New Features

• HTML live preview is now in a split pane view rather than in a separate window.
• New options were added to hide HUD windows while typing, in full screen mode, or in live preview mode.
• A new button was added to the status bar and a new shortcut was added to the View menu in the menu bar to toggle hiding/showing the open HUDs.
• Github's cmark-gfm can now be detected and used as a Markdown processor.
• Block quotes and code blocks now have an inobtrusive background color to differentiate them.
• Buttons have been added to the status for existing features.
• HUD windows and scrollbars can be stylized to have square or rounded corners in the Settings, and are no longer theme dependent.
• New "Typewriter" focus mode was added by @hirschenberger.
• The style sheet and Markdown processor to use with the HTML live preview can now be selected in their own dialog box accessible both from the status bar at the bottom of the window and from the menu bar in the Settings menu.
• The "Copy HTML" button has been moved to the "status bar" at the bottom of the main window.
• The "Copy HTML" button / menu bar option can copy just the selected Markdown text as HTML (using the currently selected Markdown processor). It will still copy the entire Markdown text document and convert it to HTML in the system clipboard if no text is selected.
• Themes now support options for emphasis color and block text color. Note that emphasis color will also affect the color of headings, and block text color will affect the color of block quotes and code blocks.

Fixes

• Issue #302: ghostwriter will now look for default Qt translations on the standard Qt translations path (for standard buttons/text). These default Qt translations have been included in the Windows installer translations folder and portable Windows Zip, and will be loaded automatically based on the currently selected application language.
• Some tweaks have been made to the parsing/highlighting of emphasized text to handle nested emphasis cases better. As part of this effort, ghostwriter uses a Qt 5-specific regular expression class that is not available in Qt 4. As such, ghostwriter can no longer be built with Qt and must be built with Qt 5.
• Issue #272: Fixed issue with Focus mode where inserting matching characters around a selection was causing the application to crash.
• Issue #260: Added compatability with Pandoc version 2 and MultiMarkdown version 6.
• Fixed issue where HTML preview scrolls to the top if the new HTML from a modified document matches the old HTML, even if the markup used in the source document did change.
• Fixed issue where current word is not live spell checked if the user switches the text cursor to a different line.
• Fixed issue where prompt to reload a file that has been modified externally was being displayed multiple times per file change. This seems to have been triggered by some editors like Sublime Text that perform multiple file saves for a single file modification.
• Issue #228: Selected text can now be dragged and dropped to a different location within the editor.
• Fixed issue where if setext heading markup line is selected and deleted with the cursor position beginning at the end of the previous line, the heading is not removed from the Outline HUD.
• Fixed issue where Preview HTML menu item and button were not in sync to appear checked or unchecked.
• ghostwriter now clears the Outline HUD when loading or reloading a document to prevent a crash in case bad data is in the HUD.
• Fixed copy HTML issue to ensure Markdown text has proper formatting (i.e., greater than signs aren't converted to >).
• ghostwriter will now search in the mozilla-dicts installation location for dictionaries on OpenBSD.

Notes

Since version 1.4.0, if you are using the portable version of ghostwriter for Windows, please note that you no longer require the translations folder in your data folder. The translations folder has been moved up one folder, so you don't need to have your settings and themes mixed with an application dependency. When moving the contents of your old data folder to the new one, please delete the old data\translations folder.

Version 1.5.0 brings various HiDPI improvements. However, SVG icons for the full screen button and the HUD window buttons will look overly large and clipped. Drop shadows on text and buttons will also look somewhat pixelated. This is due to QTBUG-60026, which has been fixed in Qt 5.9. At the time of this release, Qt 5.9 is still in beta. It is recommended for users using Qt versions below 5.9 to use a FHD screen resolution when using ghostwriter.

