Release Notes

We’re constantly working to improve iA Writer. Here’s a breakdown on what we’ve added to each release.

6.0

Wikilinks

• Wikilinks make it easy to connect, browse, and rediscover your writing
• A [[wikilink]] is a link from one text file to another
• To make a wikilink, just type [[ and the name of the file you would like to link
• Autocomplete suggests files from your Library
• Open the linked file with ⌘-click or ⌘⏎
• If the file doesn’t exist, it’ll be automatically created and ready to type

Navigation History

• Navigation history keeps track of the files you recently opened using wikilinks, Library, or Quick Search
• To go back and forward, hold ⌘ and swipe right or left anywhere in the document
• Click the history buttons in the title bar
• Or use ⌃⌘← and ⌃⌘→

Hashtag Improvements

• Hashtags can be now added anywhere in text
• Autocomplete suggests hashtags as you type
• Consistent styling for hashtags and other links
• Show a hashtag in Quick Search with ⌘-click or ⌘⏎

Autolinks

• All web links and email addresses are automatically detected
• Open a link in browser or compose a new email with ⌘-click or ⌘⏎
• Control how autolinks, hashtags, and wikilinks are exported in Markdown preferences

Content Block Improvements

• To add a content block, type / at the beginning of a line and the name of the file you would like to include
• Autocomplete suggests files from your Library
• A path to a file is no longer required. Filename-only content blocks automatically find the nearest matching file
• Open a text content block with ⌘-click or ⌘⏎
• If the content block file doesn’t exist, it’ll be automatically created and ready to type

Metadata

• All-new metadata engine enables powerful new features
• Provide variables to text content blocks, width and height attributes to image content blocks
• Supports Markdown in metadata variables
• Define global metadata in Markdown preferences

Look and Feel

• [x] Completed tasks are faded and crossed-out
• All-new highlight colors
• Choose your favorite highlight color and configure completed task appearance in Editor preferences

Editor Improvements

• Editor automatically inserts closing brackets
• Select text and type an opening bracket to wrap selection in matching brackets
• Added indent width preference
• Changed strikethrough shortcut to ⌥⌘U
• Changed highlight shortcut to ⇧⌘U
• Changed code shortcut to ⌘J
• Added code block command with shortcut ⇧⌘J
• Disabled spell checking, autocorrection, autocapitalization, and smart punctuation in code
• Set up ⌘E shortcut to use selection for find
• Changed shortcut to mark task as completed to ⌥⌘X

Other Improvements

• Changed Library shortcut to ⌃⌘S
• Task list items are searchable with Smart Folders and Quick Search using [ ] and [x]
• Text stats include content blocks and take metadata variables into account
• Added ability to show and sort by date created in Library
• Added fuzzy Library Path matching to Quick Search
• Added an option to always show the title bar
• Replaced Delete in Library with Move to Trash, hold ⌥ to delete immediately
• Stopped asking to keep document changes by default, configurable in Files preferences

5.6

Style Check

• Improve your writing by getting rid of fillers, clichés, and redundancies
• They’re automatically dimmed and crossed-out as you type
• Easy to delete: double-tap to select the whole phrase
• Private: all processing is done on your device
• Fast: optimized to work in real-time
• Enable in aA menu or with option+shift+command+D (⌥⇧⌘D)
• Built-in support for English, French, German
• Add your own patterns in Editor settings
• Tap the ? button when editing custom patterns to learn how to make them better by providing context, exceptions, and using regular expressions

Other Improvements

• Markdown files open up to 350 times faster
• More responsive when editing large files
• Editor correctly handles inline code that contains backticks

5.5

PDF Preview

• PDF preview makes it easy to prepare files for printing and export
• Automatically refreshes as you edit the text
• Choose to fit page or fit width from contextual menu

Publishing Improvements

• Publish directly to self-hosted WordPress.org sites
• WordPress accounts can be configured to upload Markdown
• Micropub support for Micro.blog and other IndieWeb tools
• Add multiple accounts from each service
• Reorder and rename accounts

