Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Scrivener [Download]

The writer's tool which makes the writing process helpful

Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2014

Platform For Display: PC DownloadVerified Purchase

Update 4/2021:
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I stopped using this product several years ago. I like the idea of it but in practice I find writing in Libreoffice Writer is just easier for me without hassles or bugs.

I replicated the same work flow in Writer that I figured out in Scrivener and it just works and is for me easier in Libre Office. Feature for Feature it is not one to one, though for ease of use and just get stuff done with layout control, bookmarking with multiple versions of documents and many listed features of Scrivener you can do similar in Libre Office.

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Original Review:

If you have seen how magazine publishers use a light board to position and design their layouts, Scrivener allows this type of work flow with your own writing.

This software is primarily a writer's outlining tool which allows you to quickly mockup an outline for whatever type of writing you do. There is no limit to the type or kind of writing you can use this tool for it is designed to work with you in your process whatever that is. It helps you by chunking the process, instead of one long document you sectionize and work in smaller chunks which you can reorganize and position and reposition as you work. It really is a writers tool which makes the process of writing helpful and easier.

In the process you get a finished writing which you export out into a completed PDF, epub, txt format.

I downloaded the trial of Scrivener and at first glance I didn't really get it. I watched some of the tutorials and read through the reviews paying attention to the critics more so than the fan boy's.

I decided to give it a go by actually using it in a real project which is the only way I was going to discover how well this actually works by using it as it is intended to be used.

At first I didn't really understand the layout but after spending sometime poking and prodding I quickly got up to speed as to the purpose of the features and built-in tools. Some of the ways it did certain things I didn't like and wished I could have it go to the opening menu by default when closing projects instead of just exiting the software program. So, I went on a hunt through the features and discovered how to enable that feature among several others that made Scrivener work more natural for me from a Windows user stand point.

Some of the features are OFF by default and common features are hidden away, but you are allowed to customize the menu bars which lets you place buttons for the features you need or want on the top tool bars for instant access. I placed the actual settings buttons on my tool bar so I have instant access in case I want to change something later, no hunting through menus is really nice.

The way I now look at this tool after using it for 3 or 4 days before purchasing, is that it helps you keep track of your thoughts and ideas while helping you fill in the details which then becomes your book, article, blog post, technical sheet or whatever it is you are writing. Once you have setup the work flow the folders, chapters, sections, notes you can save it all into it's own template which will be the basis for your next project whatever that will be. This greatly saves time by giving you an exiting outline designed by you for the way you naturally work.

I have three separate outlines I have put together one is a marketing outline designed for writing sales letters, another is an outline for writing articles or books based on a certain topic. I can create outlines which I convert to a template designed specifically to the exact type of writing or topic of choice. How this comes into play is the ability to save or link outside content directly into the project which you can use for research in your writing. Gather enough research content on certain topics and put them into a project and setup an outline based on that topic or format then save it as a template and presto an instant launching pad to start from. The organizational ability this gives you is enormously helpful and the instant access to this content is a large part in why I purchased Scrivener. Yes, you can do similar in other software like Libre Office, Word but I have found after working with Scrivener the combination of the number of sources to note things and gain access to that information is much faster in Scrivener. Plus you can link content directly to other content and see the connection which when writing is essentially a brain dump of your thoughts and you can instantly see how things are fitting together as you are writing. Now, what if you have to make a change wouldn't it be easier to at a glance see what other areas that change may impact? Good luck doing that in a regular word processor software. Short articles you don't need this, 350 page novel or technical manual would be easier to work with using these type of features.

The Tools...

There are a couple tools I find very interesting. There is a built-in name generator that gives the root meaning and origin of the name generated along with the ability to choose the region or filter out regions to not include in the name generator. I find this tool interesting and for fictional authors this would help with character development.

