https://essay.app/changelog/ New features and improvements in Essay. en-us Thu, 01 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT https://essay.app/changelog/#comment-popover-closes-when-clicking-outside-highlights-in-minimal-mode 2026-10-01-comment-popover-closes-when-clicking-outside-highlights-in-minimal-mode Thu, 01 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved When the Comments toolbar is closed in Minimal mode, clicking anywhere outside a comment highlight now closes the comment popover. This makes it easier to dismiss comment popovers and matches expected behavior. https://essay.app/changelog/#improved-reliability-when-saving-during-outages 2026-09-29-improved-reliability-when-saving-during-outages Tue, 29 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved If the app cannot save your work due to a temporary database or network issue, your changes are now kept safely in your browser and you will see a clear message that saving is unavailable. You can manually retry saving and your edits will not be lost, helping you avoid losing work during brief outages. https://essay.app/changelog/#clearer-comment-cards-and-a-quieter-minimal-view 2026-09-26-clearer-comment-cards-and-a-quieter-minimal-view Sat, 26 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved Needs work and Good work marks now read as a short sentence, your own comments are labelled "You", and a paragraph's comments open one at a time with arrows to step through them. In Minimal, highlights stay hidden until you open a paragraph's comments, and the comment card now sits below the text it's about. The right toolbar is a little wider, and comment cards stand out better in dark mode. https://essay.app/changelog/#choose-page-number-placement-in-exports 2026-09-22-choose-page-number-placement-in-exports Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved You can now select whether page numbers appear at the top or bottom of each page when exporting your essay to PDF, Word, or Google Docs. This gives you more control over formatting to match style guidelines or personal preference. https://essay.app/changelog/#comments-and-their-highlights-stay-in-sync 2026-09-21-comments-and-their-highlights-stay-in-sync Mon, 21 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved Deleting a comment now clears its highlight everywhere it appeared, including earlier hand-ins, and adding a comment can no longer remove someone else's highlight. Citing web pages with international domain names also works now. https://essay.app/changelog/#deleting-threads-from-earlier-submissions-works-reliably 2026-09-16-deleting-threads-from-earlier-submissions-works-reliably Wed, 16 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved You can now delete a thread from an earlier hand-in while viewing a later submission, even if the text was edited between hand-ins. The thread is removed from all relevant snapshots and the live essay, making thread management smoother and more predictable. https://essay.app/changelog/#feedback-stays-visible-when-text-is-edited-or-deleted 2026-09-16-feedback-stays-visible-when-text-is-edited-or-deleted Wed, 16 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved Feedback on highlighted text now stays listed even if you edit or remove that text in a later submission. The quoted text is labelled [edited] when you have changed it and [removed] when it is no longer in your essay, so it is clear why the feedback is still shown. https://essay.app/changelog/#add-outline-topics-back-to-back-with-cmd-enter 2026-09-15-add-outline-topics-back-to-back-with-cmd-enter Tue, 15 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT New In the Outline tool, press Cmd+Enter (Ctrl+Enter on Windows) while typing a new outline topic to save it and start the next one right away. The same shortcut works while renaming a topic, saving the new title and opening a fresh topic below. https://essay.app/changelog/#emoji-now-appear-correctly-in-pdf-exports 2026-09-11-emoji-now-appear-correctly-in-pdf-exports Fri, 11 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved When you export an essay with emoji to PDF, the emoji are now rendered as monochrome line art instead of empty boxes. This makes exported documents look more like your original essay, even though the emoji are not in color. https://essay.app/changelog/#an-essay-ecosystem-built-for-the-classroom 2026-09-11-an-essay-ecosystem-built-for-the-classroom Fri, 11 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT New Teachers can assign work, track submissions, and review students' writing with more insight into their process. Students can access instructions & resources, and have a structured workspace to complete, format and submit their work, all in one place. Contact support if you'd like to turn it on for your classroom. https://essay.app/changelog/#templates 2026-09-11-templates Fri, 11 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT New You can now save any essay as a template from the workspace menu! Start new documents from a template from Essay Home, or insert a template into the essay you're writing. https://essay.app/changelog/#a-cleaner-dark-mode 2026-09-11-a-cleaner-dark-mode Fri, 11 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved Menus, modals, panels and editor popups now use outlines instead of shadows in dark mode, and hover states have proper contrast. The notes, references and other side panels sit clearly above the page, and cards, badges and empty states across the app now pick up the dark palette too. https://essay.app/changelog/#feedback-improvements 2026-09-11-feedback-improvements