WriteRoom Guide

Appearance

Text Editing ​

The essay with a phrase selectedThe essay with a phrase selected

WriteRoom edits text like other Mac apps. This page covers the extras.

Insert ​

To insert the date or time ​

  • Edit > Insert > Date (Shift-Command-D)
  • Edit > Insert > Time
  • Edit > Insert > Date & Time

To insert ISO dates like 2026-09-23, turn on WriteRoom > Settings > General > Insert dates in ISO format (YYYY-MM-DD).

Select ​

Edit > Selection selects the word (Control-W), sentence (Control-S), paragraph, or section at the caret. A section is a heading and everything under it.

To grow or shrink the selection ​

  • Edit > Selection > Expand Selection (Control-Shift-Command-Right)
  • Edit > Selection > Contract Selection (Control-Shift-Command-Left)

Double-click a bracket or quote to select through to its partner.

Move ​

Edit > Arrange moves and indents lines, list items, and sections from the keyboard. See Arranging Text.

Transform and Speak ​

Edit > Transformations changes case, straightens curly quotes, and joins hard-wrapped lines back into paragraphs (see Hard-Wrapped Markdown). Edit > Speech reads the selection aloud. Edit > Writing Tools works as it does in other Mac apps.

Completions ​

WriteRoom can type the closing half of a pair for you.

Turn these on in WriteRoom > Settings > Autocorrect > Auto-close:

  • Brackets and quotes ( [ { " '
  • Markdown marks * _ ` ~ <

Control-Click Menu ​

Control-click the text, or press Control-Return, for commands that fit the selection: Copy As, Look Up, spelling suggestions, Open Link, Mark as Completed, Rename Heading, and the Table menu.

Text Direction ​

WriteRoom writes right-to-left languages like Arabic and Hebrew, and mixes them with left-to-right text. Each paragraph takes its direction from its first letter.

To set a document's direction ​

  • Format > Text Direction > Auto, Right to Left, or Left to Right

The arrow keys move the way the text reads.

See also ​