Released on 28 November 2022
+Released on 30 July 2023
-Scroll down for Patch Notes
- -This release includes a major update to the way your project is managed. It also modernises the -user interface. The project file format has also been updated, and your projects will be upgraded -the first time you open them in this release.
-There are some major changes under the hood in this release. A lot of the code has been -rewritten and split up into smaller components. A lot of this is to make it more efficient, but -also to make it more modular in preparation for planned future additions. Most of these changes -don't affect you as the user, but there are also a number of big feature changes that you will -notice.
- -The tabs used to switch between the Project Tree and Novel Tree, as well as between the Editor -and Outline views, have been replaced with a side bar. The side bar is located on the left side of -the main window, and gives you the option to select between "Project Tree View", "Novel Tree View" -and "Outline Tree View". They correspond to the previous tabs.
-The side bar also includes a shortcut to the "Build Novel Project" tool. The "Project Details", -"Writing Statistics" and "Settings" buttons that were previously below the project tree are now -located at the bottom of the side bar.
-All three views have also been given updates. They each have a label and a toolbar. The Project -Tree View has a dropdown with quick links to all your root folders, which should make it easier to -navigate a large project tree. You can activate the link menu by pressing `Ctrl+L` while in the -Project Tree, so you don't need to move your mouse.
-A dropdown menu with all the options for adding new items to your project has also been added to -this toolbar. This too can be activated directly with a shortcut, `Ctrl+N`. More options are -available under the menu button, and there are also a set of move up and down buttons for moving -items.
-The Novel Tree View and Novel Outline View have also received toolbars and controls that let you -select which data to show, and customise the view.
- -A number of changes have been made to how you organise your project in the Project Tree View. -For instance, you are now allowed to add as many root folders as you want, and as many of each kind -as you want. Several users have asked for the ability to add multiple Novel folders, so the old -restriction of only one of each has been removed.
-You can now also move documents freely between all folders. The Status or Importance values will -switch place depending on the type of root folder your document is in, but the other value should -be preserved if you move the document back. Previously, they were saved as the same value in your -project, so moving them would imply they were overwritten. The new project file format introduced -with this release has no such restriction.
-Your documents are now also able to have other documents as child items. This is another feature -added based on feedback. You no longer need to make a chapter folder and add chapter files inside -it together with the scene documents. You can add the scene documents directly under the chapter -document and drop the folder entirely. If needed, you can convert an existing folder into a -document at any time. However, you are not allowed to convert a document into a folder.
-The check mark icon that previously indicated whether a document was included or not in a -manuscript build has been replaced with an active/inactive flag. This was done in preparation for -changes to the Build Novel Project tool which will come in the next release. The active/inactive -flag is now primarily just an indicator to you as the writer whether the document is to be -considered a part of your project or not. That said, an inactive setting still causes it to be -excluded from the Novel Tree View and the Novel Outline View.
-The context (right click) menu for the Project Tree has also been updated. You can make nearly -all changes to the item directly from this menu, with the exception of editing the item label, -which still requires a dialog box.
-The Split and Merge tools have been rewritten from scratch. You should now have multiple options -on how to structure the resulting document or documents. You can access the new tools from the -"Transform" submenu when right-clicking a project item that supports splitting or merging.
- -The Novel Tree View and Novel Outline View panels have been given a new design. The heading -level is now shown as an indent with a coloured bar that uses the same colour coding as the -document icons. They are technically no longer tree views, but rather a Table of Contents of a -specific novel root folder. If you have multiple novel root folders, you can select which one to -view.
-In the Novel Tree View, you now also have the option to hide or show a third column of data. -Currently, you can choose between "Point of View Character", "Focus Character" and "Novel Plot". If -you referenced more than one in the document, the column will only show the first entry, so make -sure the most important one is listed first in your document if you use this feature. An arrow icon -is also visible at the end of each row in the tree, and if you click on it, a tool tip should pop -up showing you all the meta data collected for that specific heading in your text.
- -There has been a lot of changes under the hood as well, especially in regards to how the project -structure is handled and saved. The project index has also been almost completely rewritten, and -now collects information about your project more efficiently. This improves the way the project -tree determines which document icon to show you, and it also makes the Novel Tree View more -informative as the data there is updated a lot more frequently.
-The New Project Wizard has been updated with some new features, and simplified a bit. The -Project Settings dialog has been updated to reflect some of the same changes.
+This is a beta release of the next release version, and is intended for testing purposes. Please +be careful when using this version on live writing projects, and make sure you take frequent +backups.
+Please check the changelog for an overview of changes. The full release notes will be added to +the final release.
See also the Releases page.
-This is a patch release that fixes a minor issues with loading custom GUI themes that haven't -been updated to include the icon theme setting. The patch also updates the French translation.
- -This is a patch release that fixes a minor issues with syntax highlighting not updating when the -highlighting preferences were changed. It also fixes an issue that broke the FreeBSD release.
- -This is a patch release that fixes a few bugs and usability issues. The editing of status and -importance labels in Project Settings should now be a bit more intuitive. Opening a document from -the Outline View that is already open in the editor should now switch to the editor view. The -convert folder to note or document feature in the project tree has also been fixed. Some icons have -been updated and a renderring issue with one of them fixed. Chinese, Norwegian, US English, German -and Spanish translations have been updated as well. A new credits tab has been added to the About -dialog box, replacing the Credits section on the main About tab.
- -This is a patch release that fixes a bug where novelWriter would crash if PyQt5 version 5.15.8 -was installed and imported.
- -This is a patch release that fixes a number of minor bugs and usability issues.
-The Project Details dialog now properly updates when another project is opened, and the "Total -editing time" value has a less ambiguous time format. The editor no longer inserts blank lines if -block formats are applied to an empty line. The optional last column in the Novel Tree will now -show all items of the selected type, not only the first, and the column size can be adjusted from -the same menu where the column content is selected. The Open Document build output has been updated -to ODF 1.3 extended format, and passes validation.
-An Italian translation has been added, and Russian is currently available for project builds. A -full translation into Russian is on its way.
- -This is a patch release that fixes a few minor bugs and a broken feature.
-When opening a document from the Novel Tree or Outline View, the Project Tree would receive -focus even when it was hidden. This has been corrected and no focus change is made. The Project -Tree now also receives focus automatically when a new Project Item is created.
-The backlinks in the Reference Panel below the Document Viewer were no longer working. They have -now been fixed. They were broken due to a change in the link format in 2.0.
- -This is a patch release that fixes a few issues and adds a Japanese translation.
-The issues were mostly related to spell checking. In particular, issues with finding the word -boundary when using underscore characters for italics markup. These issues should now be resolved. -In addition, escaped markup characters are now renderred properly in HTML and ODT build formats.
-A few usability improvements have also been made. The Add Item menu in the project tree no -longer shows the options to create Novel Documents when an item in the tree is selected that cannot -hold such a document. In addition, the "Change Label" context menu entry has been changed to say -"Rename", which is a more logical choice.
-