How to Use Ulysses to Write and Publish Faster

Ulysses is a distraction-free writing app for Mac, iPad and iPhone that stores everything in a single library and exports to WordPress, Medium, PDF and DOCX. It has been the default long-form app for a lot of working writers since 2013, and it has kept one controversial decision the whole time: no one-time purchase, subscription only.

Short answer: create a library, build a group per project, write in the sheet editor with markdown shortcuts, then use the publish panel to push to WordPress or export DOCX. It costs $5.99/month or $49.99/year, and there is no Windows or Android version.

What Does Ulysses Actually Do Better Than a Plain Text Editor?

Two things. First, the sheet model: a long article is split into sheets you can reorder by dragging, while the exporter stitches them back into one document. Second, the goal tracking — set a daily word count and a deadline, and the app recalculates the daily target for you.

If you write 500-word posts once a week, none of that matters. If you write 4,000-word pieces with sections you move around, the sheet model saves genuine time.

How Do You Set Up the Library Properly?

1. Install from the Mac App Store. Open it and pick a library location — iCloud if you write on iPad too, local if you want manual backups you control.
2. Create a group per client or publication, then a sub-group per piece. The hierarchy is two levels deep at most; deeper and you stop finding things.
3. Open Preferences and set your daily goal. Pick a number you actually hit on a bad day, not a good one — the streak counter is punishing otherwise.
4. Turn on automatic backups in Preferences. Local only, and check the folder exists.

Sync is reliable but not instant. If you switch devices mid-paragraph, wait for the cloud icon to settle before typing.

How Do You Structure a Long Piece in Sheets?

Write the outline as separate sheets first, one per section, then fill them in. Dragging sections around at the sheet level is much faster than cut-and-paste in a single document.

Use the sheet title as the H2 you intend to publish. Ulysses maps heading levels to export styles, so a title you wrote as a sheet title can come out as the wrong heading level if you are not careful.

Is Markdown or the Rich Text Editor Better Here?

Markdown, for anything going to a CMS. The markdown XL mode handles links, footnotes and inline formatting without the toolbar, and what you paste into WordPress survives intact.

The rich text editor is nicer for print and PDF exports where you want typographic control. Mixing the two in one project is where people get tangled — decide per group.

How Do You Export or Publish Directly?

The WordPress publishing panel works with a self-hosted site through XML-RPC or the newer REST connection, depending on version. You attach a category and tags, set the status, and publish.

Two caveats worth knowing before you rely on it:

• Images placed in the editor are uploaded, but the layout control is limited. Build complex posts in WordPress itself.
• If your site uses a page builder, the direct publish will produce plain content, not builder blocks.

For anything but a straightforward blog post, export as HTML and paste into the block editor. Slower by 90 seconds, fewer surprises.

What Are the Real Downsides?

Subscription-only is the big one. Writers who want to buy software once and keep it have been complaining for a decade, and the answer has not changed. There is no Windows version at all, which kills it for mixed-OS teams.

Smaller annoyance: the library is not a plain folder of .md files you can open in another editor without exporting first.

Who Is This For?

Journalists, newsletter writers, and book authors on Apple hardware who write daily and value the word-count discipline. Not for teams that need real-time collaboration — Ulysses has no multiplayer editing.

Key Takeaways

• Ulysses is a markdown writing app for Mac/iOS with a single library and sheet-based long-form writing.
• Pricing is $5.99/month or $49.99/year; no lifetime license, no Windows or Android app.
• Split long articles into sheets and reorder by dragging; export stitches them back together.
• Use markdown mode for CMS output, rich text only for PDF and print.
• Direct WordPress publishing works for simple posts; use HTML export for anything with complex layout.