Menus
Whenever you want to do something beyond writing in iA Writer for Windows, you’ll want to look at the menus.
From there, you can see all the possible actions in the app as well as the associated shortcuts (on the right side).
There are 6 menus currently available in iA Writer for Windows:
File | Edit | Format | Focus | View | Help
File
Where you can manipulate files (Open, Export, Print…) and access the settings of the app.
| Submenu | Function |
|---|---|
| New | Clears the Editor and offers a blank slate to create a new document |
| Open | Displays a dialog which lets you browse to a file and open it in iA Writer |
| Import | Allows you to import a file from Word |
| Save | Saves the currently open file; on the first save you will be asked to name the file |
| Save As | Allows you to save the currently open file under a new name |
| Export | Choose this to have an HTML / PDF / Markdown or Word file generated from the contents of the Editor; you’ll be asked for a location to save this file |
| Show in Explorer | Opens a File Explorer window showing the folder in which the current document resides |
| Install Template | Displays a dialog allowing to browse for a custom template to install |
| Displays a dialog which lets you print the current contents of the Editor | |
| Preferences | Library, Editor, Templates and Advanced preferences |
| Quit | Quits iA Writer |
Edit
Where you can find the usual Copy / Paste functions and powerful tools such as Find, Replace, and Snippets.
| Submenu | Function |
|---|---|
| Undo | Undoes the previous action in the Editor |
| Redo | Redoes the previous action in the Editor |
| Cut | Removes the currently selected text from the Editor and copies it to the clipboard |
| Copy | Copies any text currently selected in the Editor to the clipboard |
| Copy as HTML | Copies any text currently selected in the Editor to the clipboard in the HTML format |
| Paste | Pastes any text in the clipboard into the Editor at the caret’s current position |
| Delete | Removes the currently selected text from the Editor |
| Select All | Selects all text in the document currently open in the Editor |
| Find | Shows the Find bar, placing focus in the Find field so you can search for text in your document |
| Find Next | Jumps to the next result of a previous search using Find |
| Replace | Opens the Find bar with the Replace fields already visible |
| Replace All | Replaces all instances of found text with the text in the replace field |
| Snippets | Add new, edit or remove existing snippets |
Format
Not too familiar with Markdown yet? This menu will provide all the essential formatting options for your text.
| Submenu | Function |
|---|---|
| Headings (1-6) | Converts the line on which the caret is placed into a Markdown heading |
| List - Unordered List | Converts the currently selected line(s) into a bulleted list. If nothing is selected, the current line will be made into a list item. |
| List - Ordered List | Converts the currently selected line(s) into a numbered list. If nothing is selected, the current line will be made into a list item. |
| List - Task | Converts the currently selected line(s) into a task list. If nothing is selected, the current line will be made into a list item. |
| List - Check/Uncheck Task | If the caret is positioned on a line with a task list item, this will add or remove a check to that item (These can also be checked on and off with the mouse in the Editor) |
| Blockquote | Adds an indent to emphase a quote from another source. |
| Body Text | Removes Markdown formatting from the currently selected text |
| Emphasis | Adds Markdown for italics to the currently selected text |
| Strong | Adds Markdown for bold text to the currently selected text |
| Strong Emphasis | Adds Markdown for both bold and italic text to the currently selected text |
| Highlight | Adds Markdown for highligthing in yellow the currently selected text |
| Add Hyperlink | Inserts Markdown syntax for the chosen item at the current caret position |
| Add Footnote | Inserts Markdown syntax for the chosen item at the current caret position |
| Embed Image, Textfile, CSV | Opens a dialog allowing you to browse for an image, text file or CSV which will be embedded into the document at the current caret position |
| Table | Inserts a table at the current caret position and let you define the layout |
| Table of Contents | Inserts a table of contents a the current caret position |
| Move Current Line Up | Move an entire line up |
| Move Current Line Down | Move an entire line down |
Focus
Where you can find the core features of iA Writer: Focus mode, Syntax Highlight and Style Check.
| Submenu | Function |
|---|---|
| Focus → Paragraph | Dims all the text except for the paragraph in which the caret is positioned |
| Focus → Sentence | Dims all the text except for the sentence in which the caret is positioned |
| Focus → Off | Turns off Focus Mode |
| Focus → Typewriter Scrolling | Keeps the caret positioned in the center of the window at all times and scrolls the text when using up/down cursor arrows |
| Syntax Control | Toggle ON/OFF and select Adjectives / Nouns / Adverbs / Verbs / Conjunctions. Will highlight the selected categories in different colors |
| Style Check | Toggle ON/OFF and select Clichés / Fillers / Redundancies / Custom list. Will cross out the selected category in the Editor |
| Style Check Language | Select preferred language for Style Check (German, English, French) |
View
Where you will find essential setup such as opening/ closing the Library or Preview, changing templates, or enabling Night Mode.
| Submenu | Function |
|---|---|
| Full Screen | Toggles full screen mode |
| Night Mode | Toggles between Night and Day mode |
| Spellcheck | Toggles usage of the built-in spell checker and give access to additional dictionaries |
| Show Hidden Characters | Hidden characters such as line feeds are shown in the Editor when this is toggled on |
| Line Length | Adjust this value to set the desired maximum line length in the Editor (it may be reduced in narrow-width windows) |
| Text Size | Set the size of the text in the Editor and Preview |
| Reset Defaults | Reset de defaults settings for the Line Lenght and the Text Size |
| Always Show Stats | Make stats always visible in the Editor (besides the stats on the menu bar) |
| Preview | Opens/Closes the Preview window |
| Templates | Allows selecting a different template to render in Preview |
| Library | Opens/Closes the Library panel |
Help
Where you can find information about the app (your version and license key), the Help section, and our Social Media.
| Submenu | Function |
|---|---|
| About | iA Writer Version information |
| Help | Opens the integrated help files |
| What's New | Shows release notes for current version |
| Contact us on Twitter | Links to our Twitter account so you can drop us a line for support (or anything else) |
| Subscribe to Newsletter | Get updates about iA Writer to your mailbox. We don’t spam; only every few months if there is news we think you’d like to hear. |
| Visit Online Support | Links to these support pages |
| Registration Info | Your license information |