Why I Ditched Scrivener (Gasp!) and Switched to Ulysses for All My Writing

By a Slightly Neurotic, Always-Writing Novelist with Too Many Backups

Let’s just rip off the Band-Aid: I switched to Ulysses. Yeah. I know. Believe me, I still feel the tiniest pang of guilt every time I open the app. It’s like cheating on a long-term partner who supported you through all the ugly drafts and caffeine-fueled midnight writing binges.

Because here’s the thing: I love Scrivener. Like, genuinely. It’s brilliant. It’s been the Swiss Army knife of my writing life for years. Outlining, corkboards, character folders, split-screen views, color-coded labels—Scrivener is the Hermione Granger of writing apps. Super smart, packed with features, and maybe a little intimidating when you first meet her.

But (and this is a big, thudding but)… it broke my heart one too many times. Let me explain.

Let’s Talk Dropbox Syncing, Shall We?

So I like to write on my MacBook in the morning, and then pick up the draft later on my iPad when I’m curled up on the couch pretending I don’t have laundry to fold. And that’s where the kludge parade begins.

Syncing Scrivener through Dropbox is like trying to juggle flaming swords while blindfolded on a moving train. Technically possible, but something’s gonna catch fire.

There was that one time—and I’m still not over this—when I opened a file on my iPad and it was completely empty. Blank. Nada. Zip. Like it had been wiped clean by some digital poltergeist. If my neighbors heard a howl of despair that afternoon, yes, that was me.

Thankfully, I had a recent backup because I’m the sort of person who backs up backups of backups (trauma will do that to a person), but that was my “never again” moment. I promised myself I would never trust that syncing setup again with my precious, weird little ghost-detective mystery novels.

Enter Ulysses: The Calm, Organized Sibling

So, I’d heard whispers about Ulysses before—mostly from other minimalist-loving, aesthetically-pleased writers who appreciate clean interfaces and things that just work. But I figured it couldn’t handle something like novel writing. Like full-on, 75k+ words, multiple-point-of-view, murder-in-a-locked-room novels.

I was wrong.

Ulysses is, in a word, buttery. (Yes, I’m using food metaphors now.) It’s smooth. It syncs like magic across my Mac, iPad, and iPhone without any Dropbox nonsense. I can literally start writing a scene while waiting in line at Trader Joe’s and finish it later on my desktop while avoiding emails. It just works. Every. Time.

Why Ulysses Works So Well for Me

• iCloud Syncing That Doesn’t Betray You
  The syncing is flawless. I mean actually flawless. It uses iCloud, so the whole Dropbox workaround is gone. I no longer live in fear of opening an empty document. That alone was worth the switch.
• Distraction-Free Interface
  Ulysses feels like a meditation app for your words. It’s clean. Beautiful. You open it and just… write. No clutter. No dozen panels. Just you and the page. (And maybe some lo-fi jazz humming in the background.)
• Markdown-Based, but Friendly
  Even if Markdown scares you a little (hi, it did me too), Ulysses makes it completely unintimidating. Want italics? Type an asterisk. Done. Formatting is simple and doesn’t get in your way.
• Folders and Goals and Filters—Oh My
  You can set word count goals, tag scenes, organize chapters, and even mark things as “To Do” or “Needs Revision” without digging through a billion menus. It’s smart, sleek, and ridiculously intuitive.
• Exporting Is a Dream
  You can export to DOCX, PDF, EPUB, HTML—whatever you want. I use it to spit out perfect manuscript drafts and ebooks for beta readers and newsletter giveaways. Ulysses doesn’t judge my formatting choices. Bless it.
• It Feels Like a Writing Companion, Not a Project Manager
  Scrivener is like your intense writing professor who needs to know the exact structure of your story before you even write Chapter One. Ulysses is like your chill writer friend who hands you coffee and says, “Just write it. We’ll figure it out together.”

So… Who Is Ulysses Not For?

If you’re the kind of writer who wants to build a 17-layer outline with color-coded plot arcs and character bios that span 40 pages, Ulysses might feel a little too minimalist. It doesn’t have corkboards or nested folders within folders within folders. There’s no “Inspector” panel lovingly judging your scene summaries.

But if you want seamless syncing, a calm interface, and a writing experience that lets your words breathe without interruption… Ulysses is basically your new bestie.

Random True Fact

The name “Ulysses” is a nod to James Joyce’s famously dense novel—which, incidentally, clocks in at over 265,000 words and takes place in a single day. Not saying you have to write that kind of monster… but Ulysses could probably handle it. 

So yeah, that’s the story of why I broke up with Scrivener (with love and gratitude) and ran off into the minimalist sunset with Ulysses. If you’re a Mac/iPad user who writes across multiple devices and has trust issues with syncing, give Ulysses a try. It might just restore your writing sanity.

Stay weird and keep writing,

P.S. Still backing up everything. I may have changed apps, but I’m not reckless.