The other tool I find helpful is the ability to import web pages directly from the web into your project for research. You can save the entire page as an image, text only or an embedded browser which brings up the page live directly in scrivener. This last one is very slow and tends to freeze the application, I wouldn't use it personally. The image and text options work well but for some reason the software hangs on pages that include a lot of javascript or similar. A popup box asking to wait for the page, import what it currently has or cancel the import, appears. Choose Import what it has will bring in the web page no problems, not sure what the problem is but seems to be a bug in the feature. For research this is a useful tool I have been using, instead of having to open my browser go to the site copy then paste into a text document I just click that page in Scrivener's research folder and it appears instantly next to my content. Very useful for checking sources and quotes etc...

I like the ability to see how this research material fits in with my content and be able to move it around and reposition within the outline. Instant feedback of where this research impacts my content and I can move it around to maybe a better place that fits better.

Another tool I find useful is the ability to take parts of content and put into it's own page or cut up pages into new sections or add into existing pages or sections. Amazingly helpful once you get the hang of it. This is not an intuitive process as I thought it might be, but it works once you experiment with it. In Libre Office I would just cut and paste manually but that takes time, this feature doesn't take more than highlighting the section of content and then choosing the right option from the right mouse menu. Takes a little thought before hand.

Windows Vs Mac...

There are differences between Windows and Mac version but not as much as reviews state from mid 2013 and before. I would say it is safe to ignore most of the older reviews. There ARE differences and some of the fancy cork board features shown in the Mac tutorials don't work in Windows. What does work is the ability to drag position of the cork board items but you can't move them around anywhere on the page like in Mac. All of the images shown at the top of the Windows version on Amazon work as shown. If you go to the home website for Scrivener and click on the Windows version and look at the screen shots everything there works as shown. Go to Youtube and watch the Windows ONLY tutorials and you will get a better idea of the difference but there are some tutorial video's that are OLD and out of date mainly the features they say aren't working are now working.

There is a 30 day trial if you go to their website and download it you will see for yourself if it works how you expect.

Additional Notes...

I have Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit and I have ZERO problems with Scrivener, no crashing, no stability issues of any kind. Others report problems I have not experienced any.

The Editor is very basic and some of the common tools are not on the tool bar, you have to go to customization to add those missing buttons. Some just aren't there at all though so if you expect a Word replacement this is not that and is not really what it is meant for from what I can tell after using it for a week or less.

There is an HTML web page export option in Scrivener. Please don't use this and expect it to work for a live website, this is NOT a web page creator. This feature should be removed as it is very very bad formatted code. But it does give the CSS for the page formatting but most of it is inline CSS.

One thing of important note on importing documents into Scrivener from Word or Open/Libre Office is that these proprietary file formats like doc, docx, fodt, odt needs to be saved into RTF file format first then imported into Scrivener. I guess it doesn't do well with non-standard text formats. It works though so...

For more advanced formatting such as anything outside of the standard Bold and Underlining formatting needs to be done in a different software. Scrivener is mainly the tool you use to actually write the content but for formatting and making things look pretty you need to use Word, Open/Libre Office or something else. This is primarily an Outlining, Drafting and Writing tool and even though fancy formatting can be important this usually comes after you have written the content in the first place which is what Scrivener is for.

There is a companion tool that is an optional purchase from the creator's website called Scapple, it is designed to go along with Scrivener and is more of a brain storming, mind mapping sort of tool which connects directly to Scrivener and allows you to import the notes directly from Scapple. It is interesting, there are other software similar to it out there both free and paid but it's an interesting little tool in it's own right. Check it out after Scrivener.

14 people found this helpful

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Joshua Hardy Carroll

To Scrivener or not to Scrivener?

Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2015

Platform For Display: PC DownloadVerified Purchase

from http://hawesescapes.com/to-scrivener-or-not-to-scrivener/

That is the question. Sure, we are used to Microsoft Word, but is it really all that great? Let’s take organization. If you halfway know what you’re doing you can create a style with chapter headings. Hell, you might even go down the rabbit hole of Microsoft formatting and set your margins, tabs and all that. Before you know it a half hour has gone by. You flip back and forth between your notes. Maybe you use Evernote or a Moleskine in your pocket. Maybe you use the dreadful Word sticky notes or even the comments. Then you start to write. You can scroll to the chapter or click on the link, but sometimes that doesn’t work as well as you’d like. Maybe you auto-selected the entire chapter and deleted it. Maybe your older PC is still dealing with your aquarium screensaver and decides to give you the blue screen of death. Whatever the situation, chances are you have at least one Word horror story.

typing
Word was created in 1983 by Charles Simonyi and Richard Brodie, former Xerox programmers hired by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1981. It was designed for Xenix and MS-DOS. It had several versions, none very successful because back then computers were for playing chess and maybe figuring out how to calculate interest payments. There was also program for Macintosh called Microsoft Write and a one-off version for Atari.

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In 1989, it was slightly modified for Windows. It was a colossal success and pretty much cemented Microsoft’s place as the Catholic Church of software companies.

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Neither writers nor designers were consulted. There was no user experience research done at all. They gave us the program and it was up to us to learn to use it.

Most writers back then used a simple method. They wrote in a notebook or on a typewriter. They kept notes and went to the library for research. Sometimes they might spread their various chapters and drafts on the floor to arrange things. They certainly did not work in the linear way dictated by some computer program. But after the demise of Word Perfect, a slightly better program designed to do the same thing, Word was the only game in town. Use it or screw off. Other programs came along, most of them cloning the crappy interface decisions and again repeating the crummy, non-writerly user experience.

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And we still use it. Submit any work anywhere and you will find the default format is .doc or .docx. Microsoft: it’s not that it’s garbage. It’s not that it’s everywhere. It’s that it’s garbage and it’s everywhere.

Enter Scrivener. Originally designed for Mac, it is now available for Windows machines. According to Wikipedia (another staggering innovation for writers)
Features include a corkboard, the ability to rearrange files by dragging-and-dropping virtual index cards on the corkboard, an outliner, a split screen mode that enables users to edit several documents at once, a full-screen mode, and “snapshots” (the ability to save a copy of a particular document prior to any drastic changes). Scrivener allows photos to be dragged into its interface as well. Because of its breadth of interfaces and features, it has positioned itself not only as a word processor, but as a literary “project management tool,” and includes many user-interface features.

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You hear that? A project management tool. That’s right, and the project you’re managing is a writing project. Non fiction? Fiction? Blog? Yep. You want notes? You want a corkboard? You want multiple drafts conveniently located in the same place? How about pictures, audio clips, scanned documents, websites? Yep. All right there, all out of the way until you need them. And don’t worry about the formatting, because that’s a separate operation. As is editing.

Yes, you need to rethink the way you work, but really–when you think about it, you are merely unlearning a crappy workflow dictated to you a couple dorks who are now fat millionaires whiling away their endless idle hours staring at Elliot Bay through their mansion windows while sipping from a bottle of wine that cost more than your last vacation.

This program is fantastic. It will help you write better. It will help you become more efficient and organized so you can focus on story problems, not software problems.

It’s not just me who thinks so.

Our redeemer is Scrivener… software that jibes with the way writers think. As its name makes plain, Scrivener takes our side; it roots for the writer and not for the final product… The happy, broad-minded, process-friendly Scrivener software encourages note-taking and outlining and restructuring and promises all the exhilaration of a productive desk… Scrivener, then, is one of us, at home in the writer’s jumpy emotional and procedural universe.”
—Virginia Hefferman The New York Times

“Scrivener 2 has been a long time in the works, but it proves to have been well worth the wait. Its first incarnation was an innovative writing tool. With automatic backups, revisioning and snapshot provision, its second is an indispensable one.”—Nik Rawlinson, MacUser: Editor’s Choice

“In perhaps the quintessential example of small, independent developers creating best-in-class applications on Mac OS X, today we’re going to look at Literature & Latte’s Scrivener… It might sound like I’m being a little overzealous with my praise, but I really am quite impressed with both the application and the developer.”—Nabil, AppleGeeks

“I have tried nearly every writing tool available for the Mac and finally stumbled upon one that is, basically, brilliant. I love it. It has replaced every other writing tool in my arsenal.”—Ricardo Sanchez, Conform & Obey

and dozens of other raves.

