NodinWrite

Guide/Part Ten · Settings & help

Preferences

Preferences holds your author name and license key, the defaults for new documents, appearance and writing settings, and your custom dictionary, each on its own page: General, New documents, Appearance, Writing, and Dictionary. Everything in it applies to this computer only.

Open Preferences in any of these ways:

  • On Home, click the Settings button (three short lines) at the top right.
  • Press Ctrl+, / ⌘, on Home or in a document.
  • On Windows, choose File ▸ Preferences while a document is open. On macOS, choose GLASS ▸ Preferences.

Choose a page from the sidebar, make your changes, then click Save to keep them. Cancel or Esc closes Preferences without changing anything.

General

  • Author name: the author GLASS puts on each new document. Home also greets you by this name.
  • License key: your key, with all but its last five characters hidden, and the date it was activated on this computer, with Release this computer and Change key. If GLASS isn't activated on this computer, you see Enter key instead. See Your license key below.
  • Reopen last document: GLASS opens your most recent document when it starts, unless recovered work is waiting on Home.

New documents

  • Font: the typeface, and a size from 10 to 14 pt.
  • Line spacing: Single, 1.15, 1.5, or Double.
  • Page size: US Letter or A4.

These apply to each new blank document, whether you start it with File ▸ New or the New blank card on Home. The Manuscript template keeps its own formatting. Documents you already have don't change.

Appearance

  • Interface size: Small, Default, Large, or Larger. Makes the menus, toolbar, panels, and dialogs bigger or smaller, and leaves the page at the size you zoomed it to. See Accessibility.
  • Dark Pages: pages show dark. This is the same setting as View ▸ Dark Pages.

Writing

  • Proofreading language: the English that proofreading checks against (American, British, Canadian, or Australian). See Live proofreading.
  • Autocorrect as you type: dashes, ellipses, fractions, and capitals; on by default. See Typing & autocorrect.
  • Smart quotes: curly quotes rather than straight, on by default.

Dictionary

Every word you've added to the dictionary, with a remove button beside each and Remove all for the whole list. A removed word is struck through, with Undo to keep it. Removals happen when you click Save. See Custom dictionary.

Your license key

The first time GLASS opens on a computer, it asks for your license key. The key is in the email you got after the free alpha checkout. Paste it in and click Continue. GLASS needs an internet connection to check the key, and it won't ask again on that computer. If the license service can't be reached, the main button becomes Try again, and you can click Continue without activating: GLASS opens normally, with a banner saying it isn't activated, and asks again the next time it starts. Quit closes GLASS. Don't have a key yet? The alpha is free: get one at nodinwrite.com/alpha.

Lost your key? Sign in to your Creem orders with the email address you used at checkout. Your key is shown on the order.

To switch to a different key, open Preferences and click Change key. Enter the new key and click Activate. Your current key stays in place until the new one is accepted, so a typo or a dropped connection leaves you where you were. Cancel or Esc backs out.

Each key can be active on a limited number of computers at once. To move GLASS to another computer, click Release this computer and confirm with Release. This frees the activation so the key can be used elsewhere. GLASS keeps running, and asks for a key the next time it starts on this computer. Releasing needs an internet connection; offline, GLASS says so and leaves the activation in place. If you can't get to the old computer, ask us to free it.

GLASS checks the key quietly each time it starts. If it can't reach the license check, for example because you're offline, it says nothing and carries on. If the key has stopped being valid, a banner appears at the top of the window, and you keep working: GLASS never locks you out of your manuscript. Enter key asks for a new key, and your current one stays in place until the new one is accepted. Later hides the banner until the next time GLASS starts.

The license check is one of only two things GLASS sends over the network. The other is one check for updates per launch. Nothing you write is ever sent. See the privacy policy.