.. _a_intro:

************
Key Features
************

novelWriter is a multi-document plain text editor using a markup syntax inspired by markdown to
apply simple formatting to the text. It is designed for writing novels, so the formatting features
are limited. Your novel project is organised as a collection of separate plain text documents
instead of a single, large document.

Below are some key features of novelWriter.

**Focus on writing**
   The aim of the user interface is to let the user focus on writing instead of spending time
   formatting text. Formatting is therefore limited to a small set of formatting tags for simple
   things like text emphasis and paragraph alignment. When you really want to focus on just
   writing, you can switch the editor into :guilabel:`Focus Mode` where only the text editor window
   itself is vissible.

**Keep an eye on your notes**
   The main window can optionally show a document viewer to the right of the editor. This view
   panel is intended for displaying another scene document, you character notes, plot notes, or any
   other document you may need to reference while writing.

**Organise your documents how you like**
   You can split your novel project up into as many individual documents as you want to. When you
   build the project, they are all glued together in the top-to-bottom order in which they appear
   in the project tree. You can use as few text documents as you like, but splitting the project up
   into chapters and scenes means you can easily reorder them using the drag and drop feature.

**Keep track of your plot elements**
   All notes in your project can be assigned a *tag* you can *reference* from any other document or
   notes. In fact, you can add a new tag under each heading of a note if you need to be able to
   reference a specific section. Note tags are organised into categories with specific reference
   keywords.

**Get an overview of your plot elements**
   In the :guilabel:`Outline` tab on the main window you can see an outline of all the chapter and
   scene sections of your project. If they have any references in them, these are listed in
   columns. You can also add a synopsis to each document, which can be listed here. You have the
   option to add or remove columns of information from the outline. A subset of the outline
   information is also available in the :guilabel:`Novel` tab under the main project tree.

**Building your manuscript**
   Whether you want to compile a manuscript, or export all your notes, or generate an outline of
   your chapters and scenes with a synopsis, you can use the :guilabel:`Build Novel Project` tool.
   The tool lets you select what information you want to include in the generated document, and how
   it is formatted. You can send the result to a printer, a PDF, or to an Open Document file that
   can be opened by most office type word processors.


.. _a_intro_screenshots:

Screenshots
===========

**novelWriter with default system theme:**

.. image:: images/screenshot_default.png
   :width: 800

**novelWriter with dark theme:**

.. image:: images/screenshot_dark.png
   :width: 800
