yWriter Android released

[Simon Haynes]

I've just released the first public beta of yWriter Android.

This version supports google drive for loading and saving, and is compatible with the current 6.0.0.5 release of yWriter6, which contains the new yw6 file format.

I've been writing bits of my own novel every night on my tablet before going to sleep, and the convenience of having the latest version right there in my hands, and then back on my PC when I boot it up in the morning, is amazing. The all-in-one nature of the yw6 format means it's save to run your project right off google drive - on both PC and Android.

(Alpha testers - your version will be update automatically so please ignore this post)

First you need to go here and accept the play store beta terms:
https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.spacejock.ywriter

After that, the store page should allow you to buy a copy:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?

If you visit the store from a PC, don't be surprised if it says it's incompatible with your devices - mine says it, but when I visit the page with my phone/tablet/etc it's fine.

Bear in mind it's still Beta software, and there will probably be bugs, incompatibilities and other dramas. However, by getting in early you can influence the future direction. I'm determined to make this thing great, I just need your patience in the early stages when (hopefully) a whole lot more people start subjecting the app to various stresses and strains.

Cheers
Simon
--
Spacejock Software: http://www.spacejock.com
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/spacejock


(Also posted to the yWriter facebook page)

[Simon Haynes]

Sorry, the play store link was broken.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spacejock.ywriter

[Bob Newell]

I hope no one grumbles about the minimal $5 price tag, which is in my opinion a complete giveaway. Finally, something on the Android that is a serious novelist's tool. There is SO much low quality "writer" software and it's fantastic to see one of the best tools become available. Thank you Simon, I will be buying this one for sure.

[Simon Haynes]

Thanks Bob. I chose $5 because the Android store has a reputation for people not paying for software up front, preferring to download and then pay for extra features. I didn't want to have that particular model.

For example, when I search for 'ywriter' on the play store, 3 tools appear. The other two aren't the same kind of thing, but it's interesting to compare them.

One is free with 100,000 to 500,000 downloads. I read that company's blog where they said they made it free after hardly anyone bought it, versus the apple version which sold fairly well. Before that, they reckon it was bringing in about $30 per day.

The other is $20, with a handful of ratings and '100-500' downloads.

Personally, I buy things on the Android store if I need them, and if the free alternative isn't good enough. I think ywriter android is in a unique position, because I estimate 80-90% of buyers (or maybe all of them), will be existing Windows users who know more or less what they're getting.

I think of ywriter android as an extension to the PC version. It lets me edit on the go, or add a few words to a scene in short breaks. It's not supposed to have everything, but over time I will add in more features. E.g. I find it irritating to use copy/paste on the android for large sections of text, so being able to type # into the middle of a scene, then pushing a button to split the scene on that marker, would be convenient. Being able to change all the 'tension' ratings from 5 to 6 throughout, maybe less so.

(Marking scenes as '1st edit, 2nd edit' and so on will be coming soon - I will introduce some kind of indicator on the main screen showing this. For example, it could be a very thin horizontal bar with 5 segments just under the description in the scene list. one segment = outline, full = done. The chapter list could have all the lines for all the scenes within each chapter, stacked. I'm talking 1 pixel height, so even if there are 3-4 scenes it shouldn't be excessive, but users could see at a glance if a chapter contained any draft scenes.)

[William Seward]

Happy to see the Android release, although I suppose it will force me to move up to yW6 on my laptop as well. I've been slow in switching since I use Linux and yW5 has been working pretty well so far. A bit worried about switching my wip's over to 6 and maybe not be able to shift back if somehow necessary.
Good work, Simon!

[Simon Haynes]

William Seward via yWriter wrote:

> Happy to see the Android release, although I suppose it will force me to
> move up to yW6 on my laptop as well. I've been slow in switching since I
> use Linux and yW5 has been working pretty well so far. A bit worried about
> switching my wip's over to 6 and maybe not be able to shift back if somehow
> necessary.
> Good work, Simon!
>

You can install both, they don't share settings, paths or anything else.

yW6 will load and save yw5 projects so it's compatible that way.

I've yet to add a 'save this yw6 as yw5', but it would be pretty easy to do. (Aside from lack of rtf, having everything in one simple file makes running projects off google drive viable. Also, I keep all my yw6 projects in the same folder, so they share logs, autobackups, etc.)

[Nickyp]

Great news Simon! I'm sure I'm not the only person to appreciate the new direction for yWriter - Android and iOS!

However, having a problem oprning an existing project in the Android App. Can locate the folder in which my project is stored in Google Drive, all the files are greyed out so I can't select any? 

