Sable Markdown Writer 1.0.0-beta.3

Sable Markdown Writer 1.0.0-beta.3 is the third beta on the way to 1.0. It brings your Scrivener projects into Sable, opens a Fiction Project from anywhere on your Mac, adds two writing themes, and keeps your place when you switch between Reading Mode and editing. Betas go only to people who turned on Get beta updates in Settings → General; everyone else stays on 0.10.1 until a stable release.

• Bring a book over from Scrivener. File → Import Scrivener Project… reads a Scrivener 3 or Scrivener 2 project (.scriv) and makes a new Fiction Project from it. Before anything is written, a preview shows what was found ("42 scenes in 12 chapters, 9 characters, 3 locations") and lets you choose where each top-level binder item goes: Manuscript, Characters, Locations, World, Notes, or Don't Import. Each chapter folder becomes one chapter file, its scenes divided by * * * in binder order. Character and location sheets become cards. Synopses, statuses, labels, and keywords are kept at the top of each file, and document notes are kept as notes in the text, which Reading Mode and exports leave out. Sable only reads the Scrivener project and never changes it.
• What can't become Markdown is copied, and listed. Pictures go to Images, and PDFs, web pages, and other files go to Notes, as they are. Import Report.md in the new project lists them, along with anything missing, unreadable, or left out. Pictures pasted into a document's text stay behind in the Scrivener project.
• Open a Fiction Project from anywhere. File → Open Fiction Project… (⇧⌘O) opens a project that lives outside your writing folder. The desk shows it for the session, your saved writing folder doesn't change, and Back to it is one click away. A folder that isn't a project yet can become one on the way in; nothing in it is moved or changed.
• Recent Projects. The desk's Files tab has a Recent Projects section under the file list, with the last eight Fiction Projects you opened, wherever they live. It stays folded until you click it. File → Open Recent Project shows the same list.
• Export from another folder. In a Fiction Project's Export sheet, a menu beside Chapters chooses where the chapters come from: Manuscript, as before, or another folder of the project, for a second book or an older draft.
• Two new writing themes: Starfall and Mist. Starfall is a deep-blue dark theme with faint motes that fall slowly; they have their own switch and stop under Reduce Motion. Mist is a cool grey-blue light theme. Both are in Writing Style.

Fixed

• Switching between Reading Mode and editing lost your place, sometimes by several paragraphs. The paragraph at the top of the window now stays at the top in both directions, in the manuscript and in the parallel pane. Your caret stays where it was unless you click on the reading page.

Good to know

• Words in the notes the Scrivener import keeps above each scene are counted in word counts for now, so an imported book can read a little longer than it is.
• Scrivener footnotes, comments, and inline annotations can come through as stray marks; the import report says when a document has them.
• Scrivener 2 projects are read from public descriptions of that older format and are less tested. The import report says so, and it's worth comparing the result against the original.

Release notes written by Claude Code.

Community build: not notarized by Apple. On first launch, macOS may require approval in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway. Update downloads are verified with Sable Markdown Writer’s Sparkle signing key.

Sable Markdown Writer 1.0.0-beta.2

Sable Markdown Writer 1.0.0-beta.2 is the second beta on the way to 1.0. It adds a sample project to look around in, dimmed text that is easier to read in every theme, VoiceOver and keyboard support throughout, and a way to report a bug from the Help menu. Betas go only to people who turned on Get beta updates in Settings → General; everyone else stays on 0.10.1 until a stable release.

