Storyist for macOS can track your daily word count and progress towards the magic 50k word goal. To set this up:
Open your project (or create a new novel project from the Novel template).
Click the Goals button in the toolbar.
Enter your word count goals in the Project Goal and Daily Goal fields.
Select the text files you want to include in your NaNoWriMo word count. You can keep your manuscript in one file or spread it over multiple files. For now, just check the My Manuscript checkbox. You can add additional files later if you want.
Click the Done button.
You can now use the Goals button to check your progress in November. The Goals popover provides three ways to see your progress: the calendar, graph, and summary views.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of NaNoWriMo, a global phenomenon that has inspired countless writers to take on the challenge of writing a 50,000-word novel in just 30 days. What began as an informal gathering of 21 friends in 1999 has blossomed into a worldwide event, drawing hundreds of thousands of writers from around the world each November. Over the past quarter-century, NaNoWriMo has fostered a dynamic community, empowering writers of all levels to overcome their inner critic and put words on the page.
Storyist is proud to have been part of this community for the last 18 years, beginning with the beta testing of Storyist 1 during NaNoWriMo 2006 and serving as an official sponsor for over a decade.
As NaNoWriMo celebrates this milestone anniversary, it continues its mission to champion creativity and make writing accessible and fun for everyone—whether you’re a seasoned author or embarking on your first novel.
Congrats, NaNoWriMo! Here’s to 25 years of turning ideas into stories and stories into novels.
Storyist 4.2.6 for macOS is out with enhancements for right-to-left languages, strikethrough, and compatibility with Apple Books.
Storyist 4.2.6 for macOS is out with enhancements for right-to-left languages, strikethrough, and compatibility with Apple Books.
Right-to-left languages – Storyist now shows a Writing Direction menu item in the Format > Text menu that lets you specify the direction for a paragraph. Note: This menu item only appears if the “Preferred languages” list in the Language & Region system preferences pane includes a right-to-left language like Arabic or Hebrew.
Strikethrough – To add strikethrough to selected text, choose Format > Font > Show Fonts, click the Strikethrough button (3rd from left), and select the desired strikethrough appearance.
Apple Books – ePub exports with ampersands and other restricted HTML characters in the title or author metadata fields no longer cause warnings when read in the Apple Books apps.
With a new toolbar and sidebar, and updated icons, Storyist 4.2 feels right at home on macOS 11 Big Sur.
Support for macOS 11 Big Sur
With a new toolbar and sidebar, and updated icons, Storyist 4.2 feels right at home on macOS 11 Big Sur.
You can now set the sidebar text size. Just open the Appearance tab in the Theme pane of the Storyist Preferences window and set the sidebar size to Small, Medium, Large, or System.
Also, the split controls have moved from the main toolbar to the navigation bars. To split a view, click the right-most button. Holding the Option key changes the orientation of the split. You can close the split by clicking the x-mark next to the split button.
Runs Natively on Apple Silicon
Thinking about getting one of the new Apple Silicon Mac? Storyist 4.2 runs natively on the M1. We’ve had an Apple Silicon Mac in the lab for months and love it.
Versions Across Devices
If you store your projects in iCloud, you can now see previous versions created on your other devices.
Other enhancements include the new file size and cloud status columns and a Share button that lets your export your previous versions (comments and all) using the standard macOS sharing services. You can, for example, send a version via Mail and Messages.
Window Tab Enhancements
Like window tabs? You’ll love the enhancements that version 4.2 brings. New “Open in Window Tab” commands let you quickly create new tabs for items within the project. Tabs now display the selected project names, so you know at a glance what’s open in each tab.
Storyist 4.1.1 for macOS is out. If you’ve upgraded to macOS 10.15 Catalina (released last week), please also install this Storyist update. It has some important changes for Catalina.
Support for notarization – macOS 10.15 Catalina brings a number of under-the-hood security enhancements. Starting in Catalina, all apps distributed outside the App Store need to be notarized by Apple in order to run on your Mac. Storyist 4.1.1 is notarized, and includes support for Catalina’s Hardened Runtime features.
