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    The editor

    The editor is a focused writing surface designed for long-form prose. It handles the formatting a novel needs and stays quiet about everything else.

    3 min read Updated Mac · Windows · Linux

    Formatting#

    Fiction needs a short list of formatting, so the editor keeps one:

    To do this Press Or
    Emphasis (italic) ⌘I / Ctrl+I Right-click → Format → Italic
    Strong emphasis (bold) ⌘B / Ctrl+B Right-click → Format → Bold
    Insert a scene break ⌘⇧- / Ctrl+Shift+- Right-click → Format → Insert Scene Break
    Insert a link ⌘K / Ctrl+K —
    Insert an image — Right-click → Format → Insert Image
    Insert a table — Toolbar table button

    Typographic details like curly quotes and em-dashes are handled as you type, so your exports look professional without any cleanup. Tables survive every export — a true table in Word, a typeset table in PDF, clean tables in EPUB and Markdown.

    The Verkilo editor with the section details panel open The Verkilo editor with the section details panel open

    Type @ and a character or place name to mention them in the text. The mention shows the words you chose beside a small portrait (a map pin for places), and it links the scene to that character or location in the Series Bible automatically.

    Type [[ to link to a notebook entry the same way — the link shows its text beside a bookmark icon.

    Click either one for its card: jump to the record, change the display text (what prints in exports), or remove the link — the text stays in the sentence. Ctrl/⌘-click jumps straight to the record. Backspace deletes a mention or link like any other text.

    Autosave#

    There’s no save button. Verkilo continuously saves your work to the project on disk as you type.

    File → Save (Backup) (⌘S / Ctrl+S) does something different: it writes a separate backup copy of the whole project. Reach for it before a big restructure, not to save your paragraph.

    Snapshots#

    A snapshot freezes the current text of a section so you can rewrite freely and still get the old version back.

    To take one:

    1. Open the section you’re about to change.
    2. In the details panel on the right, switch to the Version History tab.
    3. Click Save Version.
    4. Type a label you’ll recognise later — “before cutting the flashback” beats “v2” — and confirm. The label is optional.

    To go back to one:

    1. Open the section in the editor.
    2. Switch to the Version History tab.
    3. Click a version to preview its text.
    4. Click Restore this version to bring it back.

    Splitting a long section#

    When a scene turns out to be two scenes:

    1. Click in the text at the point where the new section should begin.
    2. Right-click and choose Split at Selection.

    To name the new section from the text itself — useful after importing a long manuscript — select the line you want as its title, right-click, and choose Split with Selection as Title.

    Finding text#

    For the section you’re in:

    1. Press ⌘F / Ctrl+F to open Find & Replace in the details panel.
    2. Type in the Find… field. Matches highlight as you type.
    3. Narrow the search with Match Case and Match Whole Word if you need to.
    4. To change what you find, type in Replace with… and use Replace or Replace All in Section.

    For the whole book, press ⌘⇧F / Ctrl+Shift+F (Edit → Find in Book) — the same panel, searching every section. Replace All in Book applies a change across the manuscript in one go, so take a snapshot first if it’s a big one.

    Spelling and grammar#

    When you’re ready to edit, right-click and choose Check Spelling & Grammar to have your prose checked entirely on your own computer — nothing leaves your machine. See Spelling and grammar for the details.

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