Automatic Text Analysis
ProWritingAid automatically analyses your text using various statistics and its proprietary algorithms. The analyses are based on established guidelines for writing, which can be evaluated. Make use of adverbs sparingly, fewer transitions, less pronouns, glue words etc. These rules will be more or less conscious if you want to write well. ProWritingAid makes them easily visible.
The Realtime feature allows you to quickly browse through documents. It allows you to fix any spelling, grammar, or style errors.
Once you’ve fixed the errors, you can start to edit the individual reports. These let you examine word choices, sentence structures and repeated words. To determine the areas where you need to concentrate to see the best results in the shortest period of time, you can run a Summary Report.
How to Utilize it
ProWritingAid offers a variety of formats. You can use their Web Editor for editing documents in your browser. Additionally, the browser extensions allow quick grammar corrections for websites like Twitter as well as Facebook. Word addins for Windows, Mac and Windows let you edit Word documents right from the start.
However, today we’ll be focusing on the Desktop App, which is a tool for working on Ulysses documents.
You’ll need to register on ProWritingAid.com to be able to use the tool. There are a variety of ways you can use Ulysses documents and ProWritingAid. Ulysses writers have the option to use the web editor or the desktop application. You’ll require a premium license to edit more 500 words at one time and use the desktop app.
The desktop application is capable of reading and writing eight file types, including Markdown. Export a Ulysses document as Markdown File. Next, use ProWritingAid to modify the text, and then import it back to your Ulysses Library for further processing. This is fast and easy. However, you can’t save images and other sheet attachments, such as writing goals. After playing around with the app, I found this method to be suitable for my workflow.
Start ProWritingAid. Create Markdown files. Markdown file.
Go to your Ulysses file, select the text you want to copy and then select the “Copy Markdown” option from the Edit menu.
Paste into ProWritingAid.
Then, go one at a time through the reports and edit within ProWritingAid.
Once you’ve finished editing, simply copy and select the text.
Paste the text from the previous version onto your Ulysses page, using the “Paste from Markdown“ option in the Edit menu.
The Reports
In every ProWritingAid report, problems found in your text appear underlined. Click on the underlined area to get the explanation or suggestion. If you require an idea, click it. You can simply click on a suggestion, e.g.
The reports come with an explanation of the report, as well as an online link that will take you to a wealth of details about the report on ProWritingAid. You will find some examples to provide you with an idea of the length and depth of my explanation.
Writing Style Review This report was designed to improve your writing style. The report, for instance, identifies passive voice in your text. Active voice sentences are more readable to read. Writing Style Check additionally identifies the use of adverbs and repeated sentence beginnings and offers suggestions to improve readability.
Overused Words: This report examines the meaning of words that are utilized frequently in daily life that they are almost meaningless. ProWritingAid can tell if you’ve used them too often.
Verify the length of sentences
Texts with sentences of varied lengths are more interesting to read. The report shows the length of your sentences as a bar graph to let you know at a glance if there’s an opportunity for improvement. Additionally it will highlight especially long sentences, since they can make a text less understandable.
Pricing
ProWritingAid provides an online tool that is completely free. While it’s more difficult to use and does not offer access to all reports, it can be useful for creating an initial impression. Premium memberships let you access the desktop application as well as add-ons, and are priced starting at $79 per annum or $399 for lifetime license. ProWritingAid provides a 14-day money back guarantee that you will be satisfied with your decision.
Final Thoughts
ProWritingAid isn’t intended to replace the human editor. It focuses on specific aspects of text and does an excellent job. While you will still need to edit the text you write, ProWritingAid can speed up the process and make it more efficient.