving the manuscript. The step bar stays so you can leave. Opening a panel leaves zen automatically.
The panels
One at a time. Clicking the icon of the open panel closes it.
| Panel | Shows |
|---|---|
| Properties | Styling for the one block under the cursor |
| Chapter | How this chapter opens — its band, its picture, which page it starts on |
| Pages | The page this line falls on, laid out |
| Analysis | How this chapter reads: readability, pacing, sentences worth another look |
| Style | Where the book disagrees with itself |
| Media | Every image in the book |
| References | Every work the book cites |
Properties
Changes one block without touching the theme. The panel says whether the block Follows the theme or has Its own styling, and Reset puts it back.
Use it for the exception. Anything you want applied to every block of a kind belongs in FormattingBlocks instead.
Pages
An iframe showing the real paginated pages around your cursor. The fastest way to answer “does this chapter opening fall on a right-hand page” without leaving the text.
Analysis
Readability scores and highlights for the current chapter — see Reading and revision.
Style
Where the book disagrees with itself, and checks against a named style guide — see Reading and revision.
Media
Every image in the book, with its caption and placement. Show those only filters to images with no alt text, which is what an accessible EPUB needs.
References
The bibliography’s entries. Add a work here, and cite it in the text; the printed list is generated from these entries.
Finding text
Or the Find button in the top right. Escape closes it.
| Key | Does |
|---|---|
⏎ |
Next occurrence |
⇧⏎ |
Previous occurrence |
↑ ↓ |
Previous / next |
Whole words only and List every occurrence are toggles in the search bar. Matches are highlighted in the manuscript and in the paginated preview at the same time.
The word goal
The status bar at the foot shows the book’s word count and reading time, and the current chapter’s progress toward a goal.
Click the chapter figure to set one: 500, 800, 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, 3,000, or a number of your own. One goal applies to every chapter of the book.
Writing surface
Top right, on the Writing screen only.
| Surface | What it is |
|---|---|
| Paper | The book’s own typography, on white |
| Typewriter | Monospaced on warm paper, for drafting without judging the line |
| Night | Low contrast on a dark ground |
| Parchment | Old-style serif on aged paper |
The surface changes how the manuscript looks while you write. It has no effect on the book.
Text size, at the foot of the same menu, magnifies the manuscript from 70% to 200%. The whole column scales, so every line still breaks where it does at 100%. Press the percentage to return to 100%. Like the surface, it changes this screen only.
Quotation marks
Converts typewriter marks to typeset ones across the book — see Reading and revision.
Keyboard shortcuts
| Key | Does |
|---|---|
⌘F |
Find |
⌘Z / ⇧⌘Z |
Undo / redo |
⌘B / ⌘I |
Bold / italic |
⌘⏎ |
Split into a new chapter at the cursor |
⌘⌥F |
Insert a footnote |
/ |
Insert menu, on an empty line |
Tab / ⇧Tab |
Indent / outdent |
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Scene separator |