Thanks

Nick

[Simon Haynes]

Nickyp wrote:

> Great news Simon! I'm sure I'm not the only person to appreciate the new
> direction for yWriter - Android and iOS!
>
> However, having a problem oprning an existing project in the Android App.
> Can locate the folder in which my project is stored in Google Drive, all
> the files are greyed out so I can't select any?
>
> Thanks
> Nick
>

The Android version won't open yw5 files because they're in the wrong format.

However, if you download yWriter 6.0.0.7 (the latest), you can save any yw5 project in yw6 format. That can then be opened by ywriter android and also ywriter 6 on the pc.

[Nickyp]

Thanks for that - have downloaded 6.0.0.7 and got the version 6 files menu.

I saved a test project as yw6 and could select it to open in the android app - yay! Once I've done some editing and saved the scene, it now displays like the below. I appreciated it's a beta but thought I'd post in case this is just me or something you'd like to know about. Thanks!

{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0\deflang1033{\fonttbl{\f0\fnil\fcharset0 Segoe UI;}}

{\colortbl ;\red0\green0lue0;}

\viewkind4\uc1\pard\fi180\li90\cf1\f0\fs20 test\par

test\par

one\par

two\par

three\par

\cf0\par

}

If I added anything below that final curly bracket in Windows, it adds it to the scene. If I had anything below it in Android, it doesn't show. Does show in Android if I added above the }. I guess that is the ending character, as another } has been added? You can tell I've never been a programmer! So the scene now shows like this:

\cf0\par

\}\par

Added below markup in windows \par

Added this line above last curly bracket in android \par

}

In Windows yWriter in the project's folder it shows the two yWriter6 projects with the same name - one is the yw5 project, which I would say does not get updated if you edit the yw6 file?

Thanks

Nick

[Simon Haynes]

Can you email me the project yw6 file offlist? It looks like the new beta 6.0.0.7 is storing RTF in the project instead of the new markup format.

Cheers
Simon

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[Simon Haynes]

Don't worry about sending it - one of mine is doing the same thing.

Will check, fix and release 6.0.0.8 shortly.

[Simon Haynes]

Uploading 6.0.0.8 now - if you reload the affected project on windows and save it out again, you won't get the rtf codes in the Android version any more.

(yWriter PC translates everything to RTF on load, and back to markup on save. That's how I managed to graft on the new yw6 project format without rewriting everything else within the program.)

By the way, soon I'll add the option to edit ywriter yw6 scenes with external editors - it'll just write the scene out to a temporary RTF, you edit that with the external editor, and when you're done you notify ywriter and it will re-import that temporary rtf.

Cheers
Simon
--
Spacejock Software: http://www.spacejock.com
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/spacejock

[Nick Pearce]

Thanks Simon - that's working a treat now :-) :-)

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Regards

Nick

[Simon Haynes]

Nick Pearce wrote:

> Thanks Simon - that's working a treat now :-) :-)
>

Thanks for that

I knew there'd be a few teething problems with the yw6 format - no wonder I avoided adding it for so long ...

[Elizabeth Bell]

Simon, I went out and bought the program and it shows that it was downloaded to both my phone and my tablet. Only problem is that it never showed up on either. I guess I'll just have to wait for the final one and try then.
Thanks for all you do. Beth Bell

[Simon Haynes]

If you've bought and installed it, the yWriter icon will be somewhere in the list of apps on the phone/tablet. (It won't show on the main screen by default, you need to go into your apps and drag it on there.)

Cheers
Simon
--
Spacejock Software: http://www.spacejock.com
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/spacejock

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[Nickyp]

Hi Simon,

I'm still having an issue where the rtf codes are displaying in the Android app after I copy an existing project to a fresh folder (noticed after I was having the save issues where I wasn't clicking the Retry button!).

The first time I open the project from its new folder in Google Drive on Android, it shows the rtf codes. Even if I save and close and reopen it still does this. I open the project in Windows, save, close, reopen in Android, and the rtf codes are gone.

Is this something I'm doing wrong? :-)

[Rob Ruxton]

Hi Simon,

Thanks for the Android version!

I was just thinking about something to enable me to write via a browser, when I thought to check your website, and I'm glad I did. Now I don't have to bother, I can use the Android version.

My workplace has blocked just about every site under the sun (including yours - it's automatic so don't take it personally) which makes it really hard to write during lunch break. Even GD and USBs are verboten. 

Once I add my projects to GD, I'll check it all out.

Cheers,

Rob.