So seriously, writers. Check it out. You won’t go back to the Microsoft nonsense. I promise. The program is available free for thirty days. Then it’s forty bucks, the cost of eight wedding cake lattes at your Barnes & Noble Starbucks.

3 people found this helpful

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ATL-SMITH-22

Scrivener has twice defaulted to unregistered status.

Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2023

Platform For Display: PC DownloadVerified Purchase

Scrivener has twice changed my status to unregistered. The first time, in trying to correct, I lost several months work. Fortunately I had backed up to a word processor and then had to re-enter to go back to Scrivener. I thought that this was a fluke, but It has happened again and I am waiting for feedback from L and L to correct the problem without loss. This is a great program, but I wonder why there is an unexpected status change to unregistered. . I will give more feedback as to how they respond to my problem. The disruption to my work is irritating.

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NVDogDad

A Robust Organizational Tool for Writers; Negative Reviews are Unjustified

Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2018

Platform For Display: PC DownloadVerified Purchase

First, notice that the negative reviews on here are mostly due to (1) a user being "unable" to register Scrivener, and/or (2) a user being confused by the product itself and not understanding how to use it. Both are unjustified, and I'll briefly explain why.

The registration and activation is easy, but you can't just download it directly from Amazon like you would some other digital products. Others' confusion comes when they don't read the instructions and simply try to download it directly. Not surprisingly, a failure to follow instructions doesn't lead to the desired result. Solution: When you purchase the program from Amazon, after a minute or two for processing, you will see in your Amazon digital library (where all of your past digital orders are located) the Scrivener product listed there. There will be your registration number and a link right there that says "How to Redeem this Item." Click on that. A dialogue window will open up (like a new web window) with specific instructions to go to a website and enter the registration number. So, go there. Paste in the registration number. Then, you will be prompted to enter your name, address, email, etc. Then you'll get a license activation code. ... That is the code you'll enter into the program itself for your activation. How? Well, you should have already downloaded the 30-day trial version. For each startup, it prompts you to either continue your trial or register the product. Again, not a shocker, but when it asks this question and you now have the license activation code, click on register and enter your license name (the name you used when you got your activation code) and then paste in the code EXACTLY as it appears. It's easy to make a mistake here using copy/paste, so double-check to make sure it copied all of the code and didn't drop off the first letter/number. When you submit that, give it a minute and voila! Your Scrivener product is now registered. It took me less than 3 minutes to do all of this, and I'm not an IT guy. All it requires is reading the instructions. So, the people who are screaming they can't register the product are not reading the instructions and probably the same people who can't write a novel anyway. Leaving a negative review because of user ineptitude is just inconsiderate and irresponsible.

Second, there are complaints about Scrivener support from the Literature and Latte website. Folks, the people you are complaining about have left you with a very detailed tutorial. Again, it requires reading. If you can't focus enough to read the tutorial, then why are you purchasing a program to write a book? Worse, why would you publicly flag yourself as a person who can't follow the tutorial? ... Anyhow, there is a tutorial that is worth reading, following, and then reading again. In addition, there are some really great visual tutorials online (YouTube) from Literature and Latte and some other helpful souls, if you're a visual/audio learner. I have found these to be great supplements to the written tutorial. Take advantage of these, and you will not be sorry. Once more, leaving a negative review for a product because you can't figure it out is really just unjustified if you have not taken the time to really learn about the product.

