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Ulysses: Writing App App Complaints & User Negative Comments 2024
Ulysses: Writing App app received 48 complaints, negative comments and reviews by users. Have you ever had a bad experience using Ulysses: Writing App? Can you share your negative thoughts about ulysses: writing app?
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Ulysses: Writing App for Negative User Reviews
✓ Growing disillusionedI used to LOVE Ulysses. It was really a perfect environment in which to write. It was “minimal” (as every text editor on earth likes to tout these days) but there were still plenty of powerful tools beneath the surface. But I've grown to dread every update, knowing that some feature or interface element I know and use regularly may well disappear or be changed. Most recently, the toolbar lost the ability to hide itself, replaced with a “focus mode” must be manually enabled and disabled, and that leaves the sidebar obscuring the text I’m trying to view. Now I'm using four-key shortcuts to actively manage things that once just stayed out of my way until I needed them. I'm working a lot harder to use Ulysses and I resent it, especially since I'm renting the software and essentially paying to have it endlessly tinkered with. (And for all this, they STILL don't properly support Fountain, which is a plain-text type of Markdown specifically designed for screenwriting -- instead pointing users to janky output styles that try, badly, to fake script format.) Frankly, a lot of this smacks of change for the sake of change, and Ulysses UI is always a moving target..Version: 28.1
✓ Good not cheapIt's good but it's not cheap.Version: 18.5
✓ DishonestI really loved this app. I bought a complete 'Lifetime' license. Then they switched to a subscription model and broke the agreement. They inrtoduced version numbers but lifetime IS lifetime. What really stings is that I told many of my professional colleague, even strangers about the app. Company with low ethics. Now with IA writer - a bit different but quite happy..Version: 29.1
✓ OkayI downloaded this app for writing my stories and I was so excited but then, when I opened the app, it said I had to pay!.Version: 22.1
✓ Pre-subscription buyerHi, In 2016 I bought the full version of the desktop app, 44,99 euros. Now I need to work again with Ulysse but it's became a subscription model, I can't edit my files, my work is read only until I pay this expensive subscription. How can I use my pre-subscription app I paid ? The knowledge base of the website cover this matter for ios version only. Not happy at all, please advise..Version: 19.2
✓ Too CostlyFor what it does, the subscription model is simply too much money. I use Ulysses maybe for 3 or 4 reports a year when in the field. So the cost isn't justified as a subsciption..Version: 19.2
✓ I just want to write, not program.I downloaded this because it claims to let you just write but I never even got to the writing before giving up. I guess if you already know how to program this may be second nature, but when I tested a sample page and tried to export it, the first line of each paragrash was indented which doesn't work when writing short sentances. After hours of looking at their support page and reading their help, trying different style sheets, it became obvious this wasn't for me. I don't want to spend hours trying to figure out how to stop it from doing somthing so simple as indenting. What happens when I write a long piece and then it exports with some weird formatting I wasn't expcting. Saving me from using the mouse once in a while doesn't justify all of the extra notes and guess work and research to do it without it..Version: 24.5
✓ Excellent app, but...I have been a paying user of this app since before it switched to the subscription model back in 2017. I use it for as much of my writing work as I can, and have always given it excellent reviews and recommended it to others. However, and this is huge for me, I write a lot of business documents, and I simply can't use it for this purpose as there is no support for tables. I live in hope that this feature is just around the corner, but until support for tables arrives, I simply can't give it the five stars that it otherwise deserves..Version: 24.3
✓ Long time customer... won't be renewing this appI've been with Ulysses since the start but won't be renewing my subscription. They have taken it upon themselves to just create updates that make all of your writings out of wack - for example fonts size automatically became super large for headings. While this can be changed to "small / medium / Large" it is pretty much their directive to what these sizes mean... and they are actually still too big for me. If you value your writing without an app developer suddenly messing it all up without your consent.. then steer away from this app. I simply don't trust that the next update more things will be out of wack. I've been with Ulysses since the start but won't be renewing my subscription. They have taken upon themselves to just create updates that make all of your writings out of wack - for example fonts size automatically became super large for headings. While this can be changed to "small / medium / Large" it is pretty much their directive to what these sizes mean... and they are actually still too big for me..Version: 24.4
