Editorial is a Windows manuscript editor and typesetting
tool for writers and publishers.
Write in movable blocks, edit and explore alternative
versions of your paragraphs without losing the good
ones.
When you're ready, publish a book-quality PDF or EPUB
without leaving the app.
Edit and
Publish
without losing
your mind
Windows 10/11
Editorial helps you keep all the
possibilities visible until you are ready to publish.
THE GOOD KIND OF WRITER’S BLOCK
STRUCTURED MANUSCRIPT, NOT ONE LONG FILE
See the pieces. Shape the whole.
Editorial turns paragraphs, scenes, notes, images, summaries, and reference material into editable blocks.
The manuscript becomes something you can inspect and reshape in small chunks without losing its continuity.
BUT WHY, WHY, WHY?
I built this wondrous tool for myself
because I kept repeating the same stupid thing
I would take some perfectly good paragraph and rewrite it into what was clearly a superior version, only to awake the next morning with
the awful certainty that the "improved" version was actually horrendous compared to the original, which no longer existed.
And saving draft_v7_FINAL_FINAL.docx is not revision control. At best, it is an insanity defense against the unbearable pain of knowing you
are going to make the same idiotic mistake again and again and again.
So I wrote this editor that does exactly what I wanted – where rewriting a paragraph means leaving the original right there in front of your
face, silently laughing at you with contemptuous glee, anticipating with dreadful certainty the moment when you realize that the more you
do something, the worse it will be.
And that's The Idea! Everything else you see here, is merely an improvement to make the original idea even better!
AND HERE WE ARE
How a Simple Idea Got Completely Out of Hand
Since I am also my own best customer, I started adding all the
things I ever wanted a software like this to have.
If I was going to keep versions of every paragraph, then naturally
I needed a way to see exactly what had changed. So came the
diff tools. Then visual merging. Then a proper spell checker. Now
we have an entire vector editing suite because I was too lazy to
be bothered with an external image editor.
And then came the inevitable question: if I can write and edit the
entire thing in Editorial, why should I have to leave Editorial to
publish it? So I added PDF, DOCX and EPUB exports.
AI WITHOUT SURRENDERING YOUR MANUSCRIPT
AI Suggestions are just that
- suggestions
Connect Editorial to a compatible language-model service when you want another
angle: A cloud provider with your own API key, or a local engine such as LM Studio,
Ollama, or llama.cpp. Rewrites and summaries return as alternatives rather than
silently replacing your text. The model sees only block fragments, not your whole
manuscript.
Release Notes
Because we use Editorial to write all our manuals, it evolves continuously through very frequent updates focused on long-form editing,
book-style typography, manuscript navigation, richer import and export options, and transparent AI- assisted workflows.
Version 2.2 (10/26/2026)
Editorial 2.2 turns the manuscript into a professional book. Chapters are now real structure, every export opens a house style dialog with
a live preview, and the PDF is set like a printed book, with chapter openings, drop caps, small-caps lead-ins and proper scene breaks. The
release also brings consistent US/UK quote marks across the whole book, a printable editor's copy, AI drawing in the Image Editor and a
reorganised and better looking workspace. PDF can embed fonts and export images in 300ppi required for physicals publications.
Version 2.1 (10/15/2026)
•
Book-quality PDF typesetting.
PDF export now sets text with the Knuth-Plass line-breaking method used by professional typesetting, measured with the real font
widths. Justified paragraphs get even spacing with far fewer rivers and loose lines. Fonts are embedded in the PDF. Choose the body
typeface per document and turn justification on or off in the Publish dialog.
•
Page Setup.
The PDF page is no longer a fixed A4 sheet. Pick a trim size from US and European book presets (Prose and Technical), or set your own.
You also control facing or single-sided pages, the inside and outside margins, body size and line spacing.
•
Running heads and page numbers.
Add page numbers at the foot or at the head's outside edge, and running heads with the author, the book title, the chapter title, or
"Author — Title". Front matter can be numbered in roman numerals, with the main text starting again at 1 at the first chapter. Title
pages and chapter openings stay clean.
