Version 2.3 Beta 1

Release Notes

This is a beta release of the next release version, and is intended for testing purposes. Please be careful when using this version on live writing projects, and make sure you take frequent backups.

Please check the changelog for an overview of changes. The full release notes will be added to the final release.

Detailed Changelog

Major Features

• A new Welcome dialog has been added. The dialog replaces the Open Project dialog and the New Project Wizard. The Welcome dialog features artwork created by Louis Durrant, and a custom design for the project list. New projects can be created by a form available from the same dialog, and features a simplified set of options. Issue #1506. PRs #1647, #1681 and #1689.
• It is now possible to create a new project by copying the content of another project, or a Zip file of a project, including a backup. This option is available from the New Project feature of the Welcome dialog. Issue #841. PRs #1680 and #1684.
• The Preferences dialog has been completely redesigned. All options are now available in a single, scrollable list with appropriate section headers. All sections are available as navigation buttons along the side, and it is also possible to search for settings in a search box at the
  top. The design matches that created for the Manuscript Build Settings dialog added in 2.1. Issues #1603 and #1604. PR #1652.
• The Project Details dialog has been redesigned to match the other new dialogs. It has also been modified to properly handle multiple novel folders. The novel selector is placed at the top of the dialog, and affects all data in the tabs. The Novel Title info has been removed. PR #1665.
• The Manuscript Build Settings dialog has been updated to use the new config layout classes, which are more flexible in terms of content flow. PR #1674.
• A new root folder type called "Templates" has been added. Any document added here will show up in the Add Item menu in the Project Tree view under a "From Template" submenu. Selecting such an entry will create a new document at the selected location in the project, and populate it with the content of the template file. Issues #996 and #1125. PR #1688.
• The About novelWriter dialog has been simplified to only show some key information and the credits text. A link to the releases page is available for checking release notes. Keeping the release notes online means it is easier to update them, and make them more visually interesting as the formatting of the dialog box is limited. PR #1695.
• The old Check for Updates dialog has been removed. Checking for new releases of novelWriter can be done directly in the Welcome dialog or the About dialog by clicking "Check Now" next to the "Latest Version" label. PR #1696.

Minor Features

• A new drop down menu in the References panel below the Document Viewer has an option to filter out inactive notes in the various tag lists in the tabs on the panel. Issue #1653. PR #1654.
• The Novel Title fields, which no longer makes much sense after it was possible to add multiple novel folders to a project, has been fully dropped. Issue #1655. PR #1669.
• The document header for ODT manuscript files can now be customised. Issue #1505. PR #1675.
• The Manuscript Build tool can now insert characters (Point of View or Focus) into chapter headers and other headers. By default, it inserts the tag value, but the display name for a tag can be set with a | character in the @tag definition if a different text is desired. Issue #1468. PR #1677.
• A new modified comment format for the editor has been added. Instead of the regular comment using %, this one uses %~. The only difference is that the latter will never be exported to a manuscript at all, while regular comments can be exported when a setting is enabled. Issue #1075. PR #1690.
• It is now possible to change a document's label from the first heading in the document by right-clicking on it and selecting "Rename to heading". Issue #1443. PR #1692.
• The content of the Project Word List can now be exported and imported using plain text files. Issue #1560. PR #1691.
• The content of the Outline View can now be exported to a CSV file to be opened in any spreadsheet application. Issue #1507. PR #1697.

Usability

• A Create New submenu in the Project Tree context menu has been added, which give quick access to the items at the top level of the Add Item menu. Issue #1519. PR #1679.
• When multiple paragraphs are selected in the editor, and any of the comment features are toggled, or formatting is reset, the action is applied to all selected paragraphs, not just the first. Issue #1042 and #1687. PR #1690.

Packaging

• The in-app version format is now identical to the version tag, and the format for Ubuntu pre-release packages has been updated so that they are compatible with release packages. That is, if you add both the release and pre-release repos from Launchpad, release packages will now properly replace pre-release packages when running apt upgrade. PR #1659.

Code Improvements

• The Storage class has been refactored. It is the class that handles the project storage folder for a novelWriter project. The refactoring is a step towards allowing single file storage for projects as an alternative to project folders. Issue #977. PR #1635.
• All theme colours are now proper QColor objects from the start, which avoids the need to create a large number of these where they are used. PR #1656.
• A nwProject.bak file is no longer kept in the project folder. It never really served any purpose. The project file is still written to a temp file before the old file is replaced, which prevents partial overwrites. PR #1670.
• Other minor code improvements in PRs #1693 and 1694.