I just wish Pages or whatever it is called now could utilize a three panel structure, maybe it can and I am missing something, but is there any reason why it can't copy Scrivener and offer three panels, for example, when writing a story, the left panel has Chapter 1 etc., the middle panel has all of your notes for Chapter 1, and your right panel is your final draft version of Chapter 1, can it do this, if not, any free alternatives that perform this task that would make writing on any project easier?
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A Free Word Processor That Has 3 Panels or 3 sections to compose your Work
- Thread starter MacGekko
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Pages "copies" Word, I guess you might say. That would be the reason it doesn't mimic Scrivener.
Scrivener for iOS is $24 but I don't know much about it. Does it offer the "three panels"?
Scrivener for iOS is $24 but I don't know much about it. Does it offer the "three panels"?
Basically, yes, I am on an older Pages version, can you break that left panel down into outline sections, "Chapter 1, Chapter 2, etc.", and then have the right panel be all of your rough draft notes from Chapter 1, and obviously the middle section will be your final draft for Chapter 1. (If this is what you are showing me, apologies, just not clear if the left panel only holds an impression of your entire work or you can break it down into an outline like structure.)
I have tried to Google search this on the current Pages version and could not find any information on how to do this, so thank you, could you tell me what menu options achieved this three panel structure?
Also is the above achievable only on an Ipad or does the MacOS version do the same thing?
Thank you.
Judging from Scrivener's website, it appears so, yes, I just don't understand why a word processor would not include it, seems basic to me to allow a writer to have their notes adjacent the section or chapter they are trying to write.
- Pages is not really a word processor
- The iPad screen shot above shows Pages running in split view with… Pages. That should work with any Pages version as long as iPadOS is at least >=15.
- On a true multitasking system like macOS this is easier to achieve - addressing the “free” requirement, use e.g. LibreOffice (that would be e.g. Collabora Office in splitview on the iPad).
- Most (?) markdown editors on iPadOS allow what you want, e.g. Archimedes - forget the LaTeX part, use mark down and the integrated Navigator and have your notes in split view.
- Or you could go really fancy (& free) and use Obsidian and mark down (on whatever platform).
Then again, Scrivener does what you want? I mean, it is worth then it price, isn’t it? No subscription, low price, has the looked for functionality and more… 🤓
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- Pages is not really a word processor
- The iPad screen shot above shows Pages running in split view with… Pages. That should work with any Pages version as long as iPadOS is at least >=15.
- On a true multitasking system like macOS this is easier to achieve - addressing the “free” requirement, use e.g. LibreOffice (that would be e.g. Collabora Office in splitview on the iPad).
- Most (?) markdown editors on iPadOS allow what you want, e.g. Archimedes - forget the LaTeX part, use mark down and the integrated Navigator and have your notes in split view.
- Or you could go really fancy (& free) and use Obsidian and mark down (on whatever platform).
Then again, Scrivener does what you want? I mean, it is worth then it price, isn’t it? No subscription, low price, has the looked for functionality and more… 🤓
Thank you for all of those options, maybe I am trying to reinvent the wheel, the simple way might be to just have two separate Pages files, one for Chapter notes, the other for Chapter final draft, and just split screen them, in addition the added benefit of Apple's advanced data protection, end to end encryption and real time updating between an Ipad and Macbook.
Update: But I still don't think within Pages one can have a Chapter breakdown in a left sided panel.
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Scrivener is a specialist word processor designed for those who want an integrated writing and research/notes environment. There might be some free alternatives to Scrivener but I wouldn't really class general purpose word processors (such as Pages, Word, LibreOffice Writer, Google Docs) as alternatives or expect them to have the same features. Maybe ask on the Scrivener subreddit for free alternatives to Scrivener.