What are people's experiences with Scrivener on Windows?

By Elena Brescacin, 18 April, 2024

Forum
Windows

I was reading a thread into the Apple section, regarding text editors and a couple users mentioned Scrivener.
Does someone use this application on Windows platform? I have it on iOS, but being my main computer a Windows machine I'd like to be able to use it there, before switching.
I currently rely on saving text files into PCloud service with no proper order, but it is starting no longer to be the case.
Yes the ideal would be a system where I can edit from web app, then go to iOS and eventually into a real software. But it can't be the case.
Microsoft Word on iOS, i find it uncomfortable it's not so immediate to modify and go.
I'm currently using Google Keep.
I wanted to take a look at Scrivener

Options

Comments

By Maldalain on Wednesday, April 17, 2024 - 02:07

Bringing bad news here, no it is not and the developer is not willing to make it accessible at this tage. I have been in touch with the developers and explained issues with the app on Windows, and they informed me they have no plans to support screen reders at this stage as this would require effort and time, they clearly stated they see no potential in making the app accessible.
On the mac it is great!

By Elena Brescacin on Wednesday, April 17, 2024 - 02:07

They don't deserve my money and effort, then; maybe blind people's money stink, for those devs.
I have a mac, I use it as my secondary computer, but I won't waste my time on scrivener.
Alternatives to suggest?

By Ollie on Wednesday, April 17, 2024 - 02:07

Think it might have been my thread you saw. I would still suggest ulysses with a couple of caveats:

1. It's a subscription. Not hugely expensive, £40 a year I think, but worth bearing in mind.

2. The sync function through iCloud is broken. For this reason I suggest using your own system. You can add external folders and save where you like. I know you can do this on the mac version but not sure about IOS.

they are aware of the issues and are working to correct them. They ar also very helpful and keen on accessibility. They will make you a style sheet, for example, if you have certain specifications for when you export.

I'd certainly give it a go if I were you. Scrivener is convoluted. I'm very surprised to hear the developers were so adiment they wouldn't work on accessibility. A few years ago, when I spoke with them, they seemed much more keen.

By Elena Brescacin on Wednesday, April 17, 2024 - 02:07

yeah, I have ulysses subscription
it is also comfortable as it gives me the ability to post to WordPress directly, being "faithful" to my markdown syntax without creating extra-blocks "unsupported block" types as other MarkDown apps mostly do.
I will try to add my projects to PCloud, then see what happens on Windows machine if I sync them.

By Holy Diver on Wednesday, April 17, 2024 - 02:07

I’d love a markdown editor with its own web portal for syncing and storing my work in progress. I’ve now got a foot in most ecosystems and having some way to organize my writing outside of google drive would be welcome, does Scrivener or any other program offer this? I’d pay.

By Ollie on Wednesday, April 17, 2024 - 02:07

Again, and I really don't want to sound like a shill, but Ulysses, on mac at least, allows for storage of .MD files in external folders, IE, if you can mount your drive of choice on mac, you can store it there.

Unfortunately, it's apple exclusive. I imagine you could just just use a mark down editor on windows to edit the file in the same way as you'd edit any file.

Scrivener, to me, just seems over blown, there aren't enough shortcuts and some of the shortcuts seem to conflict with voiceover. I think it is a very visual first app, which is no use to us.

By WellF on Wednesday, April 17, 2024 - 02:07

The latest versions had some accessibility improvements. But it still feels very bad TBH. If you want to spend money on the Windows side, you better go with Word. It has it's own bullshit to deal with, but we can actually use it to it's full capacity.
Scrivener feels like too much effort for just starting to write. And then you can't read your own text properly, nor can you navigate between chapters or use the outlining features.