Scrivener Was Built in 2007. It Shows.
The binder, the compile system, the focus mode: those all stay. What's new is a real worldbuilding module, live entity highlighting in the prose, consistency checking that runs on save, and a UI that doesn't look like it survived three versions of macOS by accident.
Scrivener Is a Legend. Credit Where It's Due.
Scrivener got long-form fiction software right when nobody else was trying. The corkboard, the binder, the compile system, the ability to pull a manuscript apart and restructure it by dragging scenes around. Fifteen years of Literature & Latte work went into that, and it shows. Most serious authors have touched it at some point. Many still swear by it. Fair enough.
Scrivener was designed before semantic search was a thing, though. Before live entity highlighting. Before the kind of database-driven worldbuilding that fantasy and sci-fi authors now need to actually finish a series. The UI hasn't meaningfully changed in a decade. Worldbuilding still lives in loose text files you have to remember to keep updated. There's no real-time consistency check running on the prose, and nothing cross-references the manuscript against your lore.
Ishvana is the app you'd build if you started over today with the same respect for long-form structure, and kept going past where Scrivener had to stop.
Side by Side
Scrivener covers the writing and compile workflow well. Ishvana covers that same ground, plus the worldbuilding, consistency checking, and publishing pipeline a modern long-form project actually needs.
Scrivener
- Binder with folder hierarchy
- Corkboard with scene cards
- Compile to DOCX, PDF, ePub
- Research folder for notes
- Project statistics and word targets
- Outliner view
- Full-screen composition mode
- No entity highlighting in prose
- No lore database with relationships
- No character knowledge tracking
- No consistency checking
- No interactive maps
- No timeline with fantasy calendars
- UI largely unchanged since ~2011
Ishvana
- Document library with folder hierarchy
- Seven-level outline (Series → Beat)
- Compile with 6 publishing presets
- Full research browser with bookmarks
- Analytics with streaks and benchmarks
- Outline view with POV and word counts
- Focus and typewriter modes
- Inline entity highlighting
- Legendry with 12 entry types and relationship graphs
- Character Knowledge matrix
- Lorekeeper consistency checks on save
- Interactive maps linked to Legendry
- Timeline Studio with custom calendars
- Modern UI built with TipTap v3 and Vue 3
The Scrivener Ideas Worth Keeping
Ishvana's structural philosophy owes a lot to Scrivener. Here's what got carried forward, and why.
- Hierarchical Document Library
- Folders inside folders, drag-and-drop between chapters, status badges per document, five status states, semantic search layered on top. The binder pattern, evolved rather than replaced.
- Compile System
- DOCX, PDF, and ePub with five book templates and six platform presets for KDP, IngramSpark, and friends. Per-document include/exclude toggles. Front matter, back matter, and lore appendices handled as first-class parts of the book, not afterthoughts.
- Project Statistics
- Live word count and reading time per document and per project. Writing streaks, session tracking, and word count goals with progress bars you don't have to configure to understand.
- Focus Modes
- Composition mode strips the UI down to nothing but the prose. Typewriter mode locks the active line to the center of the screen for the long drafting sessions where you just need the words to keep landing.
Drag-and-drop document management with multi-level hierarchy and status tracking. The binder pattern, modernized.
Bringing Your Scrivener Project Across
If you've been living in Scrivener for years, your manuscript is a .scriv bundle of individual RTF files. Ishvana imports from DOCX, Markdown, PDF, HTML, and plain text through a Pandoc pipeline. Your original Scrivener project isn't touched in the process, so you can try Ishvana without having to burn the bridge first.
- Compile your Scrivener project to DOCX or Markdown
- Import into Ishvana as a new project
- Ishvana preserves your document hierarchy as folders
- Run entity extraction to build an initial Legendry from the prose
- Use Lorekeeper to audit consistency across everything you've written so far
Most authors are up and running in under an hour. The Legendry that gets built out of your existing prose becomes the foundation for everything you write after.
$99, Once. Same Pricing Model as Scrivener.
Scrivener is still a one-time purchase, and that's genuinely one of the best things about it. Ishvana follows the same model. One price, no subscription, permanent ownership. Existing owners get a discount on future major versions, same as Scrivener.
You already know the pricing works. You're not being asked to switch from a one-time purchase to a subscription. You're moving to the next generation of the same model you've been paying for since 2011.
Questions From Scrivener Users
Does Ishvana have a corkboard view?
Not a literal corkboard, but the outline view serves the same purpose with more density. Scene cards with summaries, POV, status, and word counts. You can drag scenes between chapters and reorder at any level of the hierarchy.
Can I still compile to MOBI or ePub?
Yes to ePub. DOCX, PDF, and ePub are all supported via Pandoc. MOBI has been deprecated by Amazon in favor of ePub, which is what all modern KDP uploads use.
I have a 10-year Scrivener habit. Will Ishvana feel different?
Yes, honestly. The core concepts translate directly (library, compile, outline, focus mode), but the UI is more modern and the entity highlighting changes how you write. Most long-time Scrivener users adapt in a few days and then don't want to go back.
Does Ishvana run on macOS?
No. Ishvana is Windows-only (Windows 10 and 11, 64-bit). Scrivener runs on both, so if you're Mac-only, Scrivener remains your best option today.
What about iOS?
Not planned. Ishvana is a desktop-focused studio. If you need to write on the go, you can edit your manuscripts in any DOCX-compatible app and resync when you're back at your desk.
Can I use Ishvana alongside Scrivener during migration?
Yes. Your Scrivener project doesn't go anywhere. Import into Ishvana, try it for the 14-day guarantee window, and you still have your original .scriv project as backup. No lock-in, no destructive migration.