Version 1.6.0 will no longer compile with Qt 4 due to new features that depend on Qt 5. Please use Qt 5 when building ghostwriter from the source code. Also, the Windows editions of version 1.6.0 come bundled with Qt 5.10.1. As such, you might enjoy using FreeType font rendering with ghostwriter, which looks superb under this Qt version. Please see the wiki page for a quick guide on how to enable this feature. Moreover, this version removes print support from the HTML live preview, as future versions of ghostwriter will switch from QtWebKit to QtWebEngine, which does not support printing. Finally, the Windows version of 1.6.0 comes bundled with annulen's QtWebKit for displaying the HTML preview. Special thanks goes out to this hard-working team for providing a QtWebKit build for newer Qt versions!

Linux Downloads

Ubuntu Linux users can download the latest version of ghostwriter from the Launchpad PPA using the following commands in a terminal window:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:wereturtle/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ghostwriter

You may also visit the wereturtle package archive page directly. For more information on how to add a PPA to your system, please see the Launchpad guide. Note that this version of ghostwriter has been packaged in the PPA solely for the following Ubuntu versions:

• Xenial (16.04)
• Artful (17.10)
• Bionic (18.04)

The following are links to unofficial packages/repositories for other Linux distros, kindly provided by volunteers. Note that they may not have been updated to the latest version of ghostwriter, but may be in the future.

• Fedora
• openSUSE
• Arch Linux AUR

New Features

• HUD windows can now be closed using the Esc key when they have focus.
• A new option has been added to highlight double spaces at the end of a line.
• Github-style task lists can now be made using the * and + bullet point characters, in addition to the - character.
• Support for ConTeXt and wkhtmltopdf when exporting to PDF with Pandoc has been added.
• Auto-matching characters for selected text now respects the existing preferences for the matching done while typing without text selected.
• Typing a single quote (') will no longer result in a second quote being automatically inserted after the cursor if the cursor is positioned in the middle of a word.
• Most settings have been moved into a new Preferences dialog to accommodate the ever increasing number of application options.
• Font size can now be increased by pressing Ctrl+=or decreased by pressing Ctrl+-. It can also be changed by using Ctrl and the mouse wheel.
• When exporting to other file formats, the output file will be opened after export with its default application.
• E-books created using Pandoc will now also be generated with a table of contents.
• When passing in a file path via the command line, a new file will be created with that path if it does not already exist.
• When typing a * character, ghostwriter would auto-insert a second * character in anticipation of emphasized text. The auto-inserted second * will now be removed if a space is typed to accommodate a bullet list instead.
• Rudimentary support for HiDPI has been added. See notes below.
• Various performance enhancements and tweaks have been made under the hood.

Fixes

• Issue #128: Hyphenated words are now considered one word for spell checking.
• Issue #131: ghostwriter can now be built from its source tarball without needing git to be installed.
• Issue #132: Linux desktop file now specifies that ghostwriter can open only one file from the command line rather than multiple files.
• Issue #170: Ctrl+M now opens the HTML Preview instead of Ctrl+W. This is to avoid a conflict with closing windows in Linux.
• Issue #219: Copy and paste no longer makes the word count jump.
• Sundry minor fixes have been added.

Notes

Since version 1.4.0, if you are using the portable version of ghostwriter for Windows, please note that you no longer require the translations folder in your data folder. The translations folder has been moved up one folder, so you don't need to have your settings and themes mixed with an application dependency. When moving the contents of your old data folder to the new one, please delete the old data\translations folder.

Version 1.5.0 brings various HiDPI improvements. However, SVG icons for the full screen button and the HUD window buttons will look overly large and clipped. Drop shadows on text and buttons will also look somewhat pixelated. This is due to QTBUG-60026, which has been fixed in Qt 5.9. At the time of this release, Qt 5.9 is still in beta. It is recommended for users using Qt versions below 5.9 to use a FHD screen resolution when using ghostwriter.