• A sample project to look around in. First launch now offers Explore a Sample Project beside choosing a folder, and Help → Open Sample Project opens it any time. It's Northwatch, a short finished story: three chapters with scene tags, four character cards (Mara has aliases and a portrait), two locations, a world note, a Concept note, an Outline for the Story Timeline, a note to yourself, and a snapshot to compare. Sable copies it into your Documents folder as Sable Sample Project (with a number added if that name is taken) and opens the first chapter, so change anything you like. Your writing folder doesn't change, nothing already in Documents is touched, and asking again opens your copy as you left it.
• Dimmed text you can actually read. Sable measured every theme's text against accessibility contrast guidelines and found that dimmed Markdown symbols, notes, quotes, scene-break lines, and the dimming in Paragraph Focus were too faint, especially on the dark themes. They are now brighter, and notes, quotes, and scene breaks follow the theme instead of a system gray. A few name and sentence colors on the light themes are slightly darker. The far edge of Paragraph Focus still fades almost to nothing; that's what it's for.
• Works with VoiceOver and the keyboard. Every control in the toolbar, writing desk, cards, Settings, Export, Revisions, Find & Replace, and Story Timeline now has a spoken name, and the desk, cards, Story Timeline, and writing record read as short summaries. Buttons that only appear when you hover are VoiceOver actions too. Things you could only drag now have keyboard equivalents: Customize Tools (select a tool, then ⌥↑ or ⌥↓) and the Manuscript tab (↑ and ↓ to choose a chapter, ⌥↑ and ⌥↓ to move it). A card's picture frame moves with the arrow keys, and VoiceOver can pin, close, move, and resize a card without dragging. Escape closes every sheet and popover. With VoiceOver or Keyboard navigation on, the toolbar stays in view instead of hiding.
• Respects your display settings. Increase Contrast brightens dimmed text, firms up outlines, and gives you a flat page. Reduce Transparency makes the toolbar, cards, and scene tags solid. Reduce Motion now also stops the toolbar and desk sliding and the card and tooltip animations, as well as particles and the name shimmer.
• Help → Report a Bug… and Send Feedback or Ideas. Report a Bug opens a small window for what happened and the steps to reproduce. A checkbox, on by default, adds your Sable version, macOS version, and Mac model, with the exact values shown beneath it. Open in GitHub opens your browser to a bug report with your words filled in; Sable sends nothing itself, and you read the report on GitHub before deciding to submit it. If Sable closed unexpectedly in the last seven days, Show Latest Crash Report displays that report for you to read and copy. Sable doesn't open it until you click, and never attaches it. Send Feedback or Ideas opens Sable's GitHub Discussions.

Fixed

• With VoiceOver, every toolbar button said "Off", Bold included. Only the tools that switch on and off report On or Off now.
• The points on the Story Timeline didn't respond to the keyboard or VoiceOver. Each is now a real button, read as its chapter and beat.
• The first-launch folder sheet couldn't be closed with Escape. It has a Not Now button now; Sable asks again next time.
• Customize Tools could only be reordered by dragging.

Release notes written by Claude Code.

Community build: not notarized by Apple. On first launch, macOS may require approval in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway. Update downloads are verified with Sable Markdown Writer’s Sparkle signing key.

Sable Markdown Writer 1.0.0-beta.1

Sable Markdown Writer 1.0.0-beta.1 is the first beta on the way to 1.0. It lets you open any Markdown file without setting up a writing folder, lays out your exports the way you choose, and adds an optional writing goal with a deadline. Betas go only to people who turned on Get beta updates in Settings → General; everyone else stays on 0.10.1 until a stable release.

