Preferences

When Writer started it ran on one device (the 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.

You can access the Preferences for iA Writer in two ways:
– by clicking the ⚙️ at the top of the Library
– from the menu File → Preferences

Preferences are divided into 5 tab groups:

1. Library
2. Editor
3. Templates
4. Advanced
5. Style Check

Library Preferences

• 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 Preferences

• Font Choose between 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 (Dictionaries 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

*For in depth explanation of iA Writer Mono, Duo, and Quattro please read our blog entry on Duospace and on iA Writer Mono, Duo, and Quattro

Templates Preferences

• 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 Preferences

• 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.