Ulysses – The Ultimate Writing App App Reviews

Really! But here is the thing. Two things that is that are bugging me. 1. No markup support for creating tables 2. Why having all those fragmented sources? My Mac, icloud, external sources. Too hard to manage files For this money I wouldn’t expect having these issues folks. I am hoping that these shortcomings will be fixed soon, because otherwise this is a very promising app. Until then I will go back to my old markup apps that simply deliver.

While the app looks nice, I cannot get it to work reliably with Daedelus, their iphone text editor. As such, I never feel like it would be a worthwhile investment to dig into the other features that the app offers. There are many text editors and the cross-device integration was what interested me in this one. After not using this for a while, I tried again while doing some travelling as it’s useful for me to do research while in the hotel and then carry the fruits of that research around on my phone. Alas, the integration with Daedelus is greyed out. When I click on the link, it sends me to the app store to buy Daedelus. Of course, I’ve already done so a long time ago. On my phone I made sure that I was logged into iCloud and had restored the in-app purchases. Then I thought that I’d delete all the preferences and really everything but the app itself and try again. Even this was a frustrating experience. Tried a reboot, and then created a new sheet and nothing. I’ll mention that it froze as well but that’s not really the problem here. Time to give up on it.

There are so many writing apps. I’ve tried so many I’ve lost count — on OS X and iOS — but Ulysses hits the sweet spot. The sync with Deadalus Touch is great, too.

A fantastic writing environment — but what makes Ulysses the best in class is its amazing export formatting options. You can download formatting plugins for academic papers, novels, manuscripts, etc. in addition to its built in options. They export your markdown into gorgeously rendered final products. Its like having LaTeX at your disposal without having to learn its complicated markup language. It really was my favorite thing about Ulysses 2 and Ulysses III, to my surprise, made the process simpler and more streamlined. This app is bar none my favorite writing environment and absolutely worth every penny.

This might be more of an issue with iCloud Drive than Ulysses. I have two laptops (a work and a home laptop) running Ulysses III. I’ve lost quite a few hundred words through iCloud Drive. I upgraded Yosemite on both computers so that iCloud Drive would work (it is not backwards compatible with Mountain Lion, which was what I was running before). However, both my laptops then synced to the **older** version of my work on one of my computers (instead of the more recent version). In the process I lost about 800 words and I am now running an Automator service to back up my iCloud library to Dropbox **and** my local hard drives. However, because Ulysses is MarkdownXL and not plain Markdown, this isn’t ideal. iAWriter has its own “folder” in iCloud Drive, but for Ulysses III this is buried in ~/Library/Containers/com.soulmen.ulysses3/Data/Documents/Library/Groups-ulgroup. For example, if I need to roll back to an older version, I have to search through several “.app” packages in my backed up iCloud Library files for the right version of the text file. To get around this, I have also created a Dropbox folder where I copy-and-paste my text files (so at least my text is backed up somewhere). This however is a manual process. Also if you back up right now in Dropbox, you lose a lot of the great functionality of Ulysses III (goals, notes). I have tried several apps (iAWriter, Storyist, Scrivener) and so far this is the one I like the most. I like being able to have different sheets and groups, and being able to add goals and notes. However not being able to sync files (with all features) through Dropbox is a problem. I have used iCloud in the past, but with only one computer. It seems like it is very unreliable if you need to sync your files across multiple devices. If there was a way to back up text (plain markdown) in Dropbox but save the other information locally I think that would help me a lot.

After reading several reviews talking this product up I decided to go for it as I use Word at work on a PC but do not find it that great. Unfortunately I did not do enough research as this program does not perform in WYSIWYG mode so as a visual artist I am lost! While this program may be great for basic writing I am simply frustrated that I just spent $45 on a product I can’t use :(. My bad, don’t make the same mistake!

A beautiful update to what was already a well-loved and well-used app on my Macbook. Ulysses has consistently helped me with note-taking, academic essays, and novel writing. I’ve tried many other miminalist writing apps, and some aren’t half bad, but Ulysses takes the cake. It’s minimal, yes; but don’t take minimal as meaning a loss of features. This app is fully-featured, powerful, and cross-platform. No feeling can really describe my experiences writing with Ulysses over the years, more than Joy. The support that The Soulmen have shown for the community is praise-worthy, and I wouldn’t expect anything less than the best from them, and you won’t find anything better than Ulysses. So BUY THIS APP. Buy the iPad companion. Experience writing in the 21st century. Kudos again to The Soulmen.

Ulysses 2.0 is now my writing app for short thoughts, blog posts, as well as for full-fledged novels. Exporting your work as plain text, HTML, PDF, or ePub, has never been so simple! Fonts, colors (like dark mode?), and countless miscellaneous features can be infinitely customized to your liking. And yes, you can write in a complete distraction-free environment. This is pure nirvana for any serious writer. Bar none, this is a solid five star application.

I haven’t been using it long. I downloaded the older Ulysses 3 a year or so back, but I never managed to use it consistently because there wasn’t any easy way to move from iOS to OS X gracefully. So, I picked up its iOS counterpart, and it does seem to be really good so far. If I don’t have problems, I can see this becoming my chosen wiritng rig going forward.

