Getting started

Settings

Choose how Manuscript looks and the face your manuscript is set in. You set them once, and they hold.

Open Settings

  1. Choose Manuscript ▸ Settings… ⌘,.

What you can set

  • Appearance. System, Light or Dark. System follows your computer’s light or dark setting.
  • Composer typeface. The font your manuscript is set in. The list holds the monospaced fonts on your computer, each set in its own face. Type to search it.

The sample at the foot of the window shows the start of a manuscript in the face and appearance you chose.

A change applies at once, in every window. It holds the next time you open Manuscript.

If you choose a font and later remove it from your computer, the field shows its name struck through. Your manuscript uses another face until the font is back.

The settings file

Your settings are kept in a file. Manuscript ▸ Open Settings File, beside Settings…, opens it in the app your computer opens .json files with. If there’s no file yet, Manuscript makes one first.

It’s at ~/.config/workroom/manuscript/settings.json.

It holds only the settings you’ve changed. Anything left out is the default.

{
  "appearance": "dark",
  "composer_font_family": "DejaVu Sans Mono"
}
  • appearance is "system", "light" or "dark".
  • composer_font_family is the name of a monospaced font on your computer.

Save the file and Manuscript applies it straight away, in every window. Comments and trailing commas are fine. A key Manuscript doesn’t know is left as it is.

Changes you make in the Settings window are written to the file too. Your comments and the order of your keys stay where you left them.

When the file doesn’t read

If the file has a mistake, Manuscript keeps the last settings that read. The status bar says what’s wrong, with its line and column, and that Manuscript is using your last settings. Open Settings File beside it takes you to the file. The Settings window says the same at its top.

A value Manuscript can’t use counts as a mistake too, such as "appearance": "dim".

Until the file reads again, a change in the Settings window applies but isn’t saved. Fix the file and save it, and the message goes.

Your agent

Your agent can change your settings too, by editing the same file.