What shipped, what this sprint is for, and what comes after.

This sprint began with Shortcuts, then gave the revision a desk of its own, then replaced the workflow tree with the route you actually walk.

• Apple Shortcuts. Create a manuscript, start a submission, add a deadline, update a status, or ask what is due — from Shortcuts or Siri, without opening the window.
• Settings, the Mac way. A proper macOS settings window with a searchable sidebar: General, Profile, Integrations, AI, Data, Workflow, Updates, About.
• Revision workspace. Reviewer comments become a ledger of work: an owner, a disposition, a manuscript action, and an approved response. A health view at the top of the desk. Export a pack for a co-author who still owes a paragraph.
• Revision tasks, in the open. Outstanding comments now live in the sidebar and on the dashboard attention bar, with internal due dates, so a revision does not hide inside a single submission.
• Route to acceptance. The old workflow tree is gone. In its place: a three-column figure of how a paper actually moves — author gate, the revision loop, and the only exit once the editors accept. You are here, in one look. Tap a station to open that stage.
• A quieter attention bar. Deadline and revision-task banners share one policy, including secondary reminders and stale-submission nudges, without shouting.

A real fix to how submissions are tracked, plus a new PDF progress report you can hand to your supervisor.

• Progress reports. Generate a polished PDF summarizing where every manuscript stands: current status, submission history, and a days-open comparison chart across everything you select. Add a short AI-written overview if you'd like one.
• Fixed a submission-tracking bug. Choosing a journal right away and then picking a different one before ever sending could create two live submissions instead of retargeting one. That's fixed, and existing manuscripts repair themselves automatically the next time you open them.
• Smarter checklists. The manuscript file always leads the checklist now, with a tracked-changes copy included automatically. Each item can hold a typed note or the actual content, not just a file, and attaching the manuscript file can now pull straight from your latest saved version.
• Clean up your library. Authors and journals can now be deleted directly, with a clear warning if they're linked to real manuscripts or submissions.
• One key does more. An OpenRouter key can now power journal requirement lookups too, so a single key covers both AI drafting and requirement lookups.
• Easier to see what you're typing. API key and text fields throughout the app are now much easier to see and click into, and every key field has a visible Save button for peace of mind.
• Correct a status manually. A new "Update Status" action lets you fix or backfill a submission's status without walking the full checklist.
• Refreshed AI model list. Updated to current models across providers, with older and unnecessarily expensive options removed.
• Fixed: the pinned workflow header could lose track of which journal you were targeting while scrolling.
• Fixed: onboarding's Skip button disappeared on one page for no reason.
• Fixed: a duplicate Edit button on the author detail page.

The biggest release yet: your submissions, tracked from hello to decision.

• New dashboard. A greeting that tells you the truth: everything on track, or exactly what needs attention — open manuscripts, deadlines, and overdue items in one view.
• At-a-glance counts. Submitted, in review, in draft, accepted, published — and overdue — always visible in the sidebar.
• Cover letters. Draft the cover letter inside the submission editor; it stays with the manuscript it belongs to.
• Editor decisions. Record the decision letter when it arrives and see the whole correspondence per journal.
• OpenRouter support. AI review analysis now runs on OpenRouter alongside Claude and local Ollama models.
• Calendar integration. Deadlines appear month by month; sync to Reminders and Calendar.
• Refined interface. Smoother motion, system accent colours, faster filtering, and improved list cards throughout.
• Fixed: licence activation could time out due to a mis-set endpoint; it now reaches the correct server.
• Fixed: date formatting in data export.

Bug fixes and improvements.

• OpenRouter support. Added as an AI provider for review analysis and writing assistance.
• Cover letter & editor decision views. New views for drafting cover letters and recording editor decisions.
• Improved list cards. Easier to scan, better interaction.
• Submission status handling. Streamlined and more accurate.
• Fixed: date formatting in the data exporter.

This release repairs the auto-update system and hardens your data backups. If you're reading this in the updater but the update fails to install, please download this version once manually from manuscripts-app.com — updates from 1.0.8 onward will install normally.

• Fixed in-app updates failing with "An error occurred while launching the installer." The sandboxed app now uses Sparkle's installer service correctly, so future updates install without a hitch.
• Fixed a bug where choosing a custom backup folder (Settings → Data) silently stopped backups from being written. Custom backup folders now work reliably, and if Manuscripts ever loses permission to the folder you'll see a clear message instead of silent failure.
• Manuscripts now takes a special pre-migration backup of your library whenever an update changes the database format, and keeps those backups indefinitely — they're never cleaned up by the rolling backup limit.
• Adding a single deadline to Reminders now shows an error message if the sync fails, instead of failing silently.
• Improved diagnostic logging so support can help you faster if something goes wrong at launch.

Bug fixes based on user feedback.

• Lists now refresh immediately when a new manuscript is added — no more needing to switch tabs to see it appear.
• Trial users can now enter a license key directly in Settings → General → License, rather than being sent back to the main window with no input field.
• The "Submitted" and "In Review" counts in the sidebar are now accurate. "Submitted" counts manuscripts sent to a journal; "In Review" counts manuscripts currently under peer review.
• Calendar integration now lets you choose which calendar deadlines sync to. A new Clear Error button lets you recover from sync errors without restarting the app.
• Upcoming deadlines and active submissions on the Dashboard are now clickable and navigate to the manuscript detail view.
• The abstract text field in the manuscript editor is cleaner and easier to interact with.

Privacy and security improvements.

• License keys are no longer transmitted to the conversion-tracking endpoint. Conversion events now send a hashed identifier instead, keeping your key out of downstream systems.
• Clearer disclosure during trial signup about the anonymous machine identifier we use to prevent trial restarts.

This is the first build delivered via Sparkle's auto-update system. If you're seeing this, the update path is working end to end — download, signature verification, and bundle swap all succeeded.

• Auto-updates are now wired in. You'll see "Check for Updates…" under the Manuscripts menu, and Manuscripts will check quietly in the background on launch.