Ulysses Gains Permanently Visible Writing Stat Counter and Optimized Publishing Flow

[MacRumors]

Ulysses today reached version 26, and this update brings a few more welcome feature additions and improvements to the popular writing app for Mac and iOS.

For almost as long as it's existed, Ulysses has included a Dashboard sidebar that can be revealed to show, amongst other things, writing progress statistics for the current sheet in the editor, such as average reading time and character and word count.

However, the developers have recognized that sometimes it's very useful to be able to have a particular stat permanently in view as you're writing, without having to have the Dashboard open with its mine of information taking up valuable editing space. As such, in the latest version of Ulysses for Mac, a single stat can now be displayed right within the editor, in the top-right corner of the window.

Clicking on the new "Editor counter" allows users to select which statistic they want to see updated in real time as they write, with options for reading time and counters for words, characters, characters without spaces, sentences, average words per sentence, paragraphs, lines, and pages.

Elsewhere in version 26 for Mac and iOS, the developers have optimized the publishing flow by adding dedicated buttons for quick access to publishing and separating out the publishing preview. In addition, there's added support for more blogs, and the setup process for Wordpress accounts has been simplified using the modern REST API.

This update also fixes a crash when sharing a sheet from Ulysses and a potential delay when opening the editor, as well as a crash that occurred when sharing a sheet from Mac to iPad when using Universal Control.

Ulysses can be downloaded for free on the App Store, with version 26 rolling out to existing users today. After a 14-day trial period, a subscription is required to unlock the app on all devices. A monthly subscription costs $5.99, while a yearly subscription is $49.99.

Students can use Ulysses at a discounted price of $10.99 per six months. The discount is granted from within the app. Ulysses is also included in Setapp, the subscription-based service for Mac applications created by MacPaw.

Article Link: Ulysses Gains Permanently Visible Writing Stat Counter and Optimized Publishing Flow

 

[Gruber]

I was a happy Ulysses user until they switched to the subscription model. I feel very uncomfortable using an app that extorts a monthly fee from me so I can continue using my files. It feels like ransom to me.
I wish there was a way to buy instead of renting Ulysses.
Meanwhile, I would recommend Typora.

 

[Stenik]

I hated Ulysses because it only supports markup. It would be a great app if it supports formatted text and normal editing.

 

[MakeAppleAwesomeAgain]

How does Ulysses' grammar and style checks compare to Grammarly?

 

[johnnytravels]

Please stop advertising this total money grab of an app. Sure it’s polished but it’s objectively overpriced. So many features that have been requested for years are still missing. Most updates (as evident from your ‘article’) only offer features that are more or less cosmetic in nature, or add OS features that every other dev just implements without a lot of fuss.

I wholeheartedly recommend Typora if you’re looking for a great Markdown experience on Mac. And if you really want a subscription and are looking to support a dev that deserves your money, go for Craft for about the amount that Ulysses costs. It has tons of features, but you can also just use it for writing without any of the stuff getting in your way.

 

[MacHiavelli]

More powerful than Ulysses, Scrivener and Typora combined, try Obsidian. And completely FREE for personal use. And on zillions of platforms.

 

[Stenik]

I am currently trying out Speare. It seems great so far.

Another good one is Notebooks.

And Keep It.

 

[timmyh]

These paid placements should be labeled as paid placements.

Just to be clear, Ulysses didn't pay anything for this article.

 

[Aggedor]

I hated Ulysses because it only supports markup. It would be a great app if it supports formatted text and normal editing.

Yeah, this, and the subscription model, are my two problems with what actually looks like a good app otherwise.

I'm a professional writer, so I'm always on the lookout for new tool, and I try a lot of stuff. However, I write prose fiction, which means mark-up is hugely distracting (which seems to go against the minimalist, distraction-free philosophy of the app). Several other apps are also mark-up-based (IA Writer, for example). I just... don't get it. Mark-up is fine for some things, but why not have the option of turning it off and allowing regular formatting?

Having said that, the subscription model means this is a non-starter for me anyway. $50 a year for a very basic word processor? I use Scrivener, which is a one-off licence, is not mark-up based, and has a fully customisable interface, so you can just make it look exactly like Ulysses anyway, if you want that super-minimal, distraction-free UI. And then once that is set-up, you've got a whole extra suite of tools and stats to use, if you want.

 

[Steve121178]

They lost me as a customer with the subscription model. I'd have been more than happy to pay a one-off cost for the App to get the latest updates but I don't need yet another subscription for a writing app that in all honesty isn't that great anyway.

 

[5aga]

A subscription model for a simple authoring app?

 

[jujoje]

Ah Macrumors and subscription apps; name a more vitriolic combination.

