Settings

Use iA Writer’s Settings to customize how you write, organize, and publish.

In the Library, tap the ⚙️ icon at the top left. With a hardware keyboard, you can also press ⌘,.

Settings are divided into the following categories:

Appearance

Appearance

Choose System, Light, or Dark for iA Writer’s interface. System follows the appearance of your iPad.

App Icon

On iPadOS 18, choose System or Dark for the app icon. Earlier versions offer Light or Dark. This option is not shown on iPadOS 26 or later, where the icon follows your system settings.

Interface

Toolbars

Choose Show / Hide to hide the toolbars above and below the Editor and Preview as you scroll, or Always Show to keep them visible.

Show File Extensions

Shows or hides file extensions, such as .txt or .md, in the Library.

Editor and Preview

Scroll in Sync

Keeps Preview at the same position as the Editor.

Publishing

Tap Add Account… to connect WordPress, Ghost, Micro.blog, or Micropub. Medium accounts you added before still work, but you can’t add new ones because Medium no longer issues API tokens. Tap an account to change its name or the format of new drafts, or to remove it. Learn more about publishing to blogging platforms.

Files

Default File Extension

New files use this extension. Only plain text extensions are allowed. Common extensions are:

• .txt or .text for text
• .md for Markdown
• .fountain for the Fountain Template

Library

Organizer

Show or hide Favorites, Smart Folders, and Hashtags in the Library. Learn more about organizing your files.

Sort Order

Sort By

Sort files by Date Modified, Date Created, Name, or Extension, in either direction.

Pin Folders to Top

Lists folders above files.

Files

Show Text Excerpts

Shows a short excerpt of each file in the file list.

Show Date

Choose Date Modified, Date Created, or None.

💡 Choose None and turn off Show Text Excerpts for a compact Library.

Navigation

Choose how the Library shows your folders: Tree or List.

Editor

Focus Mode

Turn on Focus Mode and choose its Scope: Sentence, Paragraph, or Typewriter.

Syntax

Turn on Syntax Control and choose the parts of speech it highlights: adjectives, nouns, adverbs, verbs, and conjunctions.

Style Check

Turn on Style Check and choose what it marks: fillers, clichés, redundancies, and your own patterns. Tap Custom Patterns to add your own. Built-in patterns cover English, French, German, and Spanish.

Authors

Turn on Authorship highlighting and choose which kinds of authors to show: Human, AI, and Reference. Human contributions appear in subtle tones, AI-generated text is shown with a colorful gradient, and reference material is dimmed.

Text

Typeface

Choose Mono, Duo, or Quattro for the Editor.

Typography

Choose the typography for your writing language. Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, and Korean get CJK line breaking and spacing. For these languages, Emphasis lets you show emphasis as italic or with an emphasis mark.

Maximum Line Length

Choose the maximum line length: 64, 72, or 80 characters. Lines may wrap sooner on a narrow screen.

Indentation

Choose whether to indent with tabs or spaces, what the Tab key does, the tab and indent width, and whether wrapped lines are indented to match whitespace and Markdown block markers. Tap Restore Defaults to undo your changes.

Highlight Color

Choose the color of highlighted text: yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue, or green.

Completed Tasks

Show completed tasks with a Strikethrough, Fade them, or both.

Text Input

Auto-Correction

Uses iPadOS auto-correction while you write.

Check Spelling

Underlines spelling mistakes in the Editor. Learn more in our Languages article.

Predictive

Shows iPadOS inline text predictions while you type. Available on iPadOS 17 or later.

Smart Copy/Paste

Adjusts spaces around words when inserting or deleting text.

Smart Quotes

Replaces straight quotes "" with curly quotes “” as you type.

Smart Dashes

Replaces two dashes -- with an em dash — as you type.

If one of these options is unavailable, turn it on in the system’s Settings → General → Keyboard. Learn more about Smart Automation.

Completions

• Insert and type-over matching brackets: Typing [ adds the closing bracket and places the cursor between them.
• Wrap selection in typed brackets: Typing [ with text selected puts brackets around the selection.

Authors

Add, edit, or remove the authors you use with Authorship. Your own entry, You, can’t be removed. For each author, set a name, an optional identifier such as an email address or a website, the kind (Human, AI, or Reference), and a text color.

Commands

Command Palette

Choose the actions and submenus shown in the Command Palette. Add, remove, or reorder items, or reset the palette to its defaults.

Edit Menu

Customize the actions shown when you select text in the Editor. Actions that don’t apply to the selection are hidden automatically. Available on iPadOS 16 or later.

Templates

Default Templates

Turn the built-in Templates on or off.

Custom Templates

Shows the Custom Templates you have installed. Tap Get More Templates to find more. Swipe left on a template to share or delete it.

Appearance

• Center Headings: Center headings instead of aligning them left.
• Number Headings: Number headings automatically.
• Indent Paragraphs: Mark new paragraphs with an indent instead of vertical space.
• Invert Preview Colors: Show Preview in dark colors while the Editor is light, and vice versa.

Printing & PDF Export

Choose whether to include a title page, a header, and a footer when you print or export a PDF.

Paper Size

Choose A3, A4, A5, or US Letter.

Markdown

Processing

Single Return Starts a New Paragraph

Press Return ↵ once to start a new paragraph. Turn it off to use traditional Markdown, which needs an empty line between paragraphs.

Smart Punctuation

Converts straight quotes and plain dashes to their typographic equivalents in Preview and exports.

💡 Smart Punctuation changes only Preview and exports. The Editor’s Smart Quotes and Smart Dashes change the text you type instead.

Library Paths

Choose the path format for new Wikilinks and Content Blocks:

• Shortest: The shortest path that works, often just the file name: Alice in Wonderland.
• Relative: A path relative to the current file, with ../ for folders above: ../Classics/Alice in Wonderland.
• Absolute: The full path from the Library location: /Books/Classics/Alice in Wonderland.

Wikilinks, Hashtags, Autolinks

Choose how wikilinks, hashtags, and autolinks appear in HTML output, in other output (copying, exporting, and publishing), and in Preview. Wikilinks can appear as source text, as the file name or title, as a <span>, as a link, or be removed. Hashtags can appear as source text, as a <span>, as a link, or be removed. Autolinks can appear as source text or as a link.

Metadata

Tap Add Metadata to add global Metadata that applies to all your files. Metadata in a file takes precedence over global metadata.

Shortcuts

Get Ready-Made Shortcuts

Opens a gallery of shortcuts for Apple’s Shortcuts app (iPadOS 16.1 or later). See Apple Shortcuts.

Enable URL Commands

Turns on support for URL Commands. Once it’s on, tap Auth Token to copy or reset the token, or Show Documentation to read about URL commands.

More System Settings

Opens iA Writer’s page in iPadOS Settings, for language preferences, permissions, and other system options.

Basics