✓ No Google Docs ImportCan't seem to import Google Docs into this app, which may be about 80% of the people who may want to use it. Help files are no help. Annual price is about the same as Scrivener which is one time purchase. I hope the developers succeed in getting both the software compatibility and the subscription model right. It could be useful for writers in the future, but not useful for me right now. hate to give it one star, but that's my exprience so far..Version: 18.3
✓ Sounds greatSounds great, would really like to try the things the turtorial asks you to do, but the version you get is read only, unless you are willing to give them a credit card for a free 7 day trial. Why, when I am trying to even figure out how to even use such a thing, would I want to give oout my credit card to do othe things the turtorial is asking me to do to otry and see if I can even understand how to use, or will be able to omake use of such a thing? When I am ready and comfortable that I would like to try the program free for seven days to see if it actually does what you say it does, efficiently, without slowing my computer, freezing up, closing unexpectedly, then, I will give you my credit card number. Why on earth would you provide a tutorial that tells you to try things out, then not allow the program to allow the user to try that out? Surely, if you can create such a program, you can allow the tutorial to allow more than read only under special circumstances. Don't want anyone to be able to create a single thing? Fine, I don't care, do not want t scam the system, just do not want too give ouot payment info until I am sure it is a program I even want to try. Fix this..Version: 27.1
✓ Misleading on App StoreUlysses looked like it would be ideal for me, so I downloaded and installed it from the App Store. Click the Get button and you're done. Imagine my surprise when I first open the app, and see that all I have is 14 days to try it out, then - believe it or not - it's almost £50 per year to keep using it. Apps offered on the App store should differentiate between free trials, like this, and basic versions that don't expire but can be upgraded whenever you want. There's a difference between offering in-app purchases and requiring them, and there's a difference between offering an app for £50, and paying that much year after year..Version: 23.4
✓ Format...later?I've done my best to keep focus on the many pages of introduction. The gist I got is that I have to format everything later, as in the fonts and other stuff. Please tell me I'm wrong and there's another way, because I really don't want to go back to Google Docs, whose grammar check actually makes a sentence with proper grammar into something that makes me cringe to look at. I would not like to format later, and would instead wish to freely be able to format it as I go, as I find the whole finalizing process takes my laziness way to long to finish. If I am not wrong about this, please change it, or at least explain the steps that formatting my book would take. It even seems I cannot put it in italic or bold, and no, I would not like underscores by my italic. This sucks for me to use.Version: 29.4
✓ Pretty but buggy and unreliable (and very expensive)Update: 01/25/2022 Hard to believe, but there are even more bugs now than before. For example, if you put italics (using the "_" tag) between quotes (as one does for adding emphasis to dialog or quoting someone), Ulysses will stick a extra character at random that defeats the italics. These guys keep adding half-baked features but never seem to fix the bugs that make the software unreliable. Update: 09/15/2020 New versions of the app bring more and more bugs without fixing older ones. Ulysses will suddenly stop synching to iCloud with no alert, no means of finding the problem, and no solution to get it working again. The primary value of the app for me was automatic syncing across devices, but even that no longer works. Contacting the developers produces no useful result. Original review: Ulysses is subscription-based, expensive, and unreliable. The interface is clean and simple – which is a compelling feature in software that you expect to use every day – and the promise of automatic sync across devices is compelling. The problem is that there are bugs that just don't seem to get fixed (for example, if you try to re-order a sheet on the iPad version to the bottom of the list it won't work). Sounds like a simple issue to resolve, but it's been two versions at least that the developers have