Scrivener is a robust program. It contains so many features for a novelist, screenwriter, or any author of a small to large writing project. It is an organizational tool for writers. It will not write the book, screenplay, or writing project for you. You will not suddenly become a writer if you start using this program. Scrivener is for existing writers who juggle dozens of characters, locations, plots and subplots all at once and realize that Word just isn't going to cut it for them. Even several years after its initial release, the Windows version 1 program is useful and not dated at all. I am using it on Windows 10 with no issues at all. In fact, I am about ready to complete this review and get back to my morning session of writing. I was compelled, however, to write this review to reassure any writers out there that this program is definitely worth it and definitely what you are looking for in terms of keeping your projects organized so you spend more time writing and creating great work. For specific details on the features, please see the product description, or, better yet, download the trial version from Literature and Latte directly and go through the tutorial. It's worth the read and the time you put into it.

76 people found this helpful

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Excellent novel organization.

Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2015

Platform For Display: PC DownloadVerified Purchase

I purchased this software to help with novel document organization. This software is extremely helpful with lots of useful functionality specifically built in to help you organize and compile your work. The value of this program for such a low cost is impressive.

First item of note: You can download Scrivener and try it for yourself for free for 30 days of **actual use**. In other words, if you use it every day it lasts 30 days; if you use it only two days a week, it lasts fifteen weeks. Before the trial expires, you can export all of your work or buy a licence to continue using Scrivener. Just google "Scrivener Free Trial" and you can get it straight from Literature and Latte's homepage. I would highly recommend taking advantage of this, since you can take your time and go through their very extensive and thorough walkthrough of the software and its features (it took hours to go through), as well as start your own project to see if you like how it is organised. It's what convinced me to buy it.

The software:
The program is fantastic. Everything you need to organize and write a novel is included in the functionality of the program. You can keep all of your material (outlines, research, websites, images, ideas, etc.) in one place. It's sort of like OneNote on steroids and exclusively designed for the novelist. There are a blindingly vast amount of features in this program, so I won't even try to describe them all here, but you can learn about them in your free trial.

The software is designed for you to work in chunks - scenes, acts, chapters, whatever you want. For me personally, I have my novel separated out in "Acts" and major events, with scenes and chapters underneath. You can view individual scenes/chapters/whatever or look at your novel as a whole. You can start anywhere you want, write a scene at the end and work your way to the beginning, etc. You can also rearrange these scenes and chapters in any order you want easily if you decide you don't like where they are - it's drag-and-drop.

My favorite features:
Corkboard - Every document is attached to a virtual index card onto which you can jot a synopsis. Moving the cards on Scrivener’s corkboard rearranges their associated text in your draft. This is excellent when you need to rearrange scenes or plot pieces or chapters or whatever.
Statistics and Targets - A live word and character count of the current section is always in view at the bottom of the screen, and you can set a word or character count target for each section.
Full-Screen - One click in Scrivener’s toolbar and your document goes full screen so you can leave the rest of your desktop behind and write distraction free. This is especially great for helping you keep your hands off of the internet.
Templates - You can create a character, setting, etc template and each time you want to create a new character sheet you just create from your template.
Tags, colors, and icons - You can tag your work or color coordinate it. I use this for separating out my POV character scenes.
Custom Search - You can save a custom search that will automatically update as you write more. This is great for saving a search for that one word/phrase/etc that you repeat over and over again and want to seek-and-destroy.

Tips -
You can save your Scrivener to DropBox so that you can access your project from any computer you have Scrivener and DropBox on.

If you have access to DropBox but not Scrivener somewhere (i.e. work or your sister's house) you can always save what you're working on into another format, such as MS Word. I personally use Word to save off chapters because I like their editing features better, and I can submit chapters to my writer's group for them to redline with their critiques. I can also open Word documents on my iPad or mobile phone or whatever else and edit them at my mom's house or randomly in my car at the movies.

Additionally, EverNote is a great platform for you to scribble down ideas and research wherever you are (including your mobile phone or tablet) to transfer to your Scrivener later.

