@Steve @briandigital You can combine different snippets of text into one big file in iA Writer. https://ia.net/writer/support/general/content-blocks
Thereās no indication in the UI that tells you this is possible, but it should work.
@Steve @briandigital You can combine different snippets of text into one big file in iA Writer. https://ia.net/writer/support/general/content-blocks
Thereās no indication in the UI that tells you this is possible, but it should work.
Define ālong form:ā My articles are 400-1700 words or so. I used Ulysses happily until April. Then I switched to DEVONThink and wanted something more DT compatible. So I tried a couple of things and ended up in Folding Text.
I really, really miss one thing in Ulysses: Embedding comments in an article. I write as fast as I can and look up details like spellings of names later. I leave notes to myself as I go. I havenāt found something that handles that as well as Ulysses.
@MitchWagner Iām guessing Folding Text is MacOS only?
Iām looking for a writer on iOS that works well with DTTG, I wonāt write over 1000-1500 words.
Hi @Jonathan_Davis,
I have a nice Alfred Workflow that allows me to create a markdown note linked to PDF Iām reading. This way I keep one long note about my ideas and thoughts about the PDF. I found it quite some time ago here:
And to use Drafts and/or Ulysses for all your writing is quite possible. You can read about a Ulysses approach here https://thesweetsetup.com/shawn-blanc-ulysses-setup/
Right now I am trying a way to keep (almost) all my writing in drafts. You might have noticed that the new Drafts allows for Workspaces. I have mine setup to automatically filter for tags. This way I workspaces for eMails, blog posts, lists, writing. If something doesnāt have a tag, it stays in a workspace āProcessā and this is the only one that shows up as a badge icon. This way Drafts only tells me how much I have to process and hides all the other stuff.
As with everything I got this idea from some other post, but I canāt find the link right now.
Hi @BradG,
I just wrote a reply to @Jonathan_Davis before seeing your comment. And I must say, that I completely forgot about Devonthingās capabilities with RTF notes and wikilink features and all the nice little templates they have.
However, I prefer markdown notes and I have found a nice little Alfred Workflow that does exactly what you describe, but with a markdown note instead of RTF. It creates a linked note to a selected PDF. You can read about it here. https://shaz00m.wordpress.com/2016/06/20/research-workflow-with-devonthink-alfred/
True. I always forget that you can point Ulysses to an external folder. I have never played with it.
On question. Can Ulysses on the iPhone/iPad also be pointed to the same external folder?
The reason Iām drifting towards an external folder with markdown files is, that in the end, I use Pandoc to convert the text to Word or PDF. I found it to be the best way (for my workflow) to create reference lists.
Yes, as long as you use Dropbox to store those txt files.
iAWriter is simply a very nice writing experienceā¦ highly recommend.
Byword has some nice features, eg Publishing to Evernote/Medium/Wordpressā¦ and allows you to customise the text far more the iAWriter.
Thatās good to know. Thanks.
Not sure if it helps but Editorial has folding text which can be really helpful with longer pieces of writing. It also allows blocks of text to be moved very easily to re order work if needed.
I guess I use automation in two distinct ways.
The first is using Editorial like Drafts, which I also use, as the place to begin pieces of text that can then be sent off to a variety of different places e.g. Email, Devonthink, DayOne, PDF etc.etc. There are lots of options. Whilst I love Drafts I find Editorial works better for me with longer pieces of text.
The second is with Taskpaper. Editorial is a great Taskpaper client and I often prefer to manage my tasks on iOS because of that. I have workflows for example to add @due dates and other tags to tasks, to move completed tasks from the active task list to an archive list and sort the archive list by date completed, to focus in on a particular tag and to highlight tasks overdue and today.
There are a lot of workflows contributed by users on the forums and, as my coding knowledge is pretty basic, I have developed most of those I use by editing what others have already done.
Yeah, Folding Text is MacOS only. I forgot that was a criterion.
I think your best bet for longform writing ā thousands of words or more per document ā is Ulysses or Scrivener, though I havenāt tried Scrivener, and then import it into DTTG.
Alternately, is there a problem if you just write in DTTG?
@MitchWagner I suppose there isnāt anything wrong with writing in DTTG, but I would like a polished writer because Iām an app hoarder too lol
Iām using Scrivener to set up an editorial calendar for my farm blog and I also use it for my sheep inspector notes for the sheep Association newsletters. That way I can tell what Iāve already covered and plan for future articles.
Many opinions, app choices offered, and experiences shared, all are grist for the mill.
To understand if you love an app itās necessary to get beyond the one night stand phase and find a stand by me collaboration.
Spend the cash and the time to get by aināt this neat or horrible phase to a place where you can make a choice for you space.
I donāt want to waste my life energy ā time or money. But spending time, thought, and money. ā¦unless you get lucky is necessary.
What are the criteria/questions for an app searchā¦
Dicourse has some interesting emoticons :poop: for example.
A few more benefits of Scrivener.
I can use it to send direct updates to a manual in GitHub (I am trying to move it over to and get it working with GitLab right now).
Scrivener on iOS is robust enough to keep working on major projects, like my annual NaNoWriMo novels anywhere I have my iPad.
It integrates well with AEON timeline, critical for tracking timelines in complex stories.
There was a question about how long is ālong formā. For what itās worth, I looked at what Iāve written using Scrivener and they range from 15,000 to 85,000 words. Itās all non-fiction, technical writing. I donāt think Iād bother with Scrivener for anything under, say 5000 words, as I wouldnāt need the organizational features.
Could you expound upon this? I have just given up on Scrivener for writing docs because it was too hard to get Makdown out and into (something stored in Git+GitHub).
I used Roy Liuās Scrivener starter repository available here.
Cloned it, put it into my own GIT system on my Mac and now whenever I update my LambTracker manual I can push the changes easily.
Iām trying to move the same thing over to GitLab since I no longer plan to use GitHub.
I am Git novice at best so I just read the information, followed instructions and it worked. I am pretty sure it will work just fine on GitLab too once I get a few hours to go poke at it and get my GIT on my iMac connected to GitLab instead of GitHub.
Thanks for the tip, Iāll check out that link. Why are you moving away from GitHub?