# novelWriter [![Linux (3.6)](https://github.com/vkbo/novelWriter/workflows/Linux%20(3.6)/badge.svg?branch=main)](https://github.com/vkbo/novelWriter/actions) [![Linux (3.7)](https://github.com/vkbo/novelWriter/workflows/Linux%20(3.7)/badge.svg?branch=main)](https://github.com/vkbo/novelWriter/actions) [![Linux (3.8)](https://github.com/vkbo/novelWriter/workflows/Linux%20(3.8)/badge.svg?branch=main)](https://github.com/vkbo/novelWriter/actions) [![Linux (3.9)](https://github.com/vkbo/novelWriter/workflows/Linux%20(3.9)/badge.svg?branch=main)](https://github.com/vkbo/novelWriter/actions) [![Windows (3.8)](https://github.com/vkbo/novelWriter/workflows/Windows%20(3.8)/badge.svg?branch=main)](https://github.com/vkbo/novelWriter/actions) [![macOS (3.8)](https://github.com/vkbo/novelWriter/workflows/macOS%20(3.8)/badge.svg?branch=main)](https://github.com/vkbo/novelWriter/actions) [![flake8](https://github.com/vkbo/novelWriter/workflows/flake8/badge.svg)](https://github.com/vkbo/novelWriter/actions) [![codecov](https://codecov.io/gh/vkbo/novelWriter/branch/main/graph/badge.svg)](https://codecov.io/gh/vkbo/novelWriter) [![docs](https://readthedocs.org/projects/novelwriter/badge/?version=latest)](https://novelwriter.readthedocs.io/en/latest/?badge=latest) [![release](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/vkbo/novelwriter)](https://github.com/vkbo/novelWriter/releases) [![pypi](https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/novelwriter)](https://pypi.org/project/novelWriter) [![python](https://img.shields.io/pypi/pyversions/novelwriter)](https://pypi.org/project/novelWriter) novelWriter is a Markdown-like text editor designed for writing novels assembled from many smaller text documents. It uses a minimal formatting syntax inspired by Markdown, and adds a meta data syntax for comments, synopsis, and cross-referencing between files. It's designed to be a simple text editor that allows for easy organisation of text files and notes, built on plain text files for robustness. The plain text files are suitable for version control software, and also well suited for file synchronisation tools. The core project structure is stored in a single project XML file. Other meta data is primarily saved in JSON files. The full documentation is available at [novelwriter.readthedocs.io](https://novelwriter.readthedocs.io). ## Implementation The application is written in Python 3 using Qt5 via PyQt5. It is developed on Linux, but it should in principle work fine on other operating systems as well, as long as dependencies are met. The unit tests are run on the latest versions of Ubuntu Linux, Windows Server and macOS. ## Project Contributions Contributions to this project are welcome. However, please read the [Contributing Guide](https://github.com/vkbo/novelWriter/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md) before submitting larger additions ot changes to this project. # Key Features Some features of novelWriter are listed below. Consult the [documentation](https://novelwriter.readthedocs.io) for more information. ### Markdown Flavour novelWriter is _not_ a full-feature Markdown editor. It is a plain text editor that uses Markdown-like syntax for adding a minimal set of formatting that is useful for the specific task of writing novels. The formatting is currently limited to: * Headings levels 1 to 4 using the `#` syntax only. * Emphasised and strongly emphasised text. These are rendered as italicised and bold text. * Strikethrough text. * Hard line breaks using two or more spaces at the end of a line. That is it. Features not supported in the editor are also not exported when using the export tool. In addition, novelWriter adds the following, which is otherwise not supported by Markdown: * A line starting with `%` is treated as a comment and not rendered on exports unless requested. Comments do not count towards the word count. If the first word of the comment is `synopsis:`, the comment is indexed and treated as the synopsis for the section of text under the same header. These synopsis comments can be used to build an outline and exported to external documents. * A set of meta data keyword/values starting with the character `@`. This is used for tagging and inter-linking documents, and can also be included when generate a project outline. * A variety of thin and non-breaking spaces are supported. Some of them depend on the system running at least Qt 5.9. Earlier versions of Qt will unfortunately strip them out when saving. * Tabs can be used in the text, and should be properly aligned in both editor and viewer. This can be used to make simple tables and lists. Full Markdown tables and lists are not supported. Note that for HTML exports, most browsers will treat a tab as a space, so it may not show up like expected. If you import the HTML file to Libre Office, for instance, they should appear as expected. The core export format of novelWriter is HTML5. You can also export the entire project as a single novelWriter Markdown-flavour document. These can later be imported again into novelWriter. In addition, export to Open Document, PDF, and plain text is offered through the Qt library, although with limitations to formatting. The HTML format is well suited for file conversion tools and import into other text editors. ### Colour Themes The editor has syntax highlighting for the features it supports, and includes a set of different syntax highlighting themes. Optional GUI themes are also available, including dark themes. ### Easy Organising of Project Files The structure of the project is shown on the left hand side of the main window. Project files are organised into root folders, indicating what class of file they are. The most important root folder is the `Novel` folder, which contains all of the files that make up the finished novel. Each root folder can have subfolders. Subfolders have no impact on the final project structure, they are there for you to organise your files in whatever way you want. The editor supports four levels of