Linux Downloads

Ubuntu Linux users can download the latest version of ghostwriter from the Launchpad PPA using the following commands in a terminal window:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:wereturtle/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ghostwriter

You may also visit the wereturtle package archive page directly. For more information on how to add a PPA to your system, please see the Launchpad guide. Note that this version of ghostwriter has been packaged in the PPA solely for the following Ubuntu versions:

• Trusty (14.04)
• Vivid (15.04)
• Xenial (16.04)
• Yakkety (16.10)
• Zesty (17.04)
• Artful (17.10)

The following are links to unofficial packages/repositories for other Linux distros, kindly provided by volunteers:

• Fedora
• openSUSE
• Arch Linux AUR

This release contains the following fixes:

• Issue #113: Full screen clock now displays time based on locale.
• Issue #119: Null characters, which had been breaking the HTML preview, are no longer inserted when typing over selecting text.
• Issue #121: Code fences are now correctly highlighted when they contain blank lines.
• Issue #123: Statistics HUDs now have proper padding when alternating row colors is enabled.
• Issue #125: The translations folder has been moved up one folder for the portable distribution of ghostwriter.
• Sundry minor fixes have been added.

Important Note: If you are using the portable version of ghostwriter for Windows, please note that you no longer require the translations folder in your data folder. The translations folder has been moved up one folder, so you don't need to have your settings and themes mixed with an application dependency. When moving the contents of your old data folder to the new one, please delete the old data\translations folder.

Ubuntu Linux users can download the latest version of ghostwriter from the Launchpad PPA using the following commands in a terminal window:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:wereturtle/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ghostwriter

You may also visit the wereturtle package archive page directly. For more information on how to add a PPA to your system, please see the Launchpad guide. Note that this version of ghostwriter has been packaged in the PPA solely for the following Ubuntu versions:

• Trusty (14.04)
• Vivid (15.04)
• Wily (15.10)
• Xenial (16.04)
• Yakkety (16.10)

The following are links to unofficial packages/repositories for other Linux distros, kindly provided by volunteers:

• Fedora
• openSUSE
• Arch Linux AUR

This release contains the following fixes:

• Issue #115: Pressing backspace at the end of a line no longer deletes adjacent line breaks.
• Issue #116: Renaming a theme no longer removes its background image.
• Issue #107: Main window is now rendered correctly when transitioning between full screen mode and maximized. Main window also remembers its normal size upon being restored from maximized after having been in full screen mode previously.

Ubuntu Linux users can download the latest version of ghostwriter from the Launchpad PPA using the following commands in a terminal window:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:wereturtle/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ghostwriter

You may also visit the wereturtle package archive page directly. For more information on how to add a PPA to your system, please see the Launchpad guide. Note that this version of ghostwriter has been packaged in the PPA solely for the following Ubuntu versions:

• Trusty (14.04)
• Vivid (15.04)
• Wily (15.10)
• Xenial (16.04)
• Yakkety (16.10)

Finally, openSUSE packages are available for download here.

This release contains the following features and fixes:

• The time of day optionally displays in full screen mode.
• The recent file history size has been increased to 10.
• The menu bar will optionally auto-hide in full screen mode when the mouse is not hovering over it.
• All new Hemingway mode button will disable backspace and delete keys.
• Two new HUDs display statistical information on the current writing session and document.
• Auto-matched characters can be customized.
• Pandoc PDF export now has better defaults for margins and hyperlinks.
• Shortcut keys using Alt now use Ctrl to avoid conflicts with OS shortcut keys and to better accommodate non-USA keyboards.
• High DPI scaling has been enabled for Qt 5.6 and above.
• Dragging and dropping an image into the editor will now insert the image link at the mouse location.
• Classic Light and Classic Dark themes have new color palettes.
• Various aesthetics have been added to the main window.
• New application translations are available for the following languages:
  • German
  • Italian
  • Japanese
  • Portuguese (Brazil)
  • Russian
• Sundry other fixes have been added.