•
Professional page breaks.
Widow and orphan control: a paragraph that breaks across a page keeps at least two lines on each side. Headings are never left
stranded at the bottom of a page. Code blocks are kept together where that doesn't leave a large gap.
•
Reading Mode matches the PDF.
Reading Mode now breaks lines exactly where the exported PDF does, measured from the document's own page setup. A new View ›
Reading Layout setting switches between the PDF page and an EPUB-style reflowing column.
•
Animated version changes.
When you switch versions, copy an LLM result to the live version, merge, or undo, the paragraph's words slide to their new places.
Removed words fade out, and new words fade in highlighted.
•
Fixes. EPUB tables of contents no longer list structural labels such as "Page" or "chapter".
Version 2.0 (9/16/2026)
•
Offline Thesaurus
Now you can see synonyms without even being online. This includes our famous thematic dictionaries from Novel Forge and a full
Thesaurus panel where you can directly see syninyms by just clicking on a word.
•
Word Explorer
It shows you a galaxy of connected words eir relationship.
•
Full Roundtrip for external editing with import merge. You can export your project for external editing in md format, then re-
import it later that will merge the changes to your project.
Version 1.8 (9/8/2026)
•
House Styles and Publishing
Prose and Technical House Styles now use consistent paragraph spacing and indentation across the editor, Reading Mode, DOCX, PDF,
and EPUB according to publishing rule book.
Reading Mode more closely reflects the finished publication.
Publishing rules for paragraph openings, lists, scene breaks, and illuminated initials have been refined for more professional results.
•
New Image Block Editor
Add editable rectangles, ellipses, arrows, text, lines, and freehand drawings. Use scripted Auto Shapes for complex object.
Image edits remain fully editable and participate in the document’s Undo and Redo history.
•
E-ink preparation. If you need images, you can now see how your color images look on e-ink B/W screen
Version 1.6 (8/3/2026)
•
House Style: Prose or Technical. A new top-level House Style menu switches the entire document between Prose (indented) and
Technical (spaced) paragraph presentation. The choice applies consistently to the Visual block view, Reading Mode, DOCX export, and
PDF export.
•
Reading Mode. The new book-style view removes block cards and presents the manuscript in a centered reading column. Click any
paragraph to select and edit its underlying block without leaving the reading page.
•
Illuminated drop caps. Prose documents can add ornamental initials to eligible chapter openings. Reading Mode uses a compact two-
line cap; PDF export uses a classical three-line black-on-white treatment designed for print.
•
Chapter Outline. A discreet handle on the left edge opens a chapter-level overlay without permanently taking screen space. Outione
recognizes both chapter labels and H1 headings, shows a preview plus word, block, and image counts, and highlights the chapter
containing your current selection.
•
Jump or reorder by chapter. Click a Chapter Outline card to jump to it, or drag the card to move the complete chapter as one
undoable operation.
•
Direct DOCX and EPUB import. File → More Import → DOC Files imports Word documents directly into Editorial blocks, including
headings, Markdown-compatible structure, and supported embedded images. EPUB books can now be imported in spine order with
headings, emphasis, and supported images preserved.
•
Prompt Log. View → Prompt Log shows the exact messages sent by Rewrite, Summary, Chat, Editorial Agent, Script Agent, and
connection tests, together with the model, an approximate token count, and the final outcome. It is now much easier to verify whether
lore, summaries, system prompts, or nearby blocks actually reached the model.
•
Improved connection management. Save, rename, delete, test, and switch among named LLM server configurations. Fetch and filter
a server's model list instead of entering every model name manually.
•
Replace in Blocks. Edit → Replace searches the selected block or the entire document, with Match Case and Whole Word options.
•
Visual Markdown tables. GFM-style pipe tables render as theme-aware tables in Visual mode, with a bold header, grid, alignment,
and wrapped cell text.
•
Consistent paragraph export. Paragraph boundaries inside a block are no longer joined into a single run-on paragraph during DOCX
EPUB or PDF export. Title-page lines also remain separate, matching the structure shown in Editorial.