If you write a lot, or write for a living, ulysses is worth the subscription fee. It's made for writers and it's really well designed for that purpose. It's ok to admit it's not for you (it's probably not for me either), but for a lot of people it's worth it.

As a side note, despite the subscription, you would thing the app would get more credit here than it does; it's a first class Mac and iOS that rapidly adopts new technologies and APIs, unlike a lot of the new apps with which are poorly optimised electron apps. The only other app I can think of like Ulysses is Scrivener or possibly iA Writer at a push.

I was a happy Ulysses user until they switched to the subscription model. I feel very uncomfortable using an app that extorts a monthly fee from me so I can continue using my files.

The files are markdown (external folders) or a textbundle, both of which are portable and there is no lock-in. If you let your subscription lapse you can still open Ulysses and export files you just can't edit them in Ulysses.

 

[Traverse]

While I still believe that Ulysses is a better writing application, I must admit that Obsidian has stolen the vast majority of my personal writing and text.

 

[SkyRom]

How does Ulysses' grammar and style checks compare to Grammarly?

How *do* Ulysses's* grammar and style checks compare to Grammarly?

OK OK I'm trolling ? #Strunk&White

On a serious note, we used to joke that only a fool would ever pay twice for software. It was inconceivable for rational people; now, it's the cash-grabbing greedy standard.

Also, since we're talking about writing: Don't use adverbs, never use 'the' and 'that' together, and revise your work like The Mountain from Game of Thrones is reading it. If you're doing it right, 35-40% of everything you write can be edited out.

 

[4jasontv]

The addition of a new way to view the existing word counter will definitely put the anti-subscription folks in their place.

Ah Macrumors and subscription apps; name a more vitriolic combination.

If you write a lot, or write for a living, ulysses is worth the subscription fee. It's made for writers and it's really well designed for that purpose. It's ok to admit it's not for you (it's probably not for me either), but for a lot of people it's worth it.

As a side note, despite the subscription, you would thing the app would get more credit here than it does; it's a first class Mac and iOS that rapidly adopts new technologies and APIs, unlike a lot of the new apps with which are poorly optimised electron apps. The only other app I can think of like Ulysses is Scrivener or possibly iA Writer at a push.

The files are markdown (external folders) or a textbundle, both of which are portable and there is no lock-in. If you let your subscription lapse you can still open Ulysses and export files you just can't edit them in Ulysses.

I fail to see how Ulysses is better for writers than Word.

You compare this app to Scrivener, which does have writer-focused features missing from Word. But Scrivener is multiplatform, cheaper, and doesn't require a subscription.

 

[ctg7w6]

The addition of a new way to view the existing word counter will definitely put the anti-subscription folks in their place.

I fail to see how Ulysses is better for writers than Word.

You compare this app to Scrivener, which does have writer-focused features missing from Word. But Scrivener is multiplatform, cheaper, and doesn't require a subscription.

I loved scrivener.

When the iPad app came out I bought it immediately. But it only synced over Dropbox. But I waited and I waited. Then they declared it would never sync over icloud because it simply wasn’t possible (obviously a ridiculous statement, but that’s what the developer said).

So I switched to Ulysses. It syncs beautifully over icloud. I mean, one of the best syncing experiences of any app I’ve tried.

I still use scrivener on my Mac for academic writing where I need many screens open for research, but all of my fiction writing is now done on Ulysses on my iPad.

I hate subscriptions, but I’m a writer so this app is worth it to me.

So one of the big issues here is that everyone is thinking only of the mac. But if you want to write on the iPad, scrivener is a poor solution that doesn’t use iCloud and gets an update like once every two years. And the other apps, in my opinion, have not been as good as Ulysses.

Also, btw, I actually don’t like mark down. But I like Ulysses so much for everything else it does that I still use it.

So, that’s my endorsement, lol, but I also hope it provides another perspective, namely that iPad users need good writing apps too.

 

[Matt Leaf]

I purchased this way back when there was an option to - it can still be downloaded from my purchased apps list. So it’s the old version and it seems to work fine for me, really nice, minimal interface which is great for me - this has replaced Day One for me for me which forced subscription now also across multiple devices.

 

[MacAddict1978]

I am just tired of being subscribed to death.

I've tried out Ulysses but it seems feature deficient compared to other offerings, which often blunder in making those extra features easy to use.

If it were multiplatform, I might be swayed.

Someone mentioned Craft.... feature wise its good, but using it felt very convoluted. Each of these types of apps does their own non-standard implementation and its often frustrating to use them. Craft to me feels like it has an identity crisis. Does it want to be a writing app or a Notion competitor? IMO, the latter and I wasn't finding it useful for writing chapter based things at all.

