Replacing Ulysses with Drafts?

21

More apps I do not need! I use Drafts on iOS for all text based work, I have used Ulysses because I could, did I need it no, but then need is an often overused word.

Now on MacOS I write in markdown in VSCode and its not always for code based articles either. These are saved/organised in a git repo which VSCode has very good built in management tools.

I have recently been reviewing all my app needs, gone are Evernote, DevonThink, KeepIt, Agenda App, etc etc.

PDF Files and client notes are now saved directly on iCloud Drive in my custom filing system. Files are either PDF’s or Markdown/Text this saves me all the worries of app switching and jumping on the shiny new product bandwagon. One app for text/coding on iOS (VSCode) one app for text on iOS (Drafts app, then usually exported to filing system) One folder per client or subject in iCloud with sub folders as needed.

All files follow the same naming convention for example Date-fileName.ext. Dates are in ISO format <2018-10-21> making searches and organisation easy. Shortcuts on iOS automates much of this as does Hazel on the Mac

Simple, and somewhat future proof.

1 Like
22

I‘m a Scrivener user and there’s no way Drafts could replace that for novels or my novella series. But I’m very happy to finally have Drafts for Mac to use on everything else.
I use Drafts for quick capturing and it always bugged me that I had to finish that process on iOS before continuing on the Mac. Especially I can now use a workspace called „Scrivener“ where I can just store everything I captured that’s supposed to go into Scrivener.
But besides that, I will definitely use Drafts for all kinds of note taking now (that was a confusing mess between DT, nvAlt, Drafts and Scrivener until now).

4 Likes
23

Hopefully, it is ok to post a link to a new article on Macstories that sort of asks the question if Drafts or Ulysses is the right choice. There are many points I have not noticed before:

2 Likes
24

I read it this morning. As a non-subscription iOS Drafts user (and an owner of Drafts 4 before that), and as a subscriber to Ulysses, I think it was a very fair and comprehensive comparison. If you’re a true power user who enjoys scripting and needs the significantly expanded geeky capabilities of Drafts it really stands alone.

The article underscored why I like Ulysses though - the ease of use, the pleasure in choosing font (including having fonts installed on the Mac usable on iOS), text color, backgrounds (and the ability to choose from a gigantic user-created themes library), typewriter mode, embeddable images, etc etc.

I mostly use Drafts to work on 1st drafts of ideas I send into other apps (Mail, Ulysses), or as a large space to compose iMessages then send them from within the app.

I’m a little astonished that Viticci wrote a 40,000 word review in Drafts, but he has a habit of doing things the geeky, less-easy way, like the time spent with Pythonista and Editorial, and calling 2Do his favorite task app before jumping ship to Todoist, then to Things, and now currently delving into the deep recesses of GoodTask. So I applaud his explorations but wouldn’t want to follow his recommendations necessarily: they keep changing!

I think Drafts is an outstanding iOS app. I’d bought Drafts 4, and I use a tiny fraction of Drafts 5’s capabilities for free, which makes me feel a little bad, but there’s no way for me to pay for it without subscribing, and I really don’t need all those automation/scripting features.

On Mac, I think I’d only use it for the syncing capabilities. There’s so much competition on the Mac if you don’t mind the extra step of iCloud/Dropbox saving/opening. I wish Drafts/Mac the best but it’s hard to compete with the free version of BBEdit (especially in combination with something like Marked.

2 Likes