Scrivener is software focused on long-form writing, suitable for writing projects such as novels, screenplays, nonfiction, and academic papers. It integrates writing, notes, and research materials into a single project and organizes content in a binder-like way.
Purpose Scrivener is aimed at all kinds of long-form writing, including novels, screenplays, nonfiction, student papers, academic writing, legal documents, journalism, and translation. The official description says it does not teach a writing method, but instead provides everything needed to start writing and keep writing.
Main capabilities Users can write in any order, split the manuscript into parts of any size, and then combine the parts in "Scrivenings" mode to edit them as a single document. The Corkboard maps each part to a virtual index card; moving cards rearranges the manuscript. The Outliner supports folders and subfolders, allows viewing summaries, word counts, and metadata, and supports reorganizing structure by drag and drop. Research materials can be opened alongside writing at any time, supporting writing from photos, transcribing interviews, taking notes on PDFs or web pages, and checking consistency against earlier text. The editor provides common word-processing features such as bold, italics, highlighting, comments, annotations, lists, images, and tables, and supports styles and page view. The editor can be split to open up to four documents at the same time in the same project window, making it easy to compare, translate, transcribe, or rewrite. Full-screen writing mode can hide the rest of the interface, and themes can be customized. Supports setting word or character targets for the whole manuscript, parts of it, or the current writing session, and viewing writing history. Metadata supports color-coded labels, status tracking, keywords, and custom fields; Collections can create related document lists or smart lists. Screenplay writing provides familiar screenplay formatting features, and when finished it can be printed directly or exported to software such as Final Draft. Nonfiction writing supports footnotes and can import and cite a research library, with built-in paper templates for common formats such as MLA and APA. Templates and icons can be used to create foundations for new sections such as character or location sheets. Snapshot can save versions before major revisions, and Compare can show changes. Automatically saves and automatically backs up when a project is opened or closed.
How to use Scrivener organizes writing by project. Users can first import materials into a project, including Word and OpenOffice documents, plain text files, Final Draft screenplays, images, PDFs, videos, sound files, and web pages. When writing, they can edit by section or as a whole, using the Corkboard and Outlinerto plan or reorganize, keep research materials at hand for reference, and set goals to track progress. When finished, it can be compiled into a single document for printing, self-publishing preparation, or export to formats such as Word, PDF, Final Draft, RTF, OpenOffice, Epub, and Kindle; Pandoc or MultiMarkdown can also be used to support LaTeX and more.
Use cases Suitable for long-form writing projects such as novels, screenplays, nonfiction, student papers, academic writing, legal writing, journalism, and translation. Users can choose to use it on macOS, Windows, and iOS, sync via Dropbox or transfer via iTunes; licenses are sold separately.
Limitations The official page does not provide complete details on specific pricing methods, prices, free trials, platform version differences, AI features, word count limits, or export formats. The information not mentioned above is not yet available.