•
EPUB and PDF Publish option with Metadata.
Version 1.5 (7/4/2026)
•
Interactive Merge: The new Interactive Merge view compares your block against the model's suggestion as a two-line chip display: click
any chip to accept or reject that change, or take whole rewritten sentences in one click.
•
Merge two versions of a block. The same tool works between a block's own versions via the new Merge Versions button — weave the
best sentences of two drafts into one and save the result over the current version or as a new one. A color-coded selector steps
through the block's other versions.
•
Blocks with multiple versions: Split and join now work on any text block, no longer only on single-version blocks. Splitting maps your
chosen split point into every version by sentence alignment; joining combines versions slot by slot.
•
Simple Chat turns the right pane into a plain conversation with your configured LLM - for questions, brainstorming, and research that
shouldn't touch the manuscript.
•
Markdown round trip with images (More Export → Export MD file with images) writes your manuscript as markdown plus every Image
block as a PNG in a <name>_images folder, referenced from the text. Image effects are baked into the exported pixels. More Import →
MD Files with Images re-imports the markdown and rebuilds the Image blocks — edit your text in any external editor and come back
without losing the images.
•
File safety: Rotating backups on every save (.bak1–.bak3 next to your file), timed autosave to a sidecar file, and crash recovery that
offers your latest unsaved changes on the next open. Configure both under Settings → Safety Settings.
•
Other fixes and small additions
Version 1.1 (5/1/2026)
•
Reworked text import and auto-splitting into a more robust version that preserves markdown structure. (goal is more reliable
markdown round trip - like exporting in markdown, then importing it again to editorial)
•
Markdown headings, lists, tables, code blocks, blockquotes, and dividers are now kept as structural blocks instead of being merged into
surrounding text.
•
Large prose and dialogue blocks are split more evenly at natural line or sentence boundaries.
•
Short prose fragments are merged more intelligently, while dialogue stays separate from narration.
•
Improved chapter-heading detection to reduce false positives such as normal sentences starting with “Part” or “Book”.
•
Added Settings > Text Chunking controls for merge length, maximum block length, heading demotion, and prose chapter detection.
•
Fixed markdown tables being split across multiple blocks during import.
ILLUSTRATIONS TOO
A vector editor inside your document
Need a manual with screenshots and arrows, or a guide with
callouts? Edit the image right inside the block instead of rebuilding a
PNG every time a label is wrong. One genuinely novel feature:
parametric vector shapes built by a script: arrows, cogs, speech
bubbles, even a calendar.
•
Rectangles, ellipses, arrows, lines, text, and freehand.
•
Scripted Auto Shapes for complex, reusable objects.
•
Every edit stays editable and joins Undo/Redo.
•
E-ink preparation to preview color images on a B/W screen.
At that point, what started as a slightly obsessive solution to my inability to trust my own revisions had somehow turned into a small
publishing suite. And I'm not stopping there.
Because giving a Cranky software developer free rein is how a reasonable idea gets completely out of hand.
Offline Thesaurus
(and not just one)
Remember when things were in the software instead of needing an
internet connection for everything? The new thesaurus is
completely offline, comprehensive, and includes thematic
dictionaries (the actual language authors used in a given genre and
time) borrowed from NovelForge.
Word Explorer lets you wander a galaxy of connected words to
widen your vocabulary.
Book Quality PDF Typesetting
Widow and orphan control
paragraph that breaks across
a page keeps at least two
lines on each side.
Headings are never left
stranded at the bottom of
a page.
Code blocks are kept
together where that doesn't
leave a large gap.
Professional typesetting.
Justified paragraphs get even
spacing with far fewer rivers
and loose lines.
PUBLISHING
Keep every promising draft
Alternatives live beside the
paragraph. Not in duplicate files.
Publish it yourself
Book-quality PDF typesetting and EPUB,
straight from the manuscript.
Own the application
Pay once, with free updates
Publish to PDF was rebuilt around industry typesetting standards. The same page setup drives
Reading Mode, so what you read is what you print.