35 people found this helpful

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More Helpful Than Expected

Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2015

Platform For Display: PC DownloadVerified Purchase

I'm surprised at how helpful this turned out to be. I was extremely skeptical at first on how this could really add any value over a dedicated word processor. After all, the word processor included in Scrivener is extremely basic. You can get about the same level of functionality out of Word Pad which is built into Windows, and it pales in comparison to Open Office or especially Microsoft Office.

What it helps with though is organization, and just like in other areas of life things can get much easier if you're well organized. A nice feature, and one of the main ones, is you can break a larger project up into smaller chunks, and on each one of those chunks you can write a short synopsis. With the various views, you in essence get an outline of your project and you can easily drag and drop these chunks around.

Another surprising feature I found that I liked was the ability to set a target goal on individual chunks, either a number of words or a number of characters. However, this also lead to something I felt was missing. You can only set this target on individual chunks. So if you have a chapter, broken into three chunks, you can't set a target for the chapter as a whole, only on each individual chunk. In the outline view, you can see the total word count for a chapter 'folder' but it doesn't work with any of the target goals or progress bars.

The last major feature I wanted to highlight in this review is the exporting options. This is another area this program shines. There are several defaults like a pdf file, printing, manuscript, paperback, kindle (.mobi), epub, etc but you can also customize the format entirely. From changing the font, size of the font, what gets printed in the header, the footer, the paper size, and much more. You can also pick one of the default options, then tweak it to fit your needs. For example the manuscript format uses a mono space font, but if the publisher you are submitting to wants Times New Roman you can simply change the font.

Registration of the software is a little clunky. All you will get here from Amazon is a registration key, which you must then go to the Literature & Latte website and register an account there with the code you get. You will then be e-mailed another code that you paste into the actual software to convert it from the trail version to the full version. This is an outdated model of DRM (Digital Rights Management) that people who steal software have long ago found ways around, all it serves these days is to annoy the people who actually buy the software.

I was however easily able to install this on two computers. One that I use at home, and a laptop I take with me when I travel. By placing my project folder into a cloud storage folder (Google Drive, Dropbox, etc) I can work on my project from either computer and everything is automatically synced.

So overall I'm pleasantly pleased with the software. A few minor features are missing, but nothing that proves to be a roadblock.

2 people found this helpful

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Amazing software, must buy for writers

Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2018

Platform For Display: PC DownloadVerified Purchase

This is the perfect writing software for authors!

there are honestly so many wonderful features, but the following are my favorites:

- I LOVE being able to keep all of my ideas and background stories in well-organized folders while also staying in the same project as my manuscript!

- When I fire up the program is brings me exactly where I exited.

- The Customization options are plentiful! You can change the icons, change the colors of the folders, change the colors of pretty much anything if you want to... it has all of the useful features of Word so the actual writing doesn't feel any worse.

- I can go into full screen distraction free mode which his helpful. It has a lot of customization! (screen shot provided - the bar at the bottom goes away when your mouse isn't on it)

- There are so many tools that I honestly haven't even delved into them all. There's a tagging/keywords system (for my uses I put all minor characters as keywords in the chapters they appear in so if I then want to find what chapters they appear in later on it's very easy), there's a way to put references right into your document (handy for term papers, college students), also internal references (I like to make a page for all my locations and then reference it in the chapter is appears in). It has a convenient spot for footnotes and comments. You can make project notes that appear no matter what page you look at, and also single page only notes. You can add pictures easily into the document/chapter itself OR as a reference picture (you can see what I'm talking about on the far right tool in my screenshot I posted - you can also change it into a notecard and write a synopsis).

- I LOVE the split screen capabilities! I'll provide a screenshot for how my windows look as I write. It's so nice to be able to write and also have a second window up for my notes.

- But one of the best features is the Snapshot function! It makes the editing phases really nice for me. What it does is saves the page exactly how it is at that moment, then you can make sweeping changes and snapshot that (I rename my snapshots for clarification) and go back and reread the original. This is handy to have all the versions of that chapter/scene that I've worked on.