This is the writing application you have been waiting on and it will change the way you write for the better.

The icon doesn’t take away from the greatness of the app but wow does it make me glad I hide the Dock.

March 21/2015 I think the icon looks great. Very clever design, too. March 14/2015 Fantastic update! Still as simple and clean as ever, but even more streamlined. The additon of a pane-toggle button, for instance, is a very welcome feature. It just makes sense. -------- Pull out too many features from Ulysses 2, and you run the risk of the kind of over-simplificaiton that results in a full-screen text editor clone. I dont need to name them; some of them are well known by now, and some of them are very good at what they do (or rather, at fulfilling their stated purpose.) Shove in too many features, and you run the risk of wandering into word-processing territory; a bunch of cruft with a full-screen mode. We dont need *more* preferences to futz with and adjustments to tweak. We need to retain the basics, but with some additional flexibility about how we manage what we create. Ulysses 3 is basically Ulysses 2 with the cruft removed, and with the addition of better file-management, cloud syncing, the ability to point and save to an external source (such as files living in cloud services outside of iCloud), and a UI overhaul. Yet its also a complete re-imagining of the text editor, which makes Ulysses 3 feel quite different from Ulysses 2 (and most of what the competition offers, for that matter.) The result of all this is a more streamlined, a more intuitive, and a more attractive app that immerses you in your writing without leaving you wishing for more or less when you leave full-screen mode. And *that* is really the ideal (or should be) to which all modern text editors aspire. UPDATE: @ blum123456, You might yet grow to love Ulysses. It’s a Markdown-based text editor, but one of *the* most robust of its kind. Markdown gives the user ultimate flexibility in terms of formatting and editing, but without a lot of the clutter found in standard word processors. Instead of formatting while you write, you *define* your desired formatting on-the-fly. Read the Ulysses 3 introduction sheets in the app - everything will bemade clear. The WYSIWYG you’re used to can still be found when you *preview* your work, though you only “see what you get” in the preview. I’d urge you to make yourself at home with Markdown. It’s not only useful but also a lot of fun. If you *really* want a Word substitute, I’d advise you to give Mellel a look. It far outclasses Word, in my view.

I love this app, it is amazing. Ulysses does everything that you’d want it to do and more. It is worth every penny. Love it. Great app, Thank you Soulmen!

I’ve finally gotten around to trying my hand at writing a science fiction novel. Ulysses is hands down the best / my favourite writing environment that I’ve found. Highly recomended.

I was a writer that didn’t write. Then I bought Ulysess.

I have tried many markdown apps a lot of which only have half of the features and functions of Ulysses. However, no other app that I have tried so far included a set of features which I need and which trully improve my writing workflow. I think that Ulysses is worth every penny because: - Beautiful interface - Rich Markdown support and syntax highlights - Excellet support and feature development - Rich features within a simple package - Folder support and search I write reports for my work and I write most of them in Ulysses and only use Pages to do some final editing before exporting to Docx or PDF. Keep up the great work!

Great application. Two suggestions before I can use as my only MD app: 1. A presentation mode like in Quiver 2. Standard MultiMarkdown support

This app keeps me writing. It’s the best place I’ve found to put all of your text before putting it somewhere else for high production/publishing. They regularly update, too. It’s well supported. Two things I hope for eventually… A Tumblr integration, akin to the Medium one I’m celebrating now Some sorta iPhone app (Daedalus _is_ a companion app to Ulysses, but isn’t quite as nice as, say, Drafts for iOS or a number of other word processors). There is an iPad app, though! So that’s nice. (Thanks for your work, developers)

I had previous versions of Ulysses but wasn’t ready to pay $60 CAD for a simple markdown text editor, however combining the iPad version with Ulysses on the desktop is a revolution in my workflow. Great job at keeping things simple and efficient. I just need a better export feature to Pages/Word since the text formating on the provided templates is really awkward and nobody will use it as it is, this represents a loss of time on Word to correct font types, sizes, etc. This is the only reason why I don’t give 5 stars but I will change it as soon as someone notices this very imortant detail and corrects it. This should be a no-brainer but I amsure I am not the only person with issues on the export. Let’s say that we should be able to export to Pages as well formated as the export to html is. Ulysses is fantastic and it became my main note taking, Word processor and research app. I highly reccomend it and love it.

Ulysses is the perfect tool for professional writers. As an academic writer, I have used a number of writing programs and word processors over the years. Ulyssess minimalist approach allows me to focus on my writing without distraction. It’s simple yet highly flexible filing system allows you to do everything from organizing notes on your project to writing articles and long term book projects. Use of individual sheets allows you to easily move units of text around and edit your document. Very liberating! Exporting features to a vareity of formats works well. While I was a little hesitant about markdown at first, having not used it in the past, I actually found it very easy to learn and Ulyssess employs standard keyboard shortcuts for formatiting text. Markdown makes it easy to import and export text from a number of formats into Ulyssess. Program also works well with OSX’s sharing feature (I have a pdf program in which I use comments to highlight texts and make notes on academic articles and export them directly to Ulyssess. Simple, elegant, and so effective! The Soulmen, based in Leipzig, one of my favorite cities, have done a wonderful job!