Draft version control for writing

I am composing this blog entry with a new tool called Draft which bills itself as version control for writing.

This is a web based editor that uses Markdown as its primary language and allows you to sync to various file networks, post to various blog targets and share with other writers. It supports Dropbox, iCloud and Google Docs which means it can easily fit into your existing workflow.

For me, I like its version control feature which allows me to roll back changes or view previous versions. This is useful because I typically write in several phases and sometimes I like to go back to an earlier phase especially if I’ve lost my train of thought or if I need to rework a section.

I’m not big on browser based editors, I have a fear of hitting the back button and losing my work, but this editor literally saves the document on every keystroke. So the worse you can do is lose a single letter. In the bottom left of the window is a little status that says “saving” which makes me feel a little bit better but I’m not fully used to it yet.

The author of Draft has been adding new features rather quickly and if you sign up as a paid user you will get access to early features. I think this app shows a lot of promise and I for one will surely continue to use it.