• Open any Markdown file, with or without a writing folder. A writing folder is now optional. First launch offers Just Open a File beside choosing a folder, and a file opened from Finder skips setup altogether. With no writing folder, the writing desk shows the open file's own folder. If you do have a writing folder and open a file from somewhere else, the desk stays on your folder and adds one quiet line with Show Folder, which shows the file's folder for now, with a Back to link. Your saved writing folder never changes. Saving, the Trash notice with Put Back, and snapshots all work on the open file wherever it lives. Settings → General → Writing folder chooses a folder later or stops using one; Sable only forgets the folder, and no file is touched.
• Make Sable your default for Markdown, only if you choose. Settings → General → Markdown files shows which app opens Markdown now and has Make Sable the Default for Markdown; macOS asks you to confirm. Plain text (.txt) has its own button. Sable never changes either by itself.
• A Recent tab, if you want one. Turn on Recent tab in Settings → General → Writing desk and the desk gains a Recent tab listing the files you've had open, newest first, from any folder. It's off by default, records only while it's on, and stays on your Mac. Turning it off forgets the list, and Clear Recent Files empties it any time.
• More Markdown file types. .mdown, .mkd, .mkdn, and .mdwn now count as Markdown in the writing desk, search, import, and the Open panel. File → Open Markdown File… adds to Open Recent, and dropping a Markdown or text file on the page opens it.
• Choose how an export is laid out. The Export sheet has a new Layout section. Headings can sit on the left or centered, the title page can be on or off and left or centered, and you pick the font, the size, single, 1.5, or double line spacing, the margins, and whether pages show numbers and a running header. The Manuscript and Book looks are still there as starting points; picking one fills in its usual layout, and Reset goes back to it. PDF and Word follow every choice, and EPUB follows the heading and title page alignment. Each Fiction Project remembers its own layout, and File → Export This Document… remembers one for single documents, which can now have a title page too.
• Two changes to the Book look. It now uses Palatino in both the PDF and the Word file (the PDF used Charter before, which most Windows computers don't have), and single line spacing with 1-inch margins, so a Book PDF is a little tighter than before.
• A goal with a deadline, only if you want one. For a challenge like 50,000 words in November, turn on Track a goal with a deadline in Settings → General, then pick the November: 50,000 words preset or Custom… with your own word count and dates. Settings shows your words so far, where an even pace would have you today, what today needs for the goal to finish on time, and the days left, charted against a dashed pace line. If you're under pace, Sable says so in plain numbers ("1,900 a day finishes on time"). There are no streaks, badges, or notifications, and like the writing record it counts only words you add. A small "1,204 / 1,667 today" can sit beside the session goal in the footer if you turn on Show today's share in the footer. With the switch off, nothing about goals appears anywhere, and a goal you set earlier is kept. Clear Goal keeps your writing record, and clearing the record keeps your goal. Both stay on this Mac.

Fixed

• With a Fiction Project showing in the writing desk and a file from somewhere else open, Revision History and Save Snapshot used the project's chapters. The file you have open now decides what a snapshot covers, and name highlights follow the open file too.
• A long title on the PDF title page ran off the page. It now wraps within the margins.
• Dropping a Markdown or text file on the page pasted its path into your text. It now opens the file.
• File → Open Markdown File… didn't add the file to Open Recent. It does now.

Release notes written by Claude Code.

Community build: not notarized by Apple. On first launch, macOS may require approval in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway. Update downloads are verified with Sable Markdown Writer’s Sparkle signing key.

Sable Markdown Writer 0.10.1

Sable Markdown Writer 0.10.1 gives Sable its new sleeping-curl icon, keeps a file open when you rename or move it, and lets you make folders inside folders without leaving the writing desk.

• A new icon. The Dock, Finder, and About panel now show the sable asleep, curled nose to tail, matching the website. It's sized to macOS's icon grid, so it sits at the same size as your other apps, and the small versions in lists use a simpler black-and-white mark so the curl stays readable. macOS remembers old icons; if the previous one lingers, quit Sable and run killall Dock Finder in Terminal.
• Rename or move an open file, and it stays open. In the writing desk, renaming or moving a file that's open on the page, beside your draft, or as a card now carries it along, and your next save goes to the new name. Renames and moves you make in Finder are followed the same way. Before, Sable said the file had been deleted. The note still appears when a file really is deleted or moved to the Trash.
• New folders, at any depth. Hover a folder in the writing desk and click its +. It's now a small menu with New Markdown File and New Folder, and a folder that holds chapters, characters, or the like lists its own kind of item first. A new folder appears as "Untitled Folder" with its name ready to type, as in Finder. If the name you type is already taken, Sable says so and leaves the folder as it was. Control-clicking a folder, including a Fiction Project, offers New Folder too. While you're searching or filtering there's no list to type a name in, so Sable asks in a small window instead.
• Drag from anywhere on a row. In the writing desk's file list and the Manuscript tab, pressing anywhere on a row (icon, name, padding, or word count) now starts a drag. Before, only part of a row did.
• Updates come from Sable's new GitHub address. Sable's home on GitHub is now ExxtraV/Sable-Markdown-Suite, and this version checks for updates there. Earlier versions reach it automatically, so there's nothing to do.