- Template sheets! They make it so easy to plan out my novel. I set up a folder for blank templates and then when I want to make a new Character Sheet I can just go to Project > New From Template (select template) and then fill it out.

- When you move items to trash they are not permanently deleted. So if you aren't 100% sure you want to delete something, don't worry.

You have to understand that I used to only use Word, which was a jumbled mess of ideas. Now I can spread out and have everything extremely organized. It has changed my writing life forever!

Note: The compile feature makes it so you can easily filter out your notes and make your finished manuscript into any format you want. You can literally put every single novel related thing you could ever imagine you'd want or need into one easy project.

14 people found this helpful

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Jennifer Tzivia MacLeod, author of the Seven Day Manuscript Machine and Writing the Bible for Kids

Hasn't revolutionized my writing life (though I wish it had!)

Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2015

Platform For Display: PC DownloadVerified Purchase

This is probably the best way for writers to organize and create long novels, works of non-fiction and other things that are too bulky to mess around with in Word. I should probably use it more, but I've found I can't, and don't; I feel guilty now, but there it is.
Certainly, using Scrivener has helped to highlight some of the deficiencies of a simple word processing application. What impressed me most about Scrivener is how stable it is. It goes to great lengths to back up your work so you never lose a precious word. After too many times of losing my stuff in Word, I really do love that.
However... I have to say I'm disappointed that Scrivener hasn't really revolutionized my writing life the way I hoped it would.
For shorter things, like short stories, blog posts, etc., I find that I'm still mainly using Word. And because of the woefully insufficient way that Scrivener handles exporting to Microsoft Word (ie by stripping almost all the formatting, not using Styles, etc), I found that as a publishing tool, it is still too basic to take seriously. It doesn't even export to epub particularly well - for example, you don't get any flexibility about how to build your book's Table of Contents.
Also, that famous security comes at a cost of lags and delays where I'd sit with ideas flowing waiting for Scrivener to recover from one of its frequent autosaves. I even resorted, at times, to typing in notepad while it was saving so as not to lose the flow. I also found that some of the features smacked of "feature-itis" and were thrown in unnecessarily (such as the character name generator and the variety of backgrounds you can choose for the full-screen writing environment). People complain about the steep learning curve for Scrivener, and I think adding unnecessary features like these doesn't help. It was also very difficult to figure out the compile, even with tutorials etc.
I guess a combination of all these issues is what did me in and led me away from Scrivener. These days, for anything shorter than novel-length, I'm sticking with Microsoft Word. If I want an ebook version, I import the Word document into a free program called Calibre that does a great job of working with Word's formatting to create epub and Kindle versions (though you can upload an epub straight to KDP, so you don't really need to make your own Kindle version). Calibre also lets you customize and rearrange your TOC and other aspects of your ebook. I actually found at one point that I was using it to "fix" the ebooks that Scrivener created... blah.
If you're writing something super-long, especially non-fiction, where you'd want the ability to move chapters etc around, then I guess I'd do it in Scrivener... maybe. Or do it in Word, and curse myself for doing it, and feel guilty every time I stare at the Scrivener icon that I'm not using it more these days.
(FYI: I'm using a PC, so this is Scrivener for Windows)

5 people found this helpful

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Michele Rodriguez

So glad to just sit down and write.

Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2012

Platform For Display: PC DownloadVerified Purchase

Scrivener has made my writing process much simpler and a lot less tedious.

Product features include a virtual corkboard where you can post character sketches, ideas and research notes accessible with one click. There are templates for outlining characters and scenes if you need them or you can use virtual index cards when you only need brief notes. My favorite feature so far is the 1-click compilation tool. You are able to create each scene in a separate template. The compilation tool will assemble the scenes into a single manuscript. Need to change the order of scenes? Unlike Word, which automatically lists documents in alphabetical order by title, Scrivener allows you to click and drag titles to whatever order you like. Need to change something throughout the manuscript? Let's use a changing a character's name as an example. Instead of searching each individual scene, compile all the scenes into manuscript format and do a single "Find and Replace". All your changes will be completed with one click. Scrivener also offers word processing tools such as dictionary and spell check (sounds like a no brainer, but in my research I found apps that didn't have spell check) and links to other helpful websites like Google and Brainy Quotes.

