On Mac, access Settings from the Menu iA Writer → Settings or with the keyboard shortcut ⌘,. Settings are grouped into seven tabs.
General
Appearance
Choose between Light and Dark themes for iA Writer.
Dock icon
Choose whether to show the Light or Dark icon in the dock while running iA Writer.
File extensions
Show or hide the extension of your files in the Library.
Window
Various ways to set up the main window of Writer.
Titlebar
Choose if you always see the Title bar or if it fades in/out.
Toolbar
Choose if you always/never see the Toolbar or if it fades in/out.
Automation
Turn on support for URL commands URL Schemes.
Accounts
The + / - will add or remove blogging accounts.
The Options... let you choose whether drafts for the selected account are posted in HTML or Markdown.
Files
Default extension
New files will be saved with the extension provided here.
Common extensions are .txt, .text or .md for Markdown.
Preferred action
Determines the behavior of ⌘N; either create files in the currently shown folder of the Library or prompt for a save location upon ⌘S.
Saving
Enable or disable for “Ask to keep changes” when closing.
Library
Organizer
Choose which sections to display in the Organizer.
Files
Toggle these options to keep folders at the top of the library list, show text excerpts for each file and show or hide the Sort and Filter bars.
Sort by
Choose to sort documents in the library by modification date, name, or kind.
Editor
Text size
Adjust slider to desired text size.
Typography
Select the font between iA Mono, Duo or Quattro.
Language
Select language corresponding to the typography (for CJK optimization).
Line length limit
Select maximum characters per line (64, 72 or 80).
Advanced
Adjust indentation, tab key behavior, tab width, and treatment for wrapped line/whitespace.
Highlight color
Choose the color for the highlight function between yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue and green.
Completed tasks
Determines the appearance of a task when complete, either strikethrough, faded or both.
Focus scope
Determines the focus mode, between Sentence/Paragraph/Typewriter.
Syntax
Select parts of speech to be highlighted when Syntax Control is enabled.
Style Check
Select parts of speech to be crossed out when Style Check is enabled and add Custom Patterns to compliment built-in lists.
Spelling and grammar
Decide how iA Writer checks your spelling and grammar, if at all.
Smart substitutions
Copy/Paste
Automatically removes word-bordering whitespace.
Quotes
Replace straight quotes with curly quotes
Dashes
Two hyphens in a row are converted to an emdash
Text Replacement
Toggles replacements from → System Settings → Keyboard → Text Input.
Templates
Center Headings
Toggle to center or left-justify headings (H1, H2, etc.)
Number Headings
Automatically number headings in Preview
Indent Paragraphs
Indicate new paragraphs with indentation instead of vertical space
Web Preview
Invert Colors: uses Night Mode when the Editor is in Day Mode and vice-versa.
Printing & PDF Export
Choose whether to include a Title page, headers and footers in your printed documents and exported PDFs.
Custom templates
Add or remove Custom Templates here using the +/- buttons or dragging them into the field.
Markdown
Metadata
To determine Global metadata, which has the lowest priority.
Library Paths & Links
Advanced settings for Wikilinks, Content Blocks or Hashtags.
Processing – Apply smart punctuation
Turn on to prettify punctuation in the Preview (e.g., Convert straight quotes in the editor to curly quotes in Preview)
Processing – Single return starts a new paragraph
Allows for “lazy paragraphs” by only requiring one return to create a new paragraph—instead of the usual two needed for Markdown documents
On iPhone, tap the ⚙️ icon at the top-left of the Library to modify settings for iA Writer. It is divided into the following sections:
Appearance
You can switch the appearance of the app between Dark and Light modes. If you chose System, the app will follow iOS when it changes to Light or Dark mode.
App Icon
You can switch the appearance of the app icon between Dark and Light modes.
Interface
Show File Extensions
Shows or hides file extensions in the Library file list.
Editor and Preview Settings – Scroll in Sync
When turned on, Preview will keep the same position as the text view in the Editor. It is useful when you are working in the middle of a document.
Editor and Preview Settings – Toolbars
By default, iA Writer hides the toolbars above and below the Editor and Preview when scrolling. You can use this option to keep them always visible.
Accounts
Add new or configure existing accounts for Ghost, Medium, Micro.blog, Micropub, or WordPress
Files
Set your default plain text file extension. Common extensions are .txt, .text or .md for Markdown.
Library
Sort By
Sort files by Date Modified, Date Created, Name or by Extension.
