Preferences
When writer started it ran on one device (iPad 1) and was used by a few thousand writers. With over a million people from various fields working with our app on a wide range of devices, we cannot make one-size-fits-all decisions anymore. We now offer a wide range of options to fit the various use cases, professional and personal needs. We are doing our best to limit the options to the absolutely necessary ones. What is and isn’t necessary is based on user feedback. There are some options in our settings that might puzzle you. Rest assured that each and every switch in there is useful to a rather large group of people regularly using our app.
iA Writer for Mac groups preferences into six tabs:
General

Appearance
– Choose between Light and Dark themes for iA WriterDock icon
– Choose whether to show the light or dark icon in the dock while running iA WriterGestures
– Toggle this to disable swipe gestures used to bring in the Library and Preview panes or scroll the Preview and Editor in syncToolbar
– Set the visibility of the ToolbarAutomation
– Turn on support for URL commands
Accounts

+/-
– Add or Remove accountsOptions...
– Choose whether drafts for selected account are posted in HTML or Markdown
Files

Default extension
– New files will be saved with the extension provided herePreferred action
– Determines the behavior of ⌘N; either create files currently shown folder of the Library or prompt for a save location upon ⌘S
Editor

Text size
– Adjust slider to desired text sizeTypography
- Select between monospaced, duospaced or quattro
- Select default typography
- Select maximum characters per line
- Adjust indentation, tab key behavior, tab width, and treatment for wrapped line/whitespace
Focus scope
Sentence/Paragraph
– Determines how much text is held in focus at a timeTypewriter
– Keeps the caret centered in the middle of the screen without fading text
Syntax
– Select parts of speech to be highlighted when Syntax Control is enabledStyle Check
– Select parts of speech to be crossed out when Style Check is enabled- Add custom patterns to compliment built in lists
Spelling and grammar
– Decide how iA Writer checks your spelling and grammar, if at allSmart substitutions
Copy/Paste
– Automatically removes word-bordering whitespaceQuotes
– Replaces straight quotes with curly quotesDashes
– Two hyphens in a row are converted to an emdashText Replacement
– Toggles replacements fromSystem Preferences
→Text
Library

View options
– Elect to show filename extensions and text excerpts in the LibraryOrganizer
– Choose which sections to display in the OrganizerFiles
– 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 barsSort by
– Choose to sort documents in the library by modification date, name, or kind
Templates

Markdown processing
Hide hashtags
– Hashtags in your document will not be shown in Preview/ExportApply smart punctuation
– Turn on to prettify punctuation in the Preview (e.g., Convert straight quotes in the editor to curly quotes in Preview)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
Default templates
Center Headings
– Toggle to center or left-justify headings (H1, H2, etc.)Number Headings
– Automatically number headings in PreviewIndent Paragraphs
– Indicate new paragraphs with indentation instead of vertical space
Web Preview
Invert Colors
– Preview 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 PDFsAuthor
– Custom templates can make use of this name: e.g., on a title pageCustom templates
– Add or remove custom templates here using the+/-
buttons or dragging them into the field