NotTooBad Software

The ultimate word processor

In May 2004, Adam C. Engst wrote about WriteRight: The Writer’s Word Processor where he laid out his idea of the perfect word processor. Over 6 1/2 years later there is still no such thing. Scrivener is a major leap forward but I feel it is still lacking in some areas, so here I have outlined my own ideas for the perfect writing software. Unfortunately all the good names are taken. The mediocre ones too. So I give you:

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Even better UI: Scrivener

Continuing from last week’s ideas for Scrivener‘s corkboard, here are some suggestions for the rest of the application.

Preview when configuring a compile

When it’s time to get my writings out of Scrivener, there will often be a lot of back and forth to get the output just the way I want it. It would save a lot of time if there was an instant preview when configuring the compile settings.

Link to media files

If I drag a movie into the Research folder the entire file is moved into the project. This makes the project file way too big, so instead I create aliases of movies and import them. This works fine, but I lose the ability to play the movie inside Scrivener. It would be nice to have the option to link to media files instead of importing them. I know you can link to files in “Document References”, but then they are hidden away somewhere in the Inspector and easily forgotten.

Export files by drag & drop

I have collected a lot of PDF files in the Research folder, but if I drag them out of Scrivener and onto the desktop nothing happens. I can export using File – Export – Files…, but dragging is quicker and more intuitive.

Automatic syncing

When I open a project that has been synchronised with a folder and there are changes in that folder, Scrivener very helpfully informs me of this and asks if I want to synchronise the changes back into the project. But if I make changes in Scrivener and then close the project without synchronising with the folder first, which I often do, nothing happens. It would make for a better workflow if the synchronisation occurred automatically when opening and closing the project.

Enforce format

This is just nitpicking really, but there could be an option to enforce one text format for a document. That way I can forget about how the text looks and focus on the content. All this boils down to is make “Paste and Match Style” the default action when pasting and dragging text.

Even better UI: Scrivener – The Corkboard

Scrivener is an excellent application and the closest anything has come to a great word processor (as opposed to a page layout application, which is what most word processors really are). Fiction and non-fiction writers alike love it, and I fully recommend it for writing anything longer than a blog post. But it’s so full of functionality and customisation options that it can be a bit unintuitive at times. So here are a few ideas for improvements.

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How to import voice memos into Things

I usually write new ideas into the Things app on my iPhone straight away, but sometimes it’s better to just dictate into the Voice Memo app instead of typing. Here’s how you automatically add those voice memos to the Things inbox:

1. Add the folder /Users/<your username>/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Voice Memos to Hazel.
2. Enter these settings:
   

   Here is the script:

   1. tell application "Things"
   2.    set props to {name:"Voice memo"}
   3.    set newToDo to make new to do with properties props
   4.    set notes of newToDo to "[filepath=" & POSIX path of theFile & "]TITLE[/filepath]"
   5.  
   6. end tell

Now, every time you make a voice memo on the iPhone and connect it to your computer a note titled “voice memo” with a link to the sound file will be added to the inbox in Things.

If you don’t have Hazel you can achieve the same thing by setting up a folder action on the voice memos folder. But you will have to modify the script.