Compatibility updates – The first release of Catalina (10.15.0) has a couple of non-backwards compatible changes that require changes to Storyist.
Storyist 4.1.1 includes some other enhancements, including support for a new, iOS-style cursor. You can find the full release notes here.
A few people have written to ask how I created the dark mode screenshots for the Storyist 4 Sneak Peek post. Now that Storyist 4 is out, I thought I’d take a moment to describe that process (it’s straightforward) and offer some tips for using dark mode on Mojave.
In short, to create the screenshots, I simply combined different standard accent colors and desktop pictures.
Choosing the Accent Color and Desktop Picture
Mojave lets you choose the accent color that is used to tint the buttons and other controls in the system. You’ll find the setting in the General pane of the System Preferences window. The choices are Blue, Purple, Pink, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, and Graphite.
Choosing the accent color.
The desktop pictures are available in the Desktop & Screensaver pane. Not surprisingly, Apple provides desktop pictures that look great with the different accent color options.
Choosing the desktop image.
For the screenshots, I chose:
The blue accent color with Mojave Night.
The purple accent color with Flower 4.
The orange accent color with Flower 5.
The pink accent color with Flower 7.
Dark mode with blue accent color.
Dark mode with purple accent color.
Dark mode with orang accent color
Dark mode with pink accent color.
If you click on the gallery above and compare the screenshots, you’ll notice a subtle effect: The hue of the toolbar and page background changes slightly to reflect the average color of the desktop image. You’ll get this effect with your own desktop backgrounds too, so experiment with photos from your albums.
Choosing the Text Editor Properties
By default, Storyist 4 displays light text on a dark background in dark mode. This is usually what you want if your project is just text. However, if you’re designing for print, or you want complete control of text color, you might want to see dark text on a light background. To accomplish this, open the Storyist Preferences window, select the Appearance pane, and select “Use light appearance” for the text editor.
Dark mode with purple accent color and light text.
As you see in the screenshot, you can also set the application appearance to be always light or always dark independent of the system appearance.
Special Considerations for Text in Dark Mode
When the text editor is in dark mode, text having the default text color (black) is automatically changed to white. However, text having another color will not change. You may run into this, for example, if you import text that is dark gray instead of black. You can easily change the text color to work in both light and dark mode by selecting the text and clicking the “Set Text Color Automatically” button in the font color chooser in the inspector.
Choosing the text color
If you have other questions, let me know. And good luck with your projects.
Don’t be surprised if the new start screen in Storyist 4 for iOS looks familiar. It should. Starting in version 4, the Storyist home screen is essentially the Files app with a few important additions. If you’re not familiar with the Files app, you’ll find information about how to use it in Apple’s tutorial.
Here are some of the new features it brings to Storyist.
Edit in Place
If you’re a long-time iOS user, you know that files originally “belonged” to the app that created them. One side effect of this model was that you needed to copy a file to another app before editing it in that app. If you weren’t careful, you ended up with multiple copies of the file in different apps and needed keep track of which modifications were made in which app. Some apps still operate this way.
However, when using apps that support the “edit in place” Files functionality (like Storyist 4 does), you can edit a file wherever it is stored without having to copy it. This means you can organize your work in whatever way suits your project while avoiding the multiple copy problem.
3rd-Party Cloud Storage Providers
Another main feature of the Files app is that it gives 3rd-party cloud storage providers like Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive a single, Apple-approved, way to integrate their services with iOS.
While Storyist 3 supported only iCloud and Dropbox, Storyist 4 can use any provider that supports the Files app. For example, Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, and Microsoft OneDrive all support the Files app.
To set up a 3rd-party cloud storage provider:
Download and set up the cloud storage app.
Open Storyist 4.
Tap Edit in the Locations list.
Turn on the cloud services you want to use.
Tap Done.
Folders, List View, Tags, and Searching
Storyist 3 showed all of your files at the same level as a grid of icons. Using the Files interface in Storyist 4, you can
Search across all storage locations on your device.
Share Sheets
The Files interface works with iOS share sheets so you can
AirDrop your files to other devices.
