Highland 2 for PC and Mac

Software Reviews and Criticism

• By Avieira781

  Never going back

  I'm a longtime listener to John August and Craig Mazin's Scriptnotes podcast (and an as-yet unproduced screenwriter, of course), and when I first heard about John's alternative screenwriting software, I was skeptical. I had been using Final Draft for ten years (after writing my first scripts on a typewriter in my teens and then in Microsoft Word with preset tabs - I'm not too old, though, I swear). After using Highland and then Highland 2 for my last two scripts (and a novel I just started), I'm never going back to Final Draft unless I absolutely have to. It's hard to explain why until you give it a shot, but it has a word processing pane with a basic sans serif font to write the raw content. You can toggle simply between that and a pane that shows you the formatting as you go. It took some getting used to (I had been writing scripts the same way for over a decade) but it's so much smoother. Final Draft is awful and clunky, with awkward features that aren't useful to the actual writing process.

  
  
• By sbbn

  Favorite writing app

  I've been fortunate enough to have been part of the beta program for this app so I've had the luxury of using it for the better part of a year before this release and seeing many of the iterations it went through before reaching this point. I've used many other text, markdown, and screenwriting apps (including that overly expensive bloatware "industry standard" app - you know which one I'm talking about) and this quickly became my go to app for screenwriting and article/story writing. I love the simplicity and minimalism of it, especially in full-screen. I had the original Highland and really enjoyed that but this upgrade is such a dramatic improvement over the prior version that they feel more like different apps than different versions of the same app. Well worth the cost and it's not subscription based (which is a HUGE selling point for me).

  
  
• By Khrob Edmonds

  Elegant

  Highland 2 is a brilliant tool, not only for screenwriters, but for writers of all kinds. It is a clean and fast way to work with text. The file format is plain text, so techy types who like version control will appreciate that. I’ve written 2 feature scripts in Highland 2 and worked with others on several more projects. There are many brilliant features, but I’ll highlight my favorite: Including Files You can write each scene or sequence in individual Fountain files, then {{INCLUDE:}} them into an overall document, which makes it easy to change the flow without copious copying and pasting. I have found this not only simplifies dealing with a script at various levels of abstraction (Where should this sequence go? Before this one or after? Try both!) but it makes tackling edits to your script a much less daunting task - you’re not looking at one enormous script, but several manageable chunks. Since writing is re-writing, I think this alone makes H2 worth it. Some apps don’t do enough. Some do too much. Some rare and beautiful apps give you just the tools you need, just as you need them. Highland 2 is one of these. [Disclosure: While I was lucky enough to be a beta tester for Highland 2, I have no personal or professional affiliation Quote Unquote Apps and have purchased my copy of the full app]

  
  
• By budexxon

  Best text editor for writing I’ve ever worked with.

  I’ve been using Highland 2 in Beta for over a year now, and it quickly became my favorite text editor for most kinds of writing. I still use other apps for notes, but for essays, blog posts, short stories, novels, screenplays, treatments, proposals, pitches, anything you can think of, writing in Highland 2 is a joy. The themes are beautiful, and there’s a lot of power here that you won’t find in other text editors. There’s a scratchpad for document-wide notes, a bin to keep snippets of text or entire chapters that just don’t fit in the document right now but you still want to keep around, the markdown it uses is pretty easy to pick up, and everything in the app seems designed to keep you writing. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a great text editor. It’s not just for screenwriting.

  
  

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