been aware of this and they haven't bothered to fix it. There are other bugs with features like the goal/history tracking of word counts and the inability to bring in anything written in Google Docs. More troubling is that sometimes sync doesn't work, which can result in losing a document you've just spent hours on. Support response has been hit or miss, usually resulting in someone telling you that they'll fix it one day or that any problems are the fault of either other software (such as Google Docs) or iCloud or the user themselves. All of this on an app that costs twice as much in one year as Scrivener – an app with vastly more capability – is for a permanent license. It's not all bad. As I mentioned at the top, the interface is clean and well-designed. If the codebase underneath was reliable, I'd be content with the high price tag and low feature set. As it is, I'm personally stuck with it for a while as I've got loads of material already in Ulysses, but for new users, I'd suggest avoiding the product until it's more stable..Version: 24.5
✓ Why?Why would you possibly think subscription based pricing is the way to go? No thanks..Version: 14.3
✓ Not worth itIt totally not worth the price. There are better many cheaper alternatives..Version: 21.1
✓ TablesI know, I know, simple UI, focus on writing etc. but supporting tables through markdown would be easy for those that need it..Version: 19.2
✓ Subscription Only?!... Seriously?.Version: 15.2
✓ V20 Dashboard breaks Notes and ImagesThe new V20 update introduces Dashboard but completely breaks the streamlined display of Notes and Images which allowed to see all info on the pane in one go. At the very least there should be an option for the Dashboard to allow for displaying of Notes and Images..Version: 20
✓ HmmThe app is a good concept, but you cant actually do anything unless you pay for a subscription plan. Until then all you can do is just read about how to work the app thats it. Pretty disappointing.Version: 19.1
✓ Not my thingApps with non-standard UIs and I just don't tend to get along. I use most apps in fits and starts, and that's certainly true of Ulysses. If I wrote for a living, or maybe even if I journaled every day, it'd be different - I'd be using the app pretty much daily and wouldn't have a chance to forget all its peculiarities. But I don't write every day; I write when I feel inspired to, and that might be every day for three days in a row or for a week, and then I won't feel the need to write again for a month, and therein lies the problem with apps with non-standard UIs: when I launch an app with a non-standard UI after that month of not using it, I've completely forgotten how it works and I need to go through a tutorial all over again if I want to use it. Which is not something I'm willing to do for any app that's not essential to my life. And for me personally, the value of a pretty UI and having no visual distractions while writing is nowhere near so great that I would think it worth my while to re-school myself on how to use Ulysses all over again every time I forget. The whole idea behind the Mac is that computing should be intuitive, and Ulysses is not. So I'm most likely done with it and will be going back to Word or some other app that I know how to operate when I open it, no matter how long it's been since I last used it..Version: 18.7
✓ Why no WYSIWYG?I have been a writer for more years than home computers. When the earliest computers became available (I actually made mine from a kit) I saw the possibilities as a valuable tool for writing, but I found myself using pen or typewriter more often than my computers—that is, until WYSIWYG. My typewriters took space on the shelf, and my computer started taking the load. I have used several diferent wordprocessors over the years, and I try everything that comes along hoping for absolute perfection. But it is all to no avail: Pages, Word and Scrivener seem to be close, but not perfect for my needs. Everything else either copies those three (almost to the tee) or wants you to go back to play with the limitations of a typewriter. Ulysses, at least give us the option. You might have a fair app if you did..Version: 14.3
✓ File organizationMaybe I missed something but I had trouble organizing files and finding things in this app after I got going..Version: 29.2
✓ Paid full price now have to pay a subscriptionI paid full price for the software in 2017. They soon switched to a subscription model, requiring existing users to double dip in order to access updates. The paid version isin't available anymore, so I feel like I've been duped..Version: 23
✓ If I could give zero stars, I wouldMoved to Windows for a while but now back on Mac and I install this in the hopes of using it again, when lo and behold, turns out the piece of software I bought I can no longer use because it's moved to a subscription model. As far as I'm concerned, that's blatant thievery. At least give me the option of downloading the previous versions (minus all new improvements etc.) so I can get what I paid for. Instead you give me a read-only version, which is effectively useless. Not cool. At all. Shame on you guys..Version: 18.4
