Like many out there, I’ve been enjoying the heck out of Scrivener for iOS. The portability, the familiarity with the desktop client, the functionality therein… we all know it was taking its sweet time getting here, but I think we can all agree that the finished product surpassed our expectations.

One thing I was curious about though, was how I could port my original blogging methodology in Scrivener for the desktop, to Scrivener on iOS. I was even more curious as to whether there were even better ways to blog with it on the go, since iOS hardware is so damn portable.

Luckily there is, and I wanted to share it with the folks that may not know.

A little help from the iOS app ecosystem…

Out of the box, Scrivener doesn’t export text to blogs and it shouldn’t. That’s not its core purpose. For me at least, this omission of functionality wasn’t a let down. The good news though, is that there are plenty of apps out there that can pick up the slack in this regard and the one that did this best for me was an app called Workflow.

Now Workflow could merit its own post worth thousands of words alone. I’ll save you the geeked-out deep-dive though and simply say that, as its name suggests, Workflow is a universal iOS app that provides automated workflows for you on your iOS devices. It can accomplish a shocking amount tasks without a jailbreak and one of those tasks is exporting text from any iOS app to your WordPress blog via an action extension.

Keeping it simple so you can get back to blogging…

Instead of walking you through the process of how to create this workflow within the app, the kind developers of Workflow allow you to share your workflows via URL schemes. So all you should have to do is buy the app (on sale right now at a steal for $2.99 USD) and click this link here to install the workflow I created for you all, automagically! After the workflow shows up in the Workflow app, all you have to do hook up your blog to the workflow (by providing your login credentials) and tweak the settings within the workflow to taste.

I personally have mine setup to output to draft mode, allowing me to manually add a title and categories/tags before publishing live on my site. You can set it to however you like though.

Also, for all of you markdown lovers, I have set this workflow up to create markdown from rich text! So get on up and get your MD on!

"Sounds great! Got it all installed. How do I use it though?”

Once you have everything setup the way you like, all you have to do in Scrivener is simply write your post. Once that’s complete do the following:

  1. Highlight all of your text and copy it. Then tap the “Share” option.
  2. On the share sheet that pops up, look at the action extensions (bottom row) and look for the option to “Run Workflow”. This will then bring up the Workflow automations you currently have, one of which will be the Workflow you got from this post. Protip: If "Run Workflow" isn't showing up, scroll all the way to the right of that row. Tap more. And add that option from the list that shows up of available actions.
  3. Just tap that, fill out any field prompts, and let Workflow do its thing!
  4. Once the workflow finishes, log into your site and verify everything is published as expected.
  5. Enjoy more blogging from your favorite writing app on the go!

That’s it! If you have the official iOS app for WordPress you can actually blog completely desktop free from any iOS device at your disposal! Pretty awesome right?!

So, from the top, here's what you need to make this all work:
  • A phone or tablet the runs iOS.
  • Scrivener for iOS (though, this Workflow can work with ANY text editor on iOS).
  • Workflow (it's universal so you just buy it once and it works on iPad or iPhone. Workflows will sync between the two devices as well.)
  • WordPress for iOS (if you want to not think about blogging on a desktop again.)