 

[Creole Ned]

I also bought Ulysses when it was a regular paid app and liked it for what it was. I used it mainly for writing fiction, and the markdown aspect never bothered me. In fiction writing I do very little formatting and most could still be accessed using familiar shortcuts (Command-I for italics and so on).

When it went to a subscription model, I was ticked off. I found the arguments presented by the company to be facile and while they have added new features since the switch, if you go back to the last paid version of the app, it is still a fully functional text editor, it doesn't feel like anything is missing.

I resisted getting a sub and started looking at other apps, but finally went with a subscription when they offered me a 25% discount.

I recently cancelled, though. I find when I am writing now, I am more likely to use iA Writer (which has an excellent iPad version and is also on Windows) or Obsidian, which is free and also cross-platform. I would use Scrivener more (I have it for Mac, Windows and iOS) but I don't use Dropbox, and it really isn't made with cloud-syncing in mind, anyway.

Ulysses is still a very good program, but I don't see the value it offers to the user by being subscription-only, especially with an increasing number of compelling non-subscription alternatives available. Granted, you won't find anything else *exactly* like Ulysses, so if its particular feature set works for you, you might want to stick with it, even with the sub.

 

[4jasontv]

I loved scrivener.

When the iPad app came out I bought it immediately. But it only synced over Dropbox. But I waited and I waited. Then they declared it would never sync over icloud because it simply wasn’t possible (obviously a ridiculous statement, but that’s what the developer said).

So I switched to Ulysses. It syncs beautifully over icloud. I mean, one of the best syncing experiences of any app I’ve tried.

I still use scrivener on my Mac for academic writing where I need many screens open for research, but all of my fiction writing is now done on Ulysses on my iPad.

I hate subscriptions, but I’m a writer so this app is worth it to me.

So one of the big issues here is that everyone is thinking only of the mac. But if you want to write on the iPad, scrivener is a poor solution that doesn’t use iCloud and gets an update like once every two years. And the other apps, in my opinion, have not been as good as Ulysses.

Also, btw, I actually don’t like mark down. But I like Ulysses so much for everything else it does that I still use it.

So, that’s my endorsement, lol, but I also hope it provides another perspective, namely that iPad users need good writing apps too.

Have you tried DevonTHINK? I tried Ulysses and found it redundant to Word. DevonTHINK doesn't have the best editing tools, but it can contain Word and Scrivener documents. The DevonTHINK iPad app is meh, and I only use it for consuming content I want to review. But, it does have iCloud Sync.

 

[Shadar]

Ulysses is one of those apps that you either love or hate.

I love it, and what won me over was the transparent syncing. Whatever device is closest to hand when I have an idea for fiction I'm writing, whether iPhone, iPad, any one of my three Macs, I can always just pick it up and work. I tried all kinds of other writing apps, and none gave me that much flexibility.

$50/yr is a nit.

 

[ctg7w6]

Have you tried DevonTHINK? I tried Ulysses and found it redundant to Word. DevonTHINK doesn't have the best editing tools, but it can contain Word and Scrivener documents. The DevonTHINK iPad app is meh, and I only use it for consuming content I want to review. But, it does have iCloud Sync.

Actually I use DevonThink extensively. I love it! But the Ulysses interface is cleaner for me and the DevonThink iPad app is only decent. But thanks for the recommendation. Absolutely love DevonThink but I mostly use it as a storage database for pdfs and such.

 

[MuppetGate]

Please stop advertising this total money grab of an app. Sure it’s polished but it’s objectively overpriced. So many features that have been requested for years are still missing. Most updates (as evident from your ‘article’) only offer features that are more or less cosmetic in nature, or add OS features that every other dev just implements without a lot of fuss.

I wholeheartedly recommend Typora if you’re looking for a great Markdown experience on Mac. And if you really want a subscription and are looking to support a dev that deserves your money, go for Craft for about the amount that Ulysses costs. It has tons of features, but you can also just use it for writing without any of the stuff getting in your way.

Ulysses is the app that really gives subscriptions a bad name. Since moving to the pay-as-you-go model, the company has delivered little more than cosmetic tweaks to the UI.

Have they added table support yet? Hope so: they’ve been promising it for six years.

 

[Aggedor]

If you write a lot, or write for a living, ulysses is worth the subscription fee. It's made for writers and it's really well designed for that purpose. It's ok to admit it's not for you (it's probably not for me either), but for a lot of people it's worth it.

I'm not sure how it IS worth it, though, with a subscription. Word processors and text editors are not exotic apps - there are hundreds of them, including some of the biggest names in software (Word, Pages, BBEdit, etc). You could use almost ANYTHING other than Ulysses and get the same, or better, experience, and not pay a subscription for the privilege.