With innovative features for navigating, editing, and referencing text, Author is ideal for everything from note-taking to academic writing. Here are just a few options you won’t find in other writing apps.

Section headings make a document easier to read, but in Author they also make it easier to navigate: Jump to any section using the Headings menu, or create an inline hyperlink (Format > Link > Internal Link) to go to a specific heading. When you export your document to PDF, Author automatically generates a table of contents based on your headings.

You can also mark text (Format > Mark As Marked Text) you want to focus on while skimming or come back to while editing.

Quick tip: View your document as an outline by hiding everything but headings and marked text! Simply press Command-minus (-) or pinch in on a trackpad.

Author’s unique approach to search gives you a new view of your prose. Search for a word or phrase (press Command-F), and the app shows only paragraphs containing that text, hiding everything else—great for seeing if you’re using it consistently or too frequently. Click any instance to jump to it.

Quick tip: Select a word or phrase before using Find to immediately show all instances of that text.

Need to keep track of the source of a quote or statement? Select the text and choose Format > Link > Citation (or press Command-T). Click Manual Entry to add a source of any kind, or search for well-known books and authors to quickly add a citation.

Quick tip: While editing, click any text with a citation to see the source. When you export your document, Author automatically adds references inline and creates a dedicated References section.

Author makes it easy to create a glossary of unfamiliar terms and concepts. To add a word or phrase, select it and choose Defined Concepts > Define (or press Command-D), then type a description or a link to an existing entry. Author creates the glossary for the References section of a document when you export it.

Quick tip: The glossary also has a hidden talent: Click the Map button in the main window (or press Command-M) and Author maps your defined concepts, with lines linking definitions that reference each other. You can drag and drop concepts to organize them visually, and tweak definitions to change relationships.

Author’s Journal feature (Command-J) gives you a handy repository for notes, references, links, images, and PDFs—no matter which document you’re working in.

Quick tip: Use the Headings feature within the Journal to keep it organized.