✓ Subscription-based trashJust so you know, when it says "In-App Purchases" next to the download button, it means "As soon as you open the app we'll ask for $55 per year." Do not support this kind of garbage. Download iA Writer instead..Version: 14.3
✓ No longer fits my needsI hope Apple does not delete my review and post it this time! I have used Ulysses for several years, and at the time it was probably the best of its kind. It is stable, reliable, and syncs flawlessly using iCloud. However, here is what is missing in Ulysses that is now available in some of its newer competitors: No formatted text option. I know some usres love markdown but there is a ton of similar apps that use markdown. What about those of us who use Ulysses primarily for taking notes, planning projects, commenting on events and issues, capturing and organizing information from online sources and other things that are not meant for publishing but for having electronic/digital records only? We like to have a pleasant page layout with control over fonts and colors. Other competing apps offer several options (formatted documents, plain text, and markdown), so why not Ulysses?. No option to insert tables in documents. No checklists; most other notes apps offer tables and checklists. Search is a bit confusing. I find myself most of the time searching for a something and not foinding only to find out the my search was limited to the note I am viewing. Out of frustration, I moved all my notes and documents out of Ulysses to another app which offers all the features that are missing from Ulysses. I have not yet deleted my subscription on the hope that some newer version would address my issues soon..Version: 24.4
✓ Try before buying.I wanted to try it for free , Before purchasing it..Version: 18.3
✓ What makes you think I'm going to pay $70 a year for a word processorWhat an absolute joke. How much support does this app need that you need a subscription model for a word processor? Go to heck with your business model, especially since THERE ARE A MILLION MINIMALIST WORD PROCESSORS INCLUDING PAGES WHICH AUTO UPDATES>.Version: 18.4
✓ So disappointed ...I just got my brand new Mac Mini set up from Christmas, and one of the very first things I did after updating the OS was head to the app store to get Ulysses. After 10 years in the Windows world, I was ready for a good writing app again. First ... subscription. I'm not totally averse to a subscription model, but that price is honestly ludicrous. My last copy of Ulysses cost me $60CAD, and while that was a lot for a text editor, I used it for 4.5 years, so it ended up being a tiny bit over a dollar a month to run. Now they want $5.99CAD/mo? I'm paying in a year what I used to pay period. Uh ... no. The authors know there's FREE text editors in the app store, right? That I can get a competitor like Bear that does virtually everything Ulysses does for 1/3 the price? Which brings me to the design ... Ulysses used to have multiple panels open at once, so I'd have my current chapter, the setting for that chapter, the main character(s) for that chapter, and my research notes all open at once. Now I'm flipping back and forth and forth and back to get that same information in the 3 column design. Sure, it's easy and fast, but you aren't getting easier or faster than having it always avaialble, like it used to. So, if three column design is the modern route, and I'm stuck with this methodology, I'm going to save myself some money..Version: 14.4
✓ Extreme difficulty cancelling subscription during trialAll the links to cancel the subscription before having to pay are broken or lead to errors. I can't figure out how to cancel this, which I hope isn't the goal of this convoluted process This is insane! To cancel it I had to spend all night digging through forums until somebody shared a method of cancelling the subscription via your iphone, because you can't do it on your mac, and their broken link just opens apple music and shows an error popup.Version: 27.3
✓ Interesting appUlysses shines in its file organisation. It is like your file manager and writing tool bundled into one and I find that useful (try it to see how it works). The interface is clean and if you follow markdown conventions, it’s a decent writing tool for the occasional story or blog post, if you want to use it for writing academic writing, you are out of luck with this tool. It is inadequate. You cannot practically use Ulysses with reference managers like Zotero/Mendeley or even a regular bibtex integration. You can write codes but they do not execute, so it does not matter, you cannot do anything with your codes. You cannot write tables in Ulysses, nor can you embed tables from any other services; you cannot import/export documents from/to online services. I have been using it since its inception and I am generally happy with it (regular updates, incremental features etc). For a writing tool that works across devices, I’d say it’s not bad..Version: 13