You can as well select if the Newest or Oldest file appears on top.
Show Date
Choose between showing documents’ creation date or last modified date in the Libray file list.
Appearance: Pin Folders to Top
“Pin” folders to the top of the Library’s document list.
Appearance: Show Text Excerpts
Show or hide excerpts of your documents’ text in the Library file list.
Editor
Focus Mode
Turn Focus Mode ON or OFF.
Focus Mode: Scope
Choose how much of your text to keep focused. You can choose to blur out everything but the current Sentence or Paragraph. Choosing Typewriter won’t blur out any text, but will keep the cursor centered vertically on the screen.
Syntax
Colorize the parts of speech in your document. This can help you spot weak verbs and superfluous adjectives. You can Enable All or select the ones you need among Adjectives, Nouns, Adverbs, Verbs and Conjunctions.
Style Check
Get suggestions on how to remove unnecessary fillers, clichés, and redundancies with Style Check. You can also add your own Custom Patterns here.
Text
Typography
Select the font between iA Mono, Duo or Quattro.
Language
Select language corresponding to the typography (for CJK optimization).
Maximum Line Length
Choose the maximum number of characters on a single line before it wraps to the next.
Indent Using
Choose whether indents use Tab or Space characters.
Tab Key
Choose whether tab key always indents the current line—no matter the cursor position—or whether it always inserts a tab character at the cursor position.
Tab Width
Choose two, four or eight spaces for the appearance of tab characters in the Editor.
Indent Width
Choose two, four or eight spaces for the appearance of the indent width in the Editor.
Wrapped Line Indent Includes
Whitespace
Lines that wrap under a line that is indented with tabs or spaces will also indent to the same degree.
Markdown Block Markers
Lines that wrap under a line that begins with Markdown block markers, e.g., list markers (“- “, “1. “), will also indent to the same degree as the start of the text above.
Restore Defaults
Resets all Settings on this page to their defaults.
Appearance
Highlight Color
Text surrounded with the ==highlight syntax== will use this color in both Editor and Preview.
You can choose between yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue and green.
Completed Tasks
Modifies the appearance of completed tasks in both Editor and Preview to either Strikethrough, Fade the text, or both.
Text Input
Check Spelling
When turned on, typos in the Editor will be underlined in red.
Smart Copy/Paste
Accounts for spaces in the content so you don’t end up with two-space gaps in the text.
Smart Quotes
Automatically replaces straight quotes with curly quotes when typed into the Editor.
Smart Dashes
Automatically replaces two hyphens with an emdash.
Completions
Insert and type-over matching brackets
When opening a bracket ( [ or {, a closing bracket will automatically appear.
Wrap selection in typed brackets
When selecting a text and pressing [ ( or {, the selected text will be wrapped like [text] (text) {text}.
Keyboard
Lightning Menu
On iOS 15+, iA Writer includes a Lightning Menu in the Keyboard Bar. Here you can choose which shortcuts appear in the menu when tapped.
Hardware Keyboard
Show Keyboard Bar
The Keyboard Bar appears above the software keyboard and provides shortcuts to common functions. When a hardware keyboard is connected keyboard shortcuts are available, so you may choose to hide the Keyboard Bar here.
Command Keyboard
Choose to show or hide the Command Keyboard in the Keyboard Bar and modify its layout.
Templates
Custom Templates
Here you can add Templates , or remove any previously installed custom templates by swiping their entry in the list to the left.
Appearance
Center Headings
Choose between centered or left-justified headings in the templates.
Number Headings
Headings will be automatically numbered in the Preview.
Indent Pargraphs
Choose to indent new paragraphs or separate them with an empty line.
Invert Preview Colors
Preview will use the inverted colors of the Editor. This is useful to tell at glance whether you are in Preview mode on iPhone.
Printing & PDF Export
Configure header, footer and title page settings for exported/printed documents.
Configure paper size (print and PDF export).
Markdown
Processing
Determines how content from the Editor is processed by the Markdown parser to display content in Preview.
Smart Punctuation
When turned on, straight quotes in the Editor will automatically be converted to curly quotes in Preview. Likewise, two hypens immediately following each other will be shown as an emdash in Preview.
N.B. This is distinct from the Editor setting for Smart Quotes and Smart Dashes. Those will modify the characters themselves in the Editor, while this function only changes the appearance in Preview and PDF export.