Ubuntu Linux users can download the latest version of ghostwriter from the Launchpad PPA using the following commands in a terminal window:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:wereturtle/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ghostwriter

You may also visit the wereturtle package archive page directly. For more information on how to add a PPA to your system, please see the Launchpad guide. Note that this version of ghostwriter has been packaged in the PPA solely for the following Ubuntu versions:

• Trusty (14.04)
• Vivid (15.04)
• Wily (15.10)
• Xenial (16.04)
• Yakkety (16.10)

Finally, openSUSE packages are available for download here.

This release contains the following features and fixes:

• Added a new Markdown cheat sheet HUD window.
• Fixed DPI scaling for HTML Preview and Quick Reference Guide.
• Added proper English translation ts and qm files to support plurals.
• Updated ghostwriter to select application translation to use based on OS locale.
• Fixed Qt 5 API call that was causing ghostwriter to fail compilation under Qt 4.

Ubuntu Linux users can download the latest version of ghostwriter from the Launchpad PPA using the following commands in a terminal window:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:wereturtle/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ghostwriter

You may also visit the wereturtle package archive page directly. For more information on how to add a PPA to your system, please see the Launchpad guide. Note that this version of ghostwriter has been packaged in the PPA solely for the following Ubuntu versions:

• Trusty (14.04)
• Vivid (15.04)
• Wily (15.10)
• Xenial (16.04)

Finally, openSUSE packages are available for download here.

This release contains the following fixes:

• Fixed an issue where export of Markdown document using Pandoc or other command line tools failed when spaces were in the output file path.
• Fixed an issue where numbered lists that were sublists to a bullet point list were not highlighted properly.

Ubuntu Linux users can download the latest version of ghostwriter from the Launchpad PPA using the following commands in a terminal window:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:wereturtle/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ghostwriter

You may also visit the wereturtle package archive page directly. For more information on how to add a PPA to your system, please see the Launchpad guide. Note that this version of ghostwriter has been packaged in the PPA solely for the following Ubuntu versions:

• Trusty (14.04)
• Vivid (15.04)
• Wily (15.10)

This release contains the following fixes:

• Fixed an issue where anchor tags for headings inserted for HTML Preview were conflicting with Pandoc's heading anchor tags.

Ubuntu Linux users can download the latest version of ghostwriter from the Launchpad PPA using the following commands in a terminal window:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:wereturtle/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ghostwriter

You may also visit the wereturtle package archive page directly. For more information on how to add a PPA to your system, please see the Launchpad guide. Note that this version of ghostwriter has been packaged in the PPA solely for the following Ubuntu versions:

• Trusty (14.04)
• Vivid (15.04)
• Wily (15.10)

This release contains the following fixes:

• Fixed an issue on Windows where UTF-8 encoding was not being detected on opening a file unless there was a BOM present. The application now defaults to UTF-8 when opening a file.

Ubuntu Linux users can download the latest version of ghostwriter from the Launchpad PPA using the following commands in a terminal window:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:wereturtle/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ghostwriter

You may also visit the wereturtle package archive page directly. For more information on how to add a PPA to your system, please see the Launchpad guide. Note that this version of ghostwriter has been packaged in the PPA solely for the following Ubuntu versions:

• Trusty (14.04)
• Vivid (15.04)
• Wily (15.10)

This release contains the following fixes:

• Fixed an issue where spelling suggestions were not always displayed in the context menu if the menu key was pressed on the keyboard.

Ubuntu Linux users can download the latest version of ghostwriter from the Launchpad PPA using the following commands in a terminal window:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:wereturtle/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ghostwriter

You may also visit the wereturtle package archive page directly. For more information on how to add a PPA to your system, please see the Launchpad guide. Note that this version of ghostwriter has been packaged in the PPA solely for the following Ubuntu versions:

• Trusty (14.04)
• Vivid (15.04)
• Wily (15.10)