Fixed

• A file you had switched to in the writing desk lost track of itself when renamed, and could follow a file you'd had open before if that one was moved, so your next save could go to the wrong file.
• Double-clicking a folder opened it and then closed it again. Now it opens.
• Renaming or moving the file open beside your draft is no longer blocked.

Release notes written by Claude Code.

Community build: not notarized by Apple. On first launch, macOS may require approval in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway. Update downloads are verified with Sable Markdown Writer’s Sparkle signing key.

Sable Markdown Writer 0.10.0

Sable Markdown Writer 0.10.0 keeps typing instant in long manuscripts, makes zooming smooth, and adds safeguards in every place Sable writes, moves, or deletes your files. There's also an optional beta update channel.

• Instant typing, however long the file. A whole novel in one file no longer makes the page lag. Sable now restyles only the lines you're editing, so a keystroke takes about the same time at 10,000 words as at 100,000. In a 100,000-word file it went from about 430 ms to about 5 ms, and with sentence colors, Paragraph Focus, smart typography, and centered typing all on, from about 1.8 seconds to about 24 ms. The page looks exactly as before. One small difference: the word count and cuts in the status bar now catch up when you pause, within a third of a second, instead of on every letter.
• Smooth pinch zoom. Pinching the trackpad now scales the page smoothly under your fingers, then settles at the new size when you let go, with the line under the pointer still under it. Before, a pinch in a long manuscript stuttered.
• Zoom with ⌘ and a mouse wheel. Hold ⌘ and turn a mouse's scroll wheel over the page: away from you zooms in, toward you zooms out, 5% per notch, between 65% and 200%. It works in Reading Mode and in a file open beside your draft, too. Trackpads keep scrolling as before; pinch zooms there.
• Faster theme and font changes. Changing the theme, font, size, zoom, or colors in a long manuscript takes well under half as long as it did, because Sable repaints from what it already knows about your text instead of reading all of it again.
• Your files, better protected. An audit of every place Sable writes, moves, or deletes files led to these safeguards. The Sable Guide's new section, "How Sable protects your files," has the details.
  • Find & Replace in Project won't change anything unless its safety snapshot is saved first. If a replacement stops partway, it puts back the files it already changed.
  • Undo Replace won't erase newer words. It puts back only files that still read exactly as the replacement left them, and tells you which ones it left alone.
  • The file beside your draft saves your latest words before Find & Replace or a restore touches it. If that file changes somewhere else while you have edits in it, Sable stops and asks: Keep Mine or Use Saved File. The other version goes to the Trash as a copy.
  • Export can't be saved over the chapters it's exporting, over a file open in Sable, or into your Manuscript folder. A file it replaces goes to the Trash as a copy first.
  • Put Back. If a file you have open is moved to the Trash or deleted outside Sable, a quiet note appears under the page (or in the side pane). Put Back returns a trashed file to its folder, Save Again writes a deleted one back, and Save As… keeps it somewhere else.
• Beta updates, if you want them. Settings → General has a new Get beta updates checkbox, off by default. Turn it on to receive early builds as they're published; they may be rougher than stable releases. Leave it off and you only ever see stable ones.

Fixed

• Sable no longer keeps saving an open file into the Trash, without a word, after the file was moved there.
• The writing desk no longer moves a file to the Trash while it's open in another window.
• A change made to a file just as you switched to it could be overwritten by the next save. Now Sable asks first.
• Restoring a large draft from Revision History no longer freezes the window. If a restore stops partway, Sable says how many files were restored and where the safety snapshot is.
• Import no longer replaces a file that appears with the same name at the same moment.

Release notes written by Claude Code.

Community build: not notarized by Apple. On first launch, macOS may require approval in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway. Update downloads are verified with Sable Markdown Writer’s Sparkle signing key.