Send a copy of your file using Messages, Mail, or 3rd-party apps that provide a share extension.
Share your work with collaborators using iCloud Files Sharing. (More on this below.)
Options for sharing a file.
To share a file:
Tap Select.
Tap the file you want to share.
Tap Share.
Select the sharing method.
iCloud File Sharing
iCloud Sharing lets you share files you’ve stored in iCloud with friends and collaborators who have an Apple ID.
Sharing your document
As with iCloud Photo Sharing, you can
Give access to the file to anyone with a link, or only to those you invite.
Set permissions to let them make changes or just view the file.
Sharing options when adding collaborators.
Recent Files
The Files interface gives you quick access to recently edited files both in the app and on the home screen.
To see your recently edited files in the app, just tap the Recents tab on the Storyist home screen. To see them on the home screen, press and hold the app icon.
Recently edited files on the home screen.
Tapping a file in the Recents lists opens it in the app.
Version History
One thing that the Files app doesn’t offer is access to previous versions of your file. Storyist 4 lets you view and restore previous versions stored in iCloud and in the Storyist folder in the “On My iPad” location.
To view the previous versions of a file, press and hold the file icon and select Versions from the popup menu.
The version history window.
If you want to return to an older version of the file, just select the file and tap Restore.
Note that version history is only available for files stored in iCloud and for files stored in the Storyist folder on your device.
If you’re using a 3rd party cloud storage provider, you may also be able to get version history from the provider’s app or website. For example, both Dropbox and Google Drive support this feature.
As you can see, the Files interface brings some powerful new file management features to the app. Storyist 4 for iOS offers a free trial, so download it and take it for a spin!
I’m delighted to announce that Storyist 4 for macOS and iOS are now available. As mentioned in the Sneak Peek, version 4 brings many new features and usability enhancements.
Storyist 4 for macOS
Dark Mode on Mojave—Storyist 4 for macOS sports a beautiful new content-aware dark mode when running on Mojave. Many apps only support dark mode when your Mac is in dark mode, but Storyist 4 takes it a step further. Dark mode is available even if your Mac is running with the Light appearance and you can choose either dark text on a light background or light text on a dark background.
Quick Navigation—Getting around your project has never been easier. You can use the new Go To command to get to any project view with a few keystrokes.
Enhanced PDF Export—Sometimes you just need to make a PDF from several files in your project. Storyist 4 lets you quickly assemble and export a PDF without needing to create a book. This is useful for adding a title page to a manuscript or for assembling a couple of chapters to send to your critique group.
And More—Storyist 4 comes with many other enhancements, including an updated outliner, a more flexible full-screen view, and animation, performance, and usability improvements.
Storyist 4 for macOS requires macOS 10.13 High Sierra or later.
Storyist 4 for iOS
Files App Support–The Storyist home screen is now based on the Files app, so you can:
Store files where you want and edit them in place.
Use 3rd party cloud storage solutions like Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive.
Share files with others over iCloud using iCloud file sharing.
Organize your files using nested folders and tags.
View recently-edited files stored across multiple cloud storage providers.
New Themes–Storyist 4 includes several new themes, including both a light and a dark theme. Like the original theme? No worries, it’s still there. Tap the More button on the home screen and choose Themes to see the complete list.
Storyist 4 for iOS requires iOS 11 or later.
Free Trial and Upgrade Discounts
Storyist 4 is free to download on all platforms and offers a 14-day free trial, so you can test all features before purchasing. If you decide to keep the app after the trial period expires, just use the in-app purchase window to unlock the features permanently. Even if you choose not to purchase the app, you can use Storyist as a free viewer.
Enjoy!
As always, if you have questions, please feel free to contact support.
It’s been quiet around here. Maybe too quiet. Let’s change that. I’m happy to announce that Storyist 4 for macOS and Storyist 4 for iOS are currently in beta testing and will be available soon. Here’s a peek at what’s coming.