Other Improvements

• Hold Option when in Library contextual menu to delete folders and files without a confirmation
• Improved support for increase contrast accessibility option
• KaTeX \gdef now works as expected

5.4

Export Improvements

• Share, export, publish, print, and copy directly from context menu in Library
• Added Copy Markdown action (includes Content Blocks)
• Share any file to other apps
• Word export keeps headings on the same page as the following paragraph

Other Improvements

• Added icons for preferences panes
• Fixed an issue where key commands for window switching were not working with some keyboard layouts
• Fixed an issue where new windows caused existing partially offscreen windows to move
• Excluded node_modules from indexing
• Fixed an issue where some Smart Folders with multiple search rules did not work

5.3

iA Writer 5.3 for Mac is a companion release to our big update for iOS 13 and iPadOS 13.

Updated File Keyboard Shortcuts

• Simpler and consistent with iOS and iPadOS
• ⌘N creates a new file in current window
• ⇧⌘N creates a new file in a new window
• ⏎ opens a Quick Search result in current window
• ⇧⏎ opens a Quick Search result in a new window

Content Blocks with Relative Paths

• ../Note.txt will include a file from the parent folder

Handoff Improvements

• Handoff now works when both devices have a Library Location with the same name
• Files are handed off using Library paths: /Locations/GitHub/Readme.md
• Requires iA Writer 5.3 on both devices

Other Improvements

• Links to local images are now converted as file URLs
• Fixed link import from Word
• Fixed gif export to Word
• Changed write URL command with mode=append to create a file if it doesn’t exist
• App activates for new documents created using Dock menu
• Double-click Smart Folders in Organizer to edit rules (as in Mail)

5.2

Deep Typography Refresh

• New typeface in three flavors
• Mono: Single character width, the classic
• Duo: Two widths, freeing M and W
• Quattro: Four widths, for a cleaner text image
• Over 1,000 optical variations seamlessly adapt to provide the best writing experience in any environment
• 12 text sizes in Editor and Preview
• Many Chinese, Japanese, and Korean typography improvements, including emphasis dots
• Bold, italic, and strikethrough commands are much more reliable and work inside words
• High quality math equation typesetting in Preview using KaTeX

Library Locations

• Now support Desktop & Documents in iCloud
• Can be added from anywhere in iCloud Drive

Fully-Featured Export to Microsoft Word

• Rebuilt from the ground up
• Compatible with Microsoft Word 2007 or newer, Apple Pages, and Google Docs
• Supports local images, footnotes, citations, page breaks, tables, math, headings, unordered lists, ordered lists, task lists, definition lists, block quotes, bold, italic, CJK emphasis, strikethrough, superscript, subscript, links, horizontal rules, code

Other Improvements

• Added visible filename when switching between tabs with hidden title bar
• Copy URL command to open files from menu in Library
• Command-Click links in Editor
• Use – to exclude words from searches: -microsoft word
• Inline code command
• Typing suggestions can be enabled in Touch Bar
• Korean and Russian localizations
• Added help articles
• Better hashtag detection

5.1

Hashtags (like Instagram and Twitter)

• Write #tags to group documents
• Use in Quick Search and Smart Folders rules
• Hashtags are shown in Organizer and Go menu
• Hide hashtags from Preview and formatted exports in Templates preferences

Smart Folders

• Filter your documents using a variety of rules including text searches, file extensions, hashtags, parent and ancestor paths, absolute and relative dates
• Use a custom sort order
• Automatically sync across your devices
• Get automatic keyboard shortcuts in Go menu

URL Commands

• Updated commands to create and open documents
• Added authenticated x-callback-url commands to read and write files
• Manage URL commands in General preferences

Dark Appearance

• Renamed night mode to dark appearance to conform with a future update of macOS
• System light and dark appearance state is matched by default with a future update of macOS