Single Return Starts a New Paragraph
Traditional Markdown requires two returns to complete a paragraph. i.e., one empty line between paragraphs or any other element. This setting lets you use a single return instead, if you prefer.
Library Paths
You can configure how paths for Wikilinks and Content Blocks will appear in the Editor here.
- “Shortest” will use the smallest path possible in any situation, often simply the file name:
Alice in Wonderland.
- “Relative” will use a relative path, using
../ to indicate folders above: ../Classics/Alice in Wonderland
- “Absolute” will use the full explicit path to the document:
/Books/Classics/Alice in Wonderland
Wikilinks, Hashtags, Autolinks
Output & rendering settings for wikilinks, hashtags and autolinks. You can configure HTML, Other (copying, exporting and publishing), and Preview behavior all independently.
Wikilinks
In Preview and HTML output, you can choose to show Wikilinks as the source text appearing in the Editor, text using the filename or optional title, e.g., [[Alice in Wonderland|My Optional Title]], or as a **`** element. For other output you may either choose between source text or text.
Hashtags
For HTML output, Hashtags can be shown as the source text as it appears in the Editor, as a <span> element, or removed entirely from the output.
Hashtags in Preview
In Preview, Hashtags can be shown as the source text as it appears in the Editor, a link, or removed entirely from the output. For other output, you may either show Hashtags as source text or remove them.
Autolinks
In Preview, HTML and all other output, Autolinks can be shown as the source text as it appears in the Editor or as a link.
Metadata
Add or configure existing custom Metadata that is global for all files. “Author” is the only default metadata iA Writer uses and it will be included on Title Pages in Preview and PDF export if present.
URL Commands
Enable URL Commands: Here you can turn on support for URL commands and copy or reset the Auth Token.
On iPad, tap the ⚙️ icon at the top-left of the Library to modify settings for iA Writer.
It is divided into the following sections:
Appearance
You can switch the appearance of the app between Dark and Light modes.
If you chose System, the app will follow iPadOS when it changes to Light or Dark mode.
App Icon
You can switch the appearance of the app icon between Dark and Light modes.
Interface
Show File Extensions
Shows or hides file extensions in the Library file list.
Editor and Preview Settings
Scroll in Sync
When turned on, Preview will keep the same position as the text view in the Editor. It is useful when you are working in the middle of a document.
Toolbars
By default, iA Writer hides the toolbars above and below the Editor and Preview when scrolling. You can use this option to keep them always visible.
Accounts
Add new or configure existing accounts for:
- Ghost
- Medium
- Micro.blog
- Micropub
- WordPress
Files
Set your default plain text file extension.
Common extensions are .txt, .text or .md for Markdown.
Library
Sort By
Sort files by Date Modified, Date Created, Name or by Extension.
You can as well select if the Newest or Oldest file appears on top.
Show Date
Choose between showing documents’ creation date or last modified date in the Libray file list.
Appearance
Pin Folders to Top
“Pin” folders to the top of the Library’s document list.
Show Text Excerpts
Show or hide excerpts of your documents’ text in the Library file list.
Editor
Focus Mode
Focus Mode
Turn Focus Mode ON or OFF.
Scope
Choose how much of your text to keep focused. You can choose to blur out everything but the current Sentence or Paragraph. Choosing Typewriter won’t blur out any text, but will keep the cursor centered vertically on the screen.
Syntax
Colorize the parts of speech in your document. This can help you spot weak verbs and superfluous adjectives.
You can Enable All or select the ones you need among Adjectives, Nouns, Adverbs, Verbs and Conjunctions.
Style Check
Get suggestions on how to remove unnecessary fillers, clichés, and redundancies with Style Check. You can also add your own Custom Patterns here.
Text
Typography
Select the font between iA Mono, Duo or Quattro.
Language
Select language corresponding to the typography (for CJK optimization).
Maximum Line Length
Choose the maximum number of characters on a single line before it wraps to the next.
Indentation
Indent Using
Choose whether indents use Tab or Space characters.
Tab Key
Choose whether tab key always indents the current line—no matter the cursor position—or whether it always inserts a tab character at the cursor position.
Tab Width
Choose two, four or eight spaces for the appearance of tab characters in the Editor.
Indent Width
Choose two, four or eight spaces for the appearance of the indent width in the Editor.
Wrapped Line Indent Includes
Whitespace
Lines that wrap under a line that is indented with tabs or spaces will also indent to the same degree.
