Ulysses is an exceptional text editor for the Mac, iPad, and iPhone with an unrivaled set of advanced features and a beautiful design that is always being refined and improved. The winner of an Apple Design Award, Ulysses features a distinctive balance of power-user features that writers appreciate in a simple, elegant, distraction-free UI that makes the app a pleasure to use.

A terrific example of the power available in Ulysses is its publishing tools. Users can publish to the most popular blogging platforms from right inside Ulysses. The app includes deep integration with WordPress, Ghost, and Medium, allowing you to publish directly to them, complete with images, tags, and excerpts. Ulysses 22 was just released and added support for Micro.blog and the ability to update previously-published WordPress posts too.

Ulysses has built-in grammar and style checking for over 20 languages and a special dashboard in the sidebar that includes statistics, keywords, and footnotes. An outline of the headings in your writing provides a handy bird’s-eye view of your work and a way to navigate your document.

The app’s Library sidebar helps order your writing into groups that can be nested. Along with features like sync, powerful search and filtering options, keyword support, in-line images that can be stored locally or remotely on a server, and new customization options, Ulysses is as flexible as it is powerful.

You can also set character, word, and other types of writing goals that can be attached to a single document or entire group, which, combined with deadlines, is a fantastic way to form good writing habits. Then, when you’re finished writing, Ulysses has abundant export options, including plain text, Markdown, TextBundle, rich text, DOCX, ePub, HTML, and PDF. To learn more about Ulysses, visit ulysses.app.

Ulysses is free to try before deciding whether to subscribe for $4.99/month or $39.99/year. Students can subscribe for six months at a time for $10.99. MacStories readers can take advantage of a special extended three-month free trial for a limited time. It’s a terrific way to discover the app’s full capabilities, so be sure to check out Ulysses’ new features right away.

Our thanks to Ulysses for sponsoring MacStories this week.

Raycast is a native Mac productivity tool that defies definition because it’s so much more than just a replacement for Spotlight. By invoking Raycast from your keyboard, you can launch any app, but you can also:

• Search for and access your files
• Use third-party apps and services like G Suite, GitHub, Jira, Asana, Linear, and more
• Check your schedule
• Start, schedule, and join Zoom meetings
• Access the clipboard
• Set a reminder
• Take a quick note
• Control system functions on your Mac
• And a whole lot more

Raycast is extensible with scripts too. Plus, the development team is working on an API that’s already in alpha that will make it easier than ever to get the most out of Raycast. See for yourself what you can do:

Raycast is a native app, which means it behaves as you’d expect on your Mac and is fast and responsive. The app also respects your privacy. There’s no login to use Raycast, your data doesn’t leave your Mac, and your credentials for third-party services are safely stored on your Mac in Keychain.

By letting you control your most important tools with just a few keystrokes, Raycast keeps you focused on what’s important to you. You avoid inefficient context switching and eliminate clutter, summoning what you need when you need it, so you can work smarter and more efficiently all day long.

Download Raycast for free right now to give it a try and level up your productivity.

Our thanks to Raycast for sponsoring MacStories this week.