The only problem I have had so far is saving a file in cloud storage. When I opened a file I'd saved in SkyDrive the app was there, but pages were blank. In fairness I should add that I've only tried this twice and have not yet researched the Scrivener tutorial for a solution.

I've tried other ways to organize my writing. Most of them require a lot of toggling back and forth between different files and applications. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the best places to keep research, character sketches and story lines. It may not sound like a lot of work, but if I'm in the middle of writing, stopping for five or ten minutes to open up and different file in a different application can sometimes be enough of a distraction to cause me to lose momentum. Now that I have Scrivener, if a question or idea crosses my mind, I can one click to my research notes, jot it down quickly and immediately return to what I was writing in a matter of seconds. I have everything in one place.

Potential buyers should be advised that Scrivener is only a "content generation tool". It will organize material- not help you write it better. This, however, does not take away from its benefits. Scrivener is a word processing tool with blank templates specifically targeted to meet a writer's needs, like the pre-set double-spaced, 12 pt. manuscript format. There are different types of writing tools out there so the most important first step to take is to identify your skill level and needs. If you want help creating better characters and scenes there are other applications that can help in those areas, but if you, like me, want a tool that automates a lot of the formatting so you can just sit down and write, I highly recommend Scrivener.

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Absolutly Perfect for Writing in Scenes

Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2014

Platform For Display: PC DownloadVerified Purchase

This program is offered completely free for a non-consecutive 30 day trial. I got mine at CNET. The easiest way to tell if its worth your money would probably be to grab your own and try it out.

I'd been wondering about this program for some time, and had done a little research, but the price made me hesitate. I had been using the free Microsoft Works software that used to come with computers. (Irrelevant Note: Works is discontinued. Save your stories in RTF or you'll be forced to buy Word to open your documents!) Back to the product; I saw that the price had dropped, so I did more research. I ended up downloading the trial from Literature & Latte, and it took me maybe half an hour to forty-five minutes tops to decide that I wanted this program, (pretty much from the tutorial alone) so I went ahead and ordered it.
I can see how it wouldn't be for everyone, but I adore it. It is so much better than Works, Wordpad, or even Corel! The first thing I did was to open a new project. I chose 'novel with parts', and was amazed at how easy it was to then import one of my stories (compatible formats are listed; it doesn't open Works, but that's okay) and then plug it into their setup.
I've never seen anything like it! It lets your document be a file, in which you can store pages, or even more documents. It sounds complicated, but it's very user friendly. Book-wise, Chapter one can be a folder that holds the separate scenes that make up the chapter, yet this scenes can either be viewed separately, or as a whole, the way you'd usually look at a chapter.
The beauty of this is that if you decide scene 4: Sally Sells Seashells, would work better right before scene 9: By the Seashore, then all you have to do is click and drag it there in the side bar. No copy and paste. No trying to scroll through a massive document looking for the right parts to swap. It's great! This also lets you write scenes that can't happen yet, and store them as notes for later.
At the bottom of the Novel projects, there are 'files' for characters, places, and research. You can use these, and easily create more, to keep everything you need for the story in one place, or delete them and just focus on your document.
I have been writing in scenes for years, and I often find myself getting disorganized very quickly, or rushing things to get to the scene that I keep pushing ahead to the next page. Yes, there are ways to write like this without Scrivener, but this software was worth every penny. I grabbed it while it was $23.99, but now that I've actually used it, I can honestly say its well worth the full $40. I would recommend this to a friend (in fact, I already have)
Seriously, stop reading reviews, and grab the free trial. You'll be able to tell pretty quickly whether or not Scrivener will work for you.

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