headings, which determines what level the following text belongs to. Headings of level one signify a book or partition title. Headings of level two signify the start of a new chapter. Headings of level three signify the start of a new scene. Headings of level four can be used internally in each scene to separate sections. Each novel file can be assigned a layout format, which shows up as a flag next to the item in the project tree. These are mostly to help the user track what they contain, but they also have some impact on the format of the exported document. See the [documentation](https://novelwriter.readthedocs.io) for further details. ### Project Notes Supporting note files can be added for the story plot, characters, locations, story timeline, etc. These have their separate root folders. These are optional files. ### Visualisation of Story Elements The different notes can be assigned tags, which other files can refer back to using the `@` meta keywords. This information can be used to display an outline of the story, showing where each scene connects to the plot, and which characters, etc. occur in them. In addition, the tags themselves are clickable in the document view pane, and control-clickable in the editor. They make it possible to quickly navigate between the documents while editing. # Installing and Running For install instructions, please check the [documentation](https://novelwriter.readthedocs.io/) in the [Getting Started](https://novelwriter.readthedocs.io/en/latest/int_started.html) section. ## TLDR Instructions If you want to run novelWriter directly from the source code, you must run the `novelWriter.py` file from command line. For installations on Linux, macOS or Windows, see below. **Note:** You may need to replace `python` with `python3` and `pip` with `pip3` in the instructions below on some systems. You may also want to add the `--user` flag for `pip` to install in your user space only. ### Install from PyPi novelWriter is available on [pypi.org](https://pypi.org/project/novelWriter/), and can be installed with: ```bash pip install novelwriter ``` Dependencies should be installed automatically, but can also be installed directly with: ```bash pip install pyqt5 lxml pyenchant ``` When installing via pip, novelWriter can be launched from command line with: ```bash novelWriter ``` Make sure the install location for pip is in your PATH variable. This is not always the case by default. ### Setup on Linux If you're installing from source, the following commands will set up novelWriter on Linux: ```bash pip install -r requirements.txt python setup.py install python setup.py xdg-install ``` This should make novelWriter available as a regular application on your system, with a launceher icon, and file association with novelWriter project files. ### Setup on macOS If you're installing from source, the following commands will set up novelWriter on macOS: ```bash brew install enchant pip3 install --user -r requirements.txt pip3 install --user pyobjc python3 setup.py install ``` At present, novelWriter isn't further integrated into the OS, so you must launch it from command line with: ```bash novelWriter ``` ### Setup on Windows For Windows, first ensure that you have Python installed. If not, get it from [python.org/downloads](https://www.python.org/downloads/). Remember to select "Add Python to PATH" during the installation, otherwise novelWriter cannot find it. Then, download the `novelWriter-x.y.z-minimal.zip` file, where `x.y.z` is the version number, from the [releases](https://github.com/vkbo/novelWriter/releases) page. You can extract it to wherever you want to keep novelWriter on your PC, and run the `setup_windows.bat` file in it (double-clicking it should work). This will install the necessary dependencies from [pypi,org](https://pypi.org/) and create desktop and start menu icons. ## Debugging If you need to debug novelWriter, you must run it from command line. It takes a few parameters, which can be listed with the switch `--help`. The `--info`, `--debug` or `--verbose` flags are particularly useful for increasing logging output for debugging. # Licenses This is Open Source software, and novelWriter is licensed under GPLv3. See the [GNU General Public License website](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.en.html) for more details, or consult the [LICENSE](https://github.com/vkbo/novelWriter/blob/main/LICENSE.md) file. Bundled assets have the following licenses: * The Typicons-based icon themes by Stephen Hutchings are licensed under [CC BY-SA 4.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). The icons have been altered in size and colour for use with novelWriter, and some additional icons added. The original icon set is available at [stephenhutchings/typicons.font](https://github.com/stephenhutchings/typicons.font). * The Cantarell font by Dave Crossland is licensed under [OPEN FONT LICENSE Version 1.1](http://scripts.sil.org/OFL). It is available at [Google Fonts](https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Cantarell). * The Tomorrow syntax themes use colour schemes taken from Chris Kempson's collection of code editor themes, licensed with the [MIT License](https://github.com/chriskempson/tomorrow-theme/blob/master/LICENSE.md), and the main repo is available at [chriskempson/tomorrow-theme](https://github.com/chriskempson/tomorrow-theme). * Likewise, the Owl syntax themes use colours from Sarah Drasner's code editor themes, licensed with the [MIT License](https://github.com/sdras/night-owl-vscode-theme/blob/master/LICENSE), and the main repo is available at [sdras/night-owl-vscode-theme](https://github.com/sdras/night-owl-vscode-theme). # Screenshot **novelWriter with default system theme:** ![Screenshot 1](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vkbo/novelWriter/main/docs/source/images/screenshot_default.png) **novelWriter with dark theme:** ![Screenshot 2](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vkbo/novelWriter/main/docs/source/images/screenshot_dark.png)