Markdown Block Markers
Lines that wrap under a line that begins with Markdown block markers, e.g., list markers (“- “, “1. “), will also indent to the same degree as the start of the text above.
Restore Defaults
Resets all Settings on this page to their defaults.
Appearance
Highlight Color
Text surrounded with the ==highlight syntax== will use this color in both Editor and Preview.
You can choose between yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue and green.
Completed Tasks
Modifies the appearance of completed tasks in both Editor and Preview to either Strikethrough, Fade the text, or both.
Text Input
Check Spelling
When turned on, typos in the Editor will be underlined in red.
Smart Copy/Paste
Accounts for spaces in the content so you don’t end up with two-space gaps in the text.
Smart Quotes
Automatically replaces straight quotes with curly quotes when typed into the Editor.
Smart Dashes
Automatically replaces two hyphens with an emdash.
Completions
Insert and type-over matching brackets
When opening a bracket ( [ or {, a closing bracket will automatically appear.
Wrap selection in typed brackets
When selecting a text and pressing [ ( or {, the selected text will be wrapped like [text] (text) {text}.
Keyboard
Lightning Menu
On iOS 15+, iA Writer includes a Lightning Menu in the Keyboard Bar. Here you can choose which shortcuts appear in the menu when tapped.
Hardware Keyboard
Show Keyboard Bar
The Keyboard Bar appears above the software keyboard and provides shortcuts to common functions. When a hardware keyboard is connected keyboard shortcuts are available, so you may choose to hide the Keyboard Bar here.
Command Keyboard
Choose to show or hide the Command Keyboard in the Keyboard Bar and modify its layout.
Templates
Custom Templates
Here you can add Templates , or remove any previously installed custom templates by swiping their entry in the list to the left.
Appearance
Center Headings
Choose between centered or left-justified headings in the templates.
Number Headings
Headings will be automatically numbered in the Preview.
Indent Pargraphs
Choose to indent new paragraphs or separate them with an empty line.
Invert Preview Colors
Preview will use the inverted colors of the Editor. This is useful to tell at glance whether you are in Preview mode on iPhone.
Printing & PDF Export
Configure header, footer and title page settings for exported/printed documents.
Configure paper size (print and PDF export).
Markdown
Processing
Determines how content from the Editor is processed by the Markdown parser to display content in Preview.
Smart Punctuation
When turned on, straight quotes in the Editor will automatically be converted to curly quotes in Preview. Likewise, two hypens immediately following each other will be shown as an emdash in Preview. N.B. This is distinct from the Editor setting for Smart Quotes and Smart Dashes. Those will modify the characters themselves in the Editor, while this function only changes the appearance in Preview and PDF export.
Single Return Starts a New Paragraph
Traditional Markdown requires two returns to complete a paragraph. i.e., one empty line between paragraphs or any other element.
This setting lets you use a single return instead, if you prefer.
Library Paths
You can configure how paths for Wikilinks and Content Blocks will appear in the Editor here.
– “Shortest” will use the smallest path possible in any situation, often simply the file name: Alice in Wonderland.
– “Relative” will use a relative path, using ../ to indicate folders above: ../Classics/Alice in Wonderland
– “Absolute” will use the full explicit path to the document: /Books/Classics/Alice in Wonderland
Wikilinks, Hashtags, Autolinks
Output & rendering settings for wikilinks, hashtags and autolinks.
You can configure HTML, Other (copying, exporting and publishing), and Preview behavior all independently.
Wikilinks
In Preview and HTML output, you can choose to show Wikilinks as:
– the source text as it appears in the Editor
– text using the filename or optional title, e.g., [[Alice in Wonderland|My Optional Title]]
– or as a <span> element
For other output you may either choose between source text or text.
Hashtags
For HTML output, Hashtags can be shown as:
– the source text as it appears in the Editor
– as a <span> element
– or removed entirely from the output
In Preview, Hashtags can be shown as:
– the source text as it appears in the Editor
– a link
– or removed entirely from the output
For other output, you may either show Hashtags as source text or remove them.
Autolinks
In Preview, HTML and all other output, Autolinks can be shown as:
– the source text as it appears in the Editor
– a link
Metadata
Add or configure existing custom Metadata that is global for all files. “Author” is the only default metadata iA Writer uses and it will be included on Title Pages in Preview and PDF export if present.
URL Commands
Enable URL Commands
Here you can turn on support for URL commands and copy or reset the Auth Token.