✓ Do not ask me to write a review when i've turned this feature offDo not ask me to write a review when i've turned this feature off.Version: 21.4
✓ Quick Export disappearedWhere has the Quick Export option from the right-click menu gone? Its removal in a recent update has slowed down my workflow a great deal..Version: 29.2
✓ Good in Theory, Absurd Pricepoint - Forces Markdown Workflow (no Underline ability)Hi there. Some general feedback after the free trial and then a nice surprise of $60 for this app so I figured I'd make a review: A) just discovered there's a student discount - would have been nice to know before I got charged the full amount (not exactly advertised. But I get it. Also annoying that you can't "switch" people over - I know what pro-rating means & you can definitely do it if you wanted to). B) Aware this has been asked a few times but I'm a new subscriber so I thought I'd try again as there's no direct help button in the app (another miss for me). Any way to access underlining? I like the layout otherwise for ease of use/freedom from distractions as I frantically throw my thought processes down on a page (Notes ain't cutting it for that!) However. $60 and not able to underline (even if it seems like it was an intentional design choice - Markdown) was not smart IMHO. I'm a grad student/coder and really love the combo of notes, Projects, and the ability to write code snippets, as well as insert imgs/vids/tables with ease - I have a travel blog (& several other sites) this would be amazing for building out the org structures for! But if I can't underline anything, my eyes go crazy looking for breaks in my titles & ideas that are often several pages long (it's just the way I like it, and if I'm paying for it, personally I think I should have that choice). (highlighting is hideous, sorry!) It's also the clear writing standard - if you're using headings and dense text, underline it. So while I like what you've done in theory, I'm sorry to say I won't be renewing. Too difficult to learn an entire new workflow/language that doesn't quite fit with my needs if it doesn't have basic editing (I would literally need to code it in, and that's not something I want to do when I'm jotting down notes/code anyway). Wish y'all the best; I think it's a good idea! But for the love of clear writing (my field/in the biz for 25 years), consider giving users the *option* to underline. Especially if you're asking that much after 7 days. I can’t learn the entire workflow in that amount of time before deciding to pay or not (while having a million other commitments IRL). All this to say, if it were free, perhaps I’d consider learning Markdown and switching from Notes to this - it’s definitely a step up. But not for $60/month. And I realize some people will be using this for other things - this is MY use case. Edit: Re Help: (Sorry - stand corrected - there’s a WEBSITE with FAQs - so you have to do a bunch of work yourself to get the answers - maybe - that you’re looking for. Otherwise you have to contact support & wait for an answer. Again not the best workflow for me). I maintain there’s no direct help search functionality in the app itself. When I search “underline” for example, it pulls up a bunch of general editing suggestions for Mac. If I search new Project, it points directly to the Menu bar where I can start one. Not the left-hand side bar, which is interesting as well..Version: 29.4
✓ Generally excellent, a few nigglesDont get me wrong, this is the best app of its type I have tried. There are a few niggles worth raising though. First, Mac syncing isnt always seamless or quick, have needed to shut down and restart my Mac several x to get it to sync (but it does so each time). Second my genre is poetry and export for poetry is really very poor. Poetry requires careful formatting, and the formats provided do not work, and diving into recoding the parameters is a nightmare for a writer/non-coder. I am always reformatting by hand in word, and cannot rely on the export function to work well. Finally, I would say that (again for poetry specifically), the editing functions are not quite precise enough, there are a lot that are irrelevant, and others which I would really welcome. Overall, a version for my genre would be fantastic, but I recognize its not a huge % of their customer base. Last word though, their customer support is excellent. Strongly recommend..Version: 27.3