Storyist 4 for macOS
Dark mode on Mojave
Storyist 4 for macOS sports a beautiful new content-aware dark mode when running on Mojave. Many apps only support dark mode when your Mac is in dark mode, but Storyist 4 takes it a step further. Dark mode is available even if your Mac is running with the Light appearance and you can choose either dark text on a light background or light text on a dark background.
Dark mode with blue accent color.
Dark mode with purple accent color.
Dark mode with pink accent color.
Dark mode with orang accent color
Dark mode with purple accent color and light text.
Quick navigation
Getting around your project has never been easier. You can use the new Go To command to get to any project view with a few keystrokes.
Search can find items even if the letters aren’t adjacent.
Locating sections and notes related to chapter III.
Locating a character using initials.
And More…
Storyist 4 for macOS supports High Sierra and Mojave and includes many other enhancements, including
Additional workflows for exporting PDF files and books.
Increased performance for large files.
Updated user interface elements.
Storyist 4 for iOS
Files App Support
The Storyist home screen is now based on the Files app, so you can:
Store project files where you want and edit them in place.
Use 3rd party cloud storage solutions like Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive.
Share files with others over iCloud using iCloud file sharing.
Organize your files using nested folders and tags.
View recently-edited files stored across multiple cloud storage providers.
Open recent files from the home screen.
Storyist home screen when using the light theme.
Storyist home screen when using the dark theme.
iPad home screen showing recently edited Storyist files.
New Themes
Storyist 4 for iOS includes several new interface themes, including both a light and a dark mode. Like the original theme? No worries, it’s still there. Tap the More button on the home screen and choose Themes to see the complete list.
Text editor in the light theme.
Folder view in the Light theme.
Text editor in the dark theme.
Folder view in the Dark theme.
Text editor in the Classic theme.
Folder view in the Classic theme.
Updated User Interface
Storyist 4 for iOS requires iOS 11 or later. The UI has been updated and includes new icons, animations, and usability enhancements.
Commands are organized in a simplified More menu on each screen.
Expanded keyboard shortcuts include cut/copy/paste and undo.
The text and index card editors take better advantage of larger screens on X model iPhones.
Free Trials and Upgrade Discounts
Both Storyist 4 for macOS and Storyist 4 for iOS are free to download and offer 14-day free trials so you can test all the features before purchasing. Both versions also offer upgrade discounts for owners of previous versions!
Want to Help Test?
Storyist 4 will be out of beta later this quarter, but if you want to help test, there are still some slots open for both the macOS and iOS versions. If you’re interested in helping, please send an email to support@storyist.com and indicate which platform(s) you’re interested in.
Over the course of a draft, you probably type the same character combinations hundreds if not thousands of times. Why not let Storyist type them for you? Storyist can insert multi-line text snippets (bits of text) with just a few keystrokes.
Try this:
Make sure tab shortcuts are enabled.
Place the cursor at the start of a blank link.
Type “lorem” and then press the tab key.
When you press the tab key, Storyist replaces “lorem” with
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras non libero vitae tortor ullamcorper pharetra. Suspendisse fringilla consequat augue, nec hendrerit orci tincidunt in. Ut leo nisl, bibendum quis porta sed, porta a leo. Aliquam et ante lorem. Nullam vel lectus tellus, quis luctus mi. Nam non eros sit amet sem ultrices consectetur eu malesuada felis. Mauris rhoncus interdum eros nec aliquam.
Now try this:
Place the cursor at the start of a blank link.
Type “na” and then press the tab key.
This time you’ll see the following:
What are the bubbles? Placeholders!
Press tab again to highlight the dialog bubble and type some dialog.
Press tab again to highlight the name bubble and type a character name.
Press tab again to highlight the end of the line and press return.
Here is an example:
Using the snippet editor, you can quickly define define your own snippets. To view the snippet editor, choose Storyist > Preferences and select the Text Editing pane.
To add a new snippet:
Click the + button.
Add a name and tab trigger (abbreviation).
Enter the replacement text.
To create a placeholder bubble, just wrap the placeholder text with <# and #> like this: "<#dialog#>?" <#name#> asked.<# #>
Storyist