Users can find Editor settings by clicking on the
⋮ →
Settings within a open document in iA Writer for Android.
The settings are divided into the following sections:
General
Horizontal Swipes
When switched on, you can swipe between the Library, Editor and Preview.
Ultra dark night mode?
Turn ON/OFF AMOLED night mode.
PIN Protect?
When turned ON, the content stored in DEVICE cannot be accessed without inputting a PIN.
Writer Account
Enter your account to enable collaboration.
Support
Click to directly access the Support Website of iA Writer with the full documentation for Android.
Privacy Policy
Click to directly access the Privacy Policy of iA Writer.
Line Height
You can manually set up the line height that will be displayed in the Editor (the line height in Preview is decided by its
Templates).
Editor
Font Size
Change the font size in the Editor (the font size in Preview is decided by its
Templates). You have the choice between:
- Automatic
- Small
- Medium
- Large
- XLarge
- XXLarge
Keyboard Extension
Show or hide iA Writer keyboard on top of your regular Android keyboard.
Allows access to the lightning menu and quick search among others quick actions.
Style Check
Language
Style Check for Android is available in English, French and German.
Select one of those language before enabling one or all of the following options.
Style Check option to select
Export
Medium.com Token
Enter your integration token to publish your drafts from iA Writer directly to your
Medium account.
WordPress
Connect your
WordPress account to publish your drafts from iA Writer directly to your blog. WordPress.com or Jetpack is required.
You can access the Settings for iA Writer for Windows by clicking the
⚙️ at the top of the Library or from the Menu
File →
Preferences. Settings are divided into 5 groups.
Library
Sort By
Choose whether to sort files by Name or Date.
Sort Order
Choose ascending or descending order for files.
Folders on Top
Check this box to keep folders pinned to the top of the File list instead of sorted among regular files.
Show Extensions
Check this box to display file extensions in the Library list.
Show Excerpts
Check this box to display an outline of your file in the Library list.
Editor
Font
Choose between
iA Writer Mono, Duo, or Quattro fonts.
Text
Size Increase or decrease font size in the
Editor (this won’t affect Preview).
Line Length
The default width allows for 64 characters on a single line before it wraps.
Spellcheck
Choose the language to be used for the spellcheck.
spell-checking can be added too.
Synchronize
Scroll Toggle to keep Preview and Editor aligned or scroll them independently.
Show Hidden
Characters Toggle to show invisible characters in the Editor, like spaces or tabs.
Templates
Page Size
Choose between A4 or Letter for PDF export.
Title Page
Choose to include a title page for your exported PDF.
Header
Toggle to include headers in your exported PDF.
Footer
Toggle to include footers in your exported PDF.
Center Headings
Centers all headings instead of positioning them flush left.
Number Headings
Numbers headings beginning with H2.
Indent Paragraphs
Use indentation to indicate new paragraphs instead of vertical space.
Invert Colors
Preview will show as Day Mode while the Editor is in Night Mode and vice-versa.
Quotes Style
Straight quotes in the Editor will be automatically converted to whichever quotes style is selected here.
Hide Hashtags
Hashtags written in the Editor will not appear in the Preview/Export.
Advanced
Default Extension
iA Writer will create new files using this file extension.
Reopen Last File
If ON, when relaunching iA Writer, this will reopen the last used document; if OFF, an empty file is presented.
Process Metadata
YAML metadata at the top of a file will be processed and hidden from the Preview/Export.
Hide Taskbar on Maximize
Check this option to get the true full-screen experience.
Use Swipe Gestures
A trackpad or mouse wheel with a tilt function can be used to swipe in/out the Library and the Preview.
Invert Swipe Gestures
If the swipe gesture feels unnatural to you, it can be inverted to the other direction.
Disable GPU Rendering
Some graphics cards and HiDPI monitors can cause issues with refresh rates or dialog visibility—use this function to render everything through software.
Scroll Speed
You can adapt the speed of scrolling in iA Writer to your needs.
XSS Filtering
To protect your file against Cross-site scripting attacks.
Style Check
Custom Style
Check Rules You can add custom patterns to Style Check from here. For more about, check our
Style Check section.
Basics 
General
Accounts
Files
Library
Editor
Templates
Markdown
Interface
Text
Keyboard
Wikilinks, Hashtags, Autolinks
Appearance
App Icon
URL Commands
Style Check
Export
Advanced