✓ Quality has tankedFor the last few years, I've not only been a happy subscriber but what companies call a promoter. I would select 10 when asked how likely I would recommend Ulysses. The frequent updates were proof that my money was feeding innovation. Now, not so much. I used to be able to go from my iPad to my Mac to my iPhone instantly to keep working. But for months I've had iCloud sync issues. Today, I waited and waited for something I started writing on my iPad to show up on my Mac. Even force syncing (which I shouldn't have to do so much) wouldn't work. Eventually I had to use the Universal Clipboard to copy the original sheet on my iPad to a new sheet on my Mac. Their support (and replies to reviews) state it's an iCloud issue, not theirs. Sorry, but that's BS. Literally everything else in my iCloud Drive syncs instantaneously. Maybe they SHOULD have a public folder on in iCloud Drive like the other apps that work flawlessly..Version: 19.2
✓ Glorified Notes appI paid for the original app, and more when it became subscription-based. But did all the money go to the marketing team or something? Why do we need to pay monthly fees to help develop features all the other apps already have? Notes app has gotten a lot better lately, Scrivener is the king of long-form writing, and there are many more alternatives that are better -- yes, not just cheaper, but better. Edit: If those are the features you come up with the money I pay monthly, it's not worth it..Version: 14.4
✓ There's an alternativeCheck out iA Writer -- one payment, it's a beautiful markdown editor. Good to go!.Version: 15.2
✓ Nice, but not worth the priceThis app is quite nice to use, and quite logical. But it is a little too basic and lacking in certain ways to be worth the cost..Version: 14.2
✓ Missleading advertisingCan't actually try the app as to try you need to sign up to a monthly or yearly subscription (which supposedly you can cancel again) why not show the price as this app is not free at all..Version: 18.5
✓ Pay pay payI just wanted to be able to write.... i have to subscribe.Version: 29.2
✓ My go-to writing app, nearly perfect! but could use more featuresI've had a Ulysses subscription for over a year now and I think it's nearly perfect. But as a writer, I think the developers should consider these features: 1) a timer for writing sprints, 2) hemingway mode, which doesn't allow you to delete for an alloted amount of time 3) a feature like the app "flow state" which forces you to keep writing for a certain amount of time, and pausing for more than 5 seconds erases your progress. Currently I use third party apps for those features but I think it would be wonderful if they could be incorporated as options for the app / sheets, like typewriter mode..Version: 22.1
✓ Ulysses is a great app, until you need helpI have a MacBook Pro that crashed from a bad logic board. I got a new laptop and transfered my data to w/o much of a problem. I opened Ulysses the next day and found over 6 months of crucial work missing. I contacted Ulysses who apologized and referred me to the FAQ. I responded back that I still could ot find the data files and FAQ was not addressing my issue. A representative responded that it was likely a problem with Apple's iCloud service. I then contacted Apple's iCloud Tech Support and after being on the phone with them for over an hour, Apple's tech said it was an app issue because they could not find any Ulysses files anywhere in their cloud. I sent a note to Ulysses on Apple's findings and now I find myself 'Ghosted by Ulysses' and all my work 'still' gone. As the old saying goes, Ulysses is a great app and a good company right up to the point that you need them. If you need anything past a form letter, you're on your own..Version: 29.4
✓ EvilI paid for the lifetime subscription and now it's usless and hasnt been updated in years and now they are charging this insane price every year! I just moved to OneNote it does all the same things for free. This company got too greedy. there are some many other one-time payment options out there why pay for this?.Version: 18.5
✓ Nothing to elevate above average.I think the application is a reasonable implementation. Formating seems easy and to the point, I dont think it offers too much more than any opensource Markdown tool, interface seems slighly sluggish. To warrent this level of subscription pricing it would need for me to offer a much better level of intergration with other tools, more export options, a quicker interface, and more options around how your text is presented.Version: 21.4
✓ Can't do subscription baseI understand the need for creators to get revenues. But at one point, there's only so much money i can spend by month. It was a nice app, but there's enough free options out there to save me that money..Version: 15.2
✓ ICloud sync not always up to dateSwitching between devices is annoying because I can't rely on iCloud sync to be as fast as my other notes apps like Bear or Apple's Notes..Version: 30.1
🙂 Ulysses: Writing App Positive Reviews
Ulysses: Writing App works most of the time. If it is not working for you, we recommend you excersise some patience and retry later or contact Ulysses: Writing App.
⛔ Ulysses: Writing App Problems