Free Candy

• Added navigation controls to Library in full screen windows
• Assign custom display names to Library Locations in Organizer
• Rename Favorites in Organizer
• Duplicate items in Library
• Go → Enclosing Folder menu
• Fixed an issue where images couldn’t be dragged to Editor from Safari, Photos, and other apps
• Added STIX 2.0 fonts for math expressions in Preview
• HTML tags are dimmed in Editor
• Hide Favorites, Smart Folders, or Hashtags sections from Organizer and Go menu in Library preferences

Fixes

• Improved library performance and reduced memory usage
• SVG images are always displayed as pictures when used as Content Blocks
• Code blocks are excluded from text stats

5.0.2

• Fixed an issue with autosaves failing in some contexts
• Fixed crashes

4.0.3

• Defined CSS files as to be processed as code
• Fixed an issue where preview scroll bar could be invisible with some templates
• Fixed Strikethough menu item functionality
• Switched to system popup menu indicators
• Improved performance and stability

4.0.1

• Added Touch Bar support in Editor
• Added CSV delimiter detection
• Added caption support for source code Content Blocks
• Enabled SVG image Content Blocks
• Set up Markdown export to use default extension
• Switched to fixed width numbers in tables in standard templates

4.0

Embed Local Images

• Include images from Library in your documents (.png, .gif, .jpg)
• Images are uploaded to Medium and WordPress when sharing a draft

Embed Tables

• Include comma separated value files as tables in your documents (.csv)
• Create advanced tables using MultiMarkdown

Embed other text files

• Build a manuscript from several chapters
• Embedded source code files are added as code blocks
• Nest text files into each other

Note: Embedding only works for files in the same folder (or subfolders) as the master file. You can’t embed files in a parallel or higher directory.

Other Improvements

• Modified Preview and Library pane behavior so both can be shown
• Swipes on the left toggle Library
• Swipes on the right toggle Preview
• Added toggle button for Focus Mode in title bar
• Focus Mode now dismisses Preview and Library panes
• UI improvements to Library
• Added file info popover in Library
• Switched right-click in Library menu item from “New Folder with Selection” to “New Folder” (hold option for “New Folder with Selection”)
• Added Project Archive export for sharing all embedded files together (.zip)
• Changed Chinese font in editor to Ping Fang
• Improved external file change handling
• Caret position is now restored when returning from full-width Preview
• Performance optimizations and improvements

3.2.2

Added WordPress Site Picker

WordPress users with more than one site can now choose where to share.

Choose Sort Order in Library

• Newest or Oldest on Top for Date Modified
• A–Z or Z-A for file Name and Kind
• Access in View > Sort Files By, Right Click in Library > Sort By

3.2

Custom Templates

• Preview, create PDFs, and print documents in your own style
• Templates are web pages. Use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to lay out your documents
• Add templates in Preferences
• Download more templates from iA Writer’s Web Site
• Learn more about templates in Help

Page Breaks

• Add page breaks to printed documents and PDFs
• Insert with +++ on an empty line
• Format > Add Page Break

Title Pages

• Print and export PDFs with a title page
• Default templates show document name and author on the title page
• Set the author in Preferences

Other Improvements

• Added option to change default file extension in Preferences
• Fixed an issue where attempts to change file file extension via title bar popover could fail
• Fixed an issue where tables were not inserted in new documents
• Updated to MultiMarkdown 5.3
• Adjusted drag and drop in Library to follow system conventions
  — Drag to move
  — Drag while holding Option to copy

3.1.4

Share to WordPress

• Add your account in Preferences
• Create drafts on your WordPress site with File > Share > New Draft on WordPress

Other Improvements

• Added a preference for default document action: New or New in Library
• Added a toggle for last used Syntax Control
• Excluded links from reading time and text statistics
• Improved automatic name generation
• Updated to MultiMarkdown 5.2

3.1.3

Focus Mode for Paragraphs

• Focus Mode can be expanded to the bounds of full paragraphs
• Accessed via Preferences > Editor > Focus Mode

