yWriter - Creative writing word processor

[AlephX]

yWriter is a software for creative writers: it helps you to manage the story from various points of view: chapters, characters, and so on...

http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter.html

I had a problem testing it but ut seems to be really portable. Is anyone willing to test it?

To install it, uniextract the installer, and copy the content of the {app} and {sys} dir (the ocx and dll files are doubled; the ",1" have to be deleted, and the remaining ones to be renamed) to your folder.

Writes settings in the application folder. v2.3


DL http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter_Download.html

Features:
Organise your novel using a 'project'.
Add files to the project, each containing a chapter.
Add a summary to each file, showing the scenes in each chapter.
Print out summary cards, showing the structure of your novel.
Display the word count for every file in the project, along with a total.
Saves a log file every day, showing words per file and the total. (Tracks your progress)
Saves automatic backups at user-specified intervals.
Allows multiple scenes within chapters
Viewpoint character, goal, conflict and outcome fields for each scene.
Storyboard view, a visual layout of your work.
Re-order scenes within chapters.
Move scenes from one chapter to another.
Automatic chapter renumbering.

Is there someone interested in this kind of Software?

[mrsyco]

I'll use this, just so your findings dont go to waste AlephX. Heres my first chapter of a novel called AlephX

I always knew he would be special. From the day that boy was born, he was destined to out shine everybody else. His Mother never believed me, I can't understand why. He's proven many people wrong, upset quite a few of them too. Thats always been his way though, he's very complicated, and deceptive yet warm and charming. Nobody I've known has ever been right about him on their first meeting with him.

[AlephX]

...

[Andrew Lee]

Getting to work is a little tricky. I am doing the testing on Win2K.

After merging {app} and {sys}, I deleted all the ",*" files. When trying to run, the program complains that it can't find RICHTX32.OCX, so I have to rename RICHTX32,1.OCX, then it manage to run.

I wonder which of the other OCX files are really necessary for the program to run.

Not adding this to the database at the moment until this point can be clarified.

[AlephX]

Hi!

I am back to this entry...

After merging {app} and {sys}, I deleted all the ",*" files. When trying to run, the program complains that it can't find RICHTX32.OCX, so I have to rename RICHTX32,1.OCX, then it manage to run.

I deleted all *,2.* files (one by one, via file manager)
and renamed (via file manager) the *,1.* files (eg. RICHTX32,1.OCX to RICHTX32.OCX)...

it works.

By the way I found another portable app for writers: Q10

http://baara.com/q10/

it is nice: for those friends who like to write but hate the Windows OS... quite simple anyway, but "kinda philosophically funny"

[maxworks]

hi there.

i like this application a lot. unfortunately i am not competent to know whether it is portable. i couldn't get uniextractor to extract the downloaded file. however the author of the program has left instructions on how to make all of his programs portable. you can find the instructions at http://www.spacejock.m6.net/Downloads.html

basically you need to install the program. copy the program folder to the portable drive and the install 'Pendrive Runtimes' with the program folder on the usb drive as the target installation path. finally, i unistalled the program from my hard drive.

would be interested to see whether you find that this is portable. am enjoying using it.

in peace, maxxx

[bryce dayton]

This program is now at version 5, and on the description at download.com it says it's portable. I didn't notice anything being added on my computer when I moved it to my jump drive, but I'm no expert. This would make an excellent addition to the collection, especially since this program has advanced to the point that it's very competitive with pay for writing programs.

[Emka]

yWriter is at 5.1.7.5 and, apart from it requiring .NET 2.0, it supposedly can be made portable with an empty yWriter5.ini file in the program folder, cf. http://www.spacejock.com/RunFromThumbDrive.html

[webfork]

The developer of the software, himself an author wrote this:

I really struggled with my first novel because I wrote slabs of text into a big word processor file and I just couldn't make sense of the whole thing at once. No real overview, no easy jumping from scene to scene, nothing.

I can picture more than just novel-writers having issues with this.

I'm bothered that its a dotNET program, but it is only requiring 2.0. Also, with the exception of the MLA generator and some of the minimalistic text editors like q10, we don't really have any tools here on the site specifically for writers. I'll take a look.

Update: it looks like this is really for novel writers, but it does look portable.

• Steps:
  
  1. Download zipped install: http://www.spacejock.com/files/yWriter5.zip
  2. Unzip and move contents of "bin" to a folder of your choice
  3. Create empty text file "yWriter5.ini"
  4. Launch yWriter5.exe
  RegShot on XP SP3 test looks portable, not stealth:
  
  • HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ESENT\Process\yWriter5
    
    ... which isn't a big deal because so do several PortableApps programs (Skype, Firefox, Thunderbird)
    
    Creates empty folder in C:\Documents and Settings\(user)\Application Data\Spacejock Software

[Erkhyan]

I just wanted to point out two potentially interesting export options that were recently added by the author:

• to eBook: Exports your project to a single HTML file designed specifically for importing into Calibre. You can then use Calibre to convert the file into any of the supported eBook formats.
• to LaTeX: Explicit enough. Exports your project to a .tex file, using a customizable preamble.

Note that the program has a wiki, including a Quickstart Guide.

[webfork]

Update:

• As user Erkhyan indicates below, this program has a serious hole in it's functionality. Additionally, during testing, the pro features were mentioned VERY prominently on the side window, making the program annoying to use for anything other than a review of the feature-set before purchase. This is at best adware and at worst crippleware.
• Not that it matters in light of the fact that I wouldn't call this freeware, but the WinPenPack site is listing the program as 704 megs, but that's a mistype: its only 74 megs.

Old thread update with some related portable software:

Home page
http://www.novelist.ch/joomla/index.php/en/go-pro

X-StorYBook
http://www.winpenpack.com/en/download.php?view.1266

[Erkhyan]

Wait, so StoryBook will allow you to write your project, but won’t allow you to export your work unless you buy the Pro version? I don’t mind programs that limit access to several useful-but-non-vital features in a freeware version, but exporting your work is kind of the goal in a program like this one…

[webfork]

...but won’t allow you to export your work unless you buy the Pro version?

That's odd -- I don't know why:

A. SourceForge is hosting it
B. WinPenPack is hosting a version of it

Anyway, I updated the earlier entry.

[webfork]

Update: This program is still in development with the beta (6.5.1.0) coming out earlier this month. A few notes about relevant to our users:

License: Whatever the pro version involved it's freeware now.

Steps: extract, launch and then close, move the ywriter6.ini file into the local app directory, launch.

Status: Portable - Tested the beta mentioned above

Notes: One of the things I do in my profession is to run quality assurance on documents, so when I saw a "problem words" section in yWriter, I retested it. Unfortunately I couldn't seem to get that function to work. Still, some writers may enjoy this program.