From revision desk to finished book
THE FEATURES
Since 1.6, Editorial grew the other half of the job: it now sets type, publishes, looks up words
offline, edits illustrations, and shows you what changed.
Book-quality PDF typesetting
Knuth–Plass line breaking measured with
real font widths, justified spacing with far
fewer rivers and loose lines, and fonts
embedded in the file.
Page Setup & trim sizes
Choose US or European book presets
(Prose and Technical) or set your own trim,
facing or single-sided pages, inside and
outside margins, body size, and leading.
Running heads & folios
Page numbers at the foot or the head’s
outer edge, running heads with author,
title, or chapter, and roman-numeral front
matter that restarts at 1.
Reading Mode matches the PDF
Reading Mode breaks lines exactly where
the exported PDF does. View › Reading
Layout switches between the PDF page and
an EPUB-style reflowing column.
Animated version changes
When you switch versions, merge, copy an
LLM result, or undo, the paragraph’s words
slide into place. Removed words fade out,
new ones fade in highlighted.
Full vector image editor
Edit rectangles, ellipses, arrows, text, lines,
and freehand right inside Image blocks,
with scripted Auto Shapes. All editable and
part of Undo/Redo.
Offline Thesaurus & Word Explorer
Synonyms with no connection required,
including thematic dictionaries borrowed
from NovelForge, plus a galaxy-like Word
Explorer of connected words.
EPUB publishing & roundtrip
Publish finished books to EPUB, and export
the whole project to Markdown for external
editing, then re-import it to merge the
changes back in.
AI on your terms
Connect a cloud model or run a local
LLM to assist with your editing tasks.
The model sees only block fragments,
never the whole manuscript.
We published a complete AI-ready script guide, so a coding-
capable LLM can write a new smart shape for you.
CRANKY MAN’S FAVORITE
•
Fully offline synonym lookup, no account required.
•
Thematic dictionaries by genre and period.
•
A Thesaurus panel: click a word to see its synonyms.
•
Word Explorer: a navigable map of related words.
•
Use Rewrite, Summary, Simple Chat, Script Agent, or a visual Editorial Agent
•
Supply nearby blocks, summaries, lore, notes, or project context deliberately.
•
Cancel longer Agent runs and undo structural steps at document level.
•
Use Prompt Log to verify what was actually sent and what happened.
Choose the context
Selected text, nearby blocks, lore, summary
Run the instruction
Rewrite, analyze, summarize, or automate
Keep, merge, or reject
The original remains available
Inspect Prompt Log
Messages, model, token estimate, outcome
1
2
3
4
REVISE FEARLESSLY
Every paragraph
can have a Plan B.
Keep multiple versions inside the block where they belong. Try a
sharper opening, a quieter exchange, or an AI suggestion without
replacing the sentence that already works.
•
Switch the live version in one click, with animated changes.
•
Compare two drafts with color-coded changes.
•
Merge the best sentences or individual edits.
•
Split and join blocks without abandoning their alternatives.
READING MODE
Chapter Seven
he
letter
arrived
in
a
blue
envelope,
which
was
already
suspicious.
Nothing
honest
had
been
delivered
in
blue
since
the
invention
of
official
stationery.
Elizabeth
read
it
twice.
The
second
reading
did
not
improve
its
manners,
but
it
did
reveal
where
the
trouble had hidden the address.
SEE HOW YOUR READER WILL FEEL
Step away from the
machinery
Reading Mode removes editing chrome and support blocks so you
can judge pace, rhythm, and continuity — and it now breaks lines
exactly where the finished PDF will. House Style gives the whole
manuscript a consistent prose or technical treatment instead of a
patchwork of local formatting.
Ask Local/Cloud AI to help you draw
Need a quick diagram or graph? Instead of spending your afternoon drawing it yourself, just tell AI what you have in mind. It’ll draw it for
you as editable shapes right inside the Image block.
And no, you don't need to connect to the OpenAI or Anthropic API to make it work. Sure, the big models are better at drawing vector
shapes, but we tested local models too, and some performed exceptionally well.
Recommended local model: Ornith-1.5-35B-A3B
