Earlier today we released SmartEdit Pro, the latest product in our SmartEdit suite of Add-Ins and apps. SmartEdit Pro is an extended version of SmartEdit for Word containing extra features requested by many of the professional editors who use SmartEdit as part of their workflow.
Back in March we sent out a survey to all users of SmartEdit for Word and the stand-alone version of SmartEdit. We asked 10 questions aimed at better understanding how our users were using the apps and what changes and improvements they would like to see.
The answers to these questions drove our development over the past three months, leading first to SmartEdit for Word version 6 in April — a vastly improved Word Add-In that was more intuitive and faster to use. This was followed by a similar Add-In for our own free software Atomic Scribbler, released in early May, aimed at creative writers who do not use Microsoft Word. It ends today with the release of SmartEdit Pro — a new app containing features requested by professional editors who work with many writers.
SmartEdit Pro adds a series of report generating features to SmartEdit, allowing the editor to produce custom reports based on SmartEdit results that can be emailed to their clients. It also extends the customisable elements of SmartEdit checks so that projects can be created for writers, novels or genrés of work, applying different rules to each.
As mentioned in earlier blog posts, our plan has been to end development and sale of the stand-alone version of SmartEdit once SmartEdit Pro was released. The stand-alone version was the first SmartEdit app and though rich in features it did not adequately serve the needs of either end of the SmartEdit user base — individual creative writers who write in Word and Editors working with a multitude of writers.
As of today the stand-alone version is no longer available to purchase. Existing users can still download the last release of the app from here, but new users cannot purchase or use the software.
Our expectation is that users of the stand-alone version — most of whom used the app for its external reports — will migrate to the SmartEdit Pro Add-In for Word over time, and that many users of the current Word Add-In will upgrade to the Pro version.
To facilitate this, we’re offering an upgrade path for all users of SmartEdit for Word from within the 6.3 version of the app. Download the latest version and click the upgrade button to go to the upgrade page on our website.
Until May 31st, we’re offering a 20% discount on both the upgrade and the complete SmartEdit Pro app. Follow the links inside SmartEdit for Word or from the Buy page to avail of the discount.
What next for SmartEdit?
SmartEdit is our primary development focus and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. To ensure this remains so we have ceased development of our older products (PageFour, All My Journals and AtoZ Notebook). Our latest product release in 2017 — Atomic Scribbler — has moved to a free model with SmartEdit as an optional Add-In, making the development focus of that product also heavily slanted towards SmartEdit.
We’re planning additions and improvements to the SmartEdit analysis engine, hopefully for a release later in the year, and we’re expanding our marketing efforts — getting the word out to more and more writers about SmartEdit.
We’re also looking at a business document product for release later in 2018.
[A full description of the additional features in SmartEdit Pro is in this Knowledge Base topic.]