Your Table is Ready

• Click the Table button in the toolbar and set the desired number of rows and columns
• The required Markdown for the table is created for you instantly

Other Improvements and Fixes

• Fixed an issue where documents did not refresh when changed by some text editors and third-party sync services
• Added an option to hide text snippets in Library
• Stopped showing non-text files in iCloud Library
• Improved H6 alignment at the beginning of a page
• Fixed an issue which prevented Smart Delete from working
• Fixed an issue where toolbar could remain visible when typing
• Smart Quotes no longer convert primes to curly quotes in code blocks

3.1.2

Support for MultiMarkdown’s Table of Contents

• Add {{TОC}} to your documents to have a table of contents generated in Preview
• TOC button in the Format Toolbar adds this for you
• An entry is made for each heading in the document
• Click a TOC entry to jump to that section of the document

Added File → Open Quickly ⇧⌘O

• Blazing-fast, it searches through your Library
• Use arrow keys to navigate results
• return to open document in a new window
• ⇧return to open document in the current window
• ⌘return to show in Finder

Search supports advanced syntax

• Search for specific terms by quoting "search query"
• Match the first word of name or text using ^word
• Use set operators AND, OR, and NOT
• Search for names or texts that contain a specific word with name:notes or text:"book"
• See the full description and examples in Help

Changed default shortcuts for structure actions

• Old shortcuts are still available for compatibility with other text editors
• Shift Right tab
• Shift Left ⇧tab
• Move Line Down ⌘⌥↓
• Move Line Up ⌘⌥↑

Improved URL scheme support

• iawriter://new and iawriter://new-in-library
• Both support an optional text parameter iawriter://new?text=

Other Improvements

• Search results are now sorted by relevancy
• Added commands to insert a table of contents tag into the document
• Improved code block detection
• Added “Replace All” to Find bar
• Added “New” action to Dock
• Improved heading appearance in Japanese

Fixes

• Set up new windows to use last visible state of library and preview
• Fixed a delay when opening a new window
• Improved text editing performance
• Improved stability

3.1.1

Improvements

• - [x] Click tasks to mark as completed
• Improved search in Japanese
• Added text actions in “Format” → “Structure”
  • Shift Left ⌘[
  • Shift Right ⌘]
  • Move Line Up ⌥⌘[
  • Move Line Down ⌥⌘]
• Improved transition to full size preview
• Improved automatic name generation
• Added text size to Editor preferences.
• Preview toolbar uses matching colors
• Added “Show in Library” action in Search
• Added options to print header and footer separately
• Added proper title capitalization in “Edit” > “Transformations”
• Added progress indicator for background export and sharing operations
• Upgraded to MultiMarkdown 5.0.1
• Prevented spell checking in code
• Return preserves the amount of leading whitespace

Fixes

• Fixed an issue where search was not working for non-Latin scripts
• Improved performance and stability
• Various smaller bug fixes

3.1

Improvements

• Any folder can be added as a location in the Library
• Export drafts to Medium.com
• Localization for Japanese and German
• Templates:
  • Choose indentation or vertical spacing for paragraphs
  • Choose centered or left-justified headings
• Header and footer are optional on print/PDF export
• Preferences dialog (⌘,)
• New windows use last size
• Preview uses last width
• Default extension uses last extension change

Fixes

• Fixed crashes

3.0

Document Library

• Swipe left or Command+E to show/hide
• View → Sort by to arrange documents in browser
• Dropbox Sync (link through storage button at bottom-left)
• Click file/folder names to rename
• Swipe left to go back a folder level (or use title menu)
• Move documents with click and drag
• Show/Hide file extensions

The Editor

• Typewriter Mode (⌘T)
• Toolbar can switch between Format, Syntax, and Stats
• Smart Paste eliminates doubled list markers when pasting

Integrated Preview

• Swipe right or Command+R to show/hide
• Multiple typographical options for preview, PDF export, and print
• Synchronous Preview scrolling