I have a Mac so I was thrilled when Literature & Latte came out with software for the iPad. Being able to keep my novel in my purse all the time makes it easy to write wherever I am.

I’ve had the software for a couple of months. There is a learning curve, after all, it’s set up for a tablet and it needs to be different in order to be legible and friendly on the smaller screen. You can basically do all the same things on the iOS version but the overall look is different.

The binder is still on the left side and is a pop-up screen. You can color the chapters, add icons, labels, and see your notes. You can still drag and drop to rearrange your chapters. The binder disappears when you start writing so the editor is full screen. You can work in portrait view or landscape view.

The inspector is no longer on the right hand side but pops up in the center of the screen when you choose the inspector icon from the header. It is actually the same pop-up screen you get in the binder when you hold your finger down on a chapter. There you can see your synopsis, notes, and the things mentioned above.

This next image gives you a direct comparison between the desktop software and the iPad and iPhone. I have not tried the iPhone software but seems like it would be difficult to write on a phone unless you were voice texting and I need that nano-second between my brain and fingertips to figure out what I want to say.

I have a bluetooth keyboard for my iPad but Scrivener has a convenient toolbar on the pop-up keyboard which includes handy things including strikethrough and comments.

One thing I couldn’t find was the total word count. You can get that by clicking on Inspector and choosing Compile. It will give you a total count that way. There may be other ways of going about it. You still can see the word count at the bottom of the page for individual chapters.

I sync my project with Dropbox and that’s a love/hate relationship. I find it a pain to set up and this is not my first time using Dropbox. The most important thing is to get in the habit of closing your projects after you sync or you’ll end up with conflicts. Unfortunately, you can’t see the two versions side by side to know which one to save. Whether you use Dropbox or another product, you do need your novel saved somewhere besides your computer.

I had the regular version of Scrivener on a Windows tablet once but it was just too difficult to see. It needed to be different for tablet size and L&L did a great job with this software. I give the new iOS software a solid 5 stars.

Scrivener iOS is on sale right now for $11.99! Use this link to get your copy!

If you want to share your thoughts on the iOS software, have tips, tricks, or want to share information on Dropbox or other programs, please leave your comments!

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