Fri, 11 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved Comments and highlights now stay attached to their sentences as you use Rewrite. Feedback categories show their colors in the comment type picker and the comments filter. https://essay.app/changelog/#zotero-imports-now-handle-hyphenated-isbns-and-missing-journal-titles 2026-09-09-zotero-imports-now-handle-hyphenated-isbns-and-missing-journal-titles Wed, 09 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved Book and article imports from Zotero are now more reliable. Hyphenated or multiple ISBNs are correctly recognized, and articles without a journal title will still import successfully, with improved venue detection for conference papers, preprints, theses, and reports. https://essay.app/changelog/#introducing-the-essay-changelog 2026-09-08-introducing-the-essay-changelog Tue, 08 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT New A new home for everything shipping in Essay: new features and improvements, updated automatically as we release them. Follow along here, subscribe via RSS, or check What's new in the app. https://essay.app/changelog/#steadier-text-selection-on-iphone-and-ipad 2026-09-06-steadier-text-selection-on-iphone-and-ipad Sun, 06 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved Dragging the selection handles on mobile no longer gets mistaken for a swipe between tools, so the workspace stays in the editor while you select text. https://essay.app/changelog/#rewrite-tool-and-editor-work-better-together 2026-09-01-rewrite-tool-and-editor-work-better-together Tue, 01 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved Edit freely while you rewrite: reshape paragraphs, add sentences, split or merge them, and your rewrites stay synced with their matching sentence better than ever. https://essay.app/changelog/#comments-work-on-sentences-being-rewritten 2026-08-17-comments-work-on-sentences-being-rewritten Mon, 17 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved You can now add a comment to a sentence that has an active rewrite. https://essay.app/changelog/#faster-find-replace-in-long-documents 2026-08-16-faster-find-replace-in-long-documents Sun, 16 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved Searching a long essay no longer freezes the editor while you type. Even single-letter terms with thousands of matches highlight instantly. Highlights also line up correctly when "Ignore diacritics" is on. https://essay.app/changelog/#discount-links-that-apply-themselves 2026-08-15-discount-links-that-apply-themselves Sat, 15 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT New Opening a promo link now applies your discount code automatically at checkout, so there's no need to copy and paste the code. https://essay.app/changelog/#cleaner-footnotes-in-word-exports 2026-08-15-cleaner-footnotes-in-word-exports Sat, 15 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved Footnotes in exported Word documents now have a space between the footnote number and the text, matching Word's own footnote layout. https://essay.app/changelog/#select-all-now-selects-just-your-essay 2026-08-15-select-all-now-selects-just-your-essay Sat, 15 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved Pressing Cmd/Ctrl+A on shared and read-only essays selects the essay text instead of the whole page, and readers no longer see an empty title placeholder on untitled essays. https://essay.app/changelog/#color-code-your-outline 2026-08-07-color-code-your-outline Fri, 07 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT New Pick a color for each outline section from the new hue-sorted picker, select multiple sections at once, and untitled topics now show clear placeholders. https://essay.app/changelog/#customize-your-editor-toolbar 2026-08-06-customize-your-editor-toolbar Thu, 06 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT New Click the editor toolbar's drag handle to choose which tools appear for each essay, with matching controls in workspace settings. https://essay.app/changelog/#fewer-update-interruptions 2026-07-31-fewer-update-interruptions Fri, 31 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved Small app updates no longer interrupt your writing session. You're only prompted to reload for bigger releases. https://essay.app/changelog/#visible-links-in-word-exports 2026-07-28-visible-links-in-word-exports Tue, 28 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved Hyperlinks in exported Word documents now use Word's link style, so they show up blue and underlined instead of looking like plain text. https://essay.app/changelog/#footnotes-stay-put-in-the-reorder-tool 2026-07-28-footnotes-stay-put-in-the-reorder-tool Tue, 28 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved Selecting sentences that contain footnotes in the Reorder tool no longer duplicates the footnotes in your essay. https://essay.app/changelog/#notes-tabs-this-essay-and-all 2026-07-25-notes-tabs-this-essay-and-all Sat, 25 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT New The notes toolbar now has tabs to switch between notes linked to the essay you're working on and all of your notes. https://essay.app/changelog/#do-more-with-blocks 2026-07-23-do-more-with-blocks Thu, 23 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT New Blocks in the editor get a new actions menu with save-for-later and copy, drag-and-drop reordering, and toolbars for working with multiple blocks or list items at once. https://essay.app/changelog/#essay-names-and-richer-title-pages 2026-07-23-essay-names-and-richer-title-pages Thu, 23 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT New Name your essay right in the workspace, independent of its title. Exports gain workspace-styled title layouts, citation-free title modes, and an additional text field. https://essay.app/changelog/#smarter-titles-when-importing 2026-07-23-smarter-titles-when-importing Thu, 23 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved Imported documents now keep the file name and the document's own title separate, instead of turning the file name into a heading. https://essay.app/changelog/#smoother-scrolling-in-mobile-version-preview 2026-07-22-smoother-scrolling-in-mobile-version-preview Wed, 22 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved Scrolling through past versions of your essay on iPhone and iPad now responds correctly to touch. https://essay.app/changelog/#link-editing-popover-stays-next-to-your-link 2026-07-22-link-editing-popover-stays-next-to-your-link Wed, 22 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved When you edit a link, the editing popover now appears directly under the link instead of floating near the toolbar. https://essay.app/changelog/#smart-paste-from-other-apps 2026-07-22-smart-paste-from-other-apps Wed, 22 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT New Pasting from Word, Google Docs, Notion, or Markdown now preserves your headings, lists, and formatting as proper essay blocks. https://essay.app/changelog/#automatic-typography 2026-07-22-automatic-typography Wed, 22 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT New Straight quotes become curly quotes, double hyphens become dashes, and other typographic touches are applied automatically as you write. https://essay.app/changelog/#imported-footnotes-keep-clean-formatting 2026-07-21-imported-footnotes-keep-clean-formatting Tue, 21 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved Footnotes imported from Word documents no longer carry over unsupported formatting. https://essay.app/changelog/#citation-style-preserved-when-restoring-versions 2026-07-16-citation-style-preserved-when-restoring-versions Thu, 16 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved Restoring an earlier version of your essay now keeps the citation style you had selected. https://essay.app/changelog/#better-pdf-export-typography 2026-07-11-better-pdf-export-typography Sat, 11 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved Underlines and unicode subscripts now render correctly in exported PDFs. https://essay.app/changelog/#free-core-and-pro-plans 2026-06-19-free-core-and-pro-plans Fri, 19 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT New Essay now has a free plan alongside the new Core and Pro tiers, so you can start writing for free and upgrade when you need more. https://essay.app/changelog/#a-better-way-to-gift-essay 2026-06-18-a-better-way-to-gift-essay Thu, 18 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved Gift purchases and redemption have been redesigned, and gift emails now arrive from the person who sent them. https://essay.app/changelog/#guided-workspace-tour 2026-06-18-guided-workspace-tour Thu, 18 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT New A rebuilt product tour walks you through the workspace when you're getting started. https://essay.app/changelog/#reorder-list-items-in-sentence-view 2026-04-14-reorder-list-items-in-sentence-view Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved You can now drag list items into a new order from the Reorder and Sentence views. https://essay.app/changelog/#find-and-replace 2026-04-04-find-and-replace Sat, 04 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT New Search your essay for a word or phrase and replace it everywhere at once. https://essay.app/changelog/#share-your-essay-with-a-link 2026-04-03-share-your-essay-with-a-link Fri, 03 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT New Generate a link to your essay so anyone can read it without an account. https://essay.app/changelog/#academic-style-export-for-everyone 2026-04-02-academic-style-export-for-everyone Thu, 02 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT New PDF export now supports title pages, running headers, and margins formatted to APA, MLA, or Chicago style, with your bibliography included. https://essay.app/changelog/#billing-settings 2026-04-01-billing-settings Wed, 01 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT New Manage your card, billing email, and subscription directly from the new billing settings page. https://essay.app/changelog/#preview-trashed-essays-before-restoring 2026-03-25-preview-trashed-essays-before-restoring Wed, 25 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved Essays in the trash now open in view-only mode so you can check the contents before restoring or deleting them. https://essay.app/changelog/#citations-and-footnotes-on-mobile 2026-03-18-citations-and-footnotes-on-mobile Wed, 18 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT New Add in-text citations and footnotes, browse your reference library, and export your essay right from your phone. https://essay.app/changelog/#exact-page-counts-and-richer-stats 2026-03-10-exact-page-counts-and-richer-stats Tue, 10 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved Document stats now show an exact page count, plus word and character counts for selected text in the goals toolbar. https://essay.app/changelog/#smarter-add-to-library 2026-03-06-smarter-add-to-library Fri, 06 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved Adding references is now one streamlined flow with advanced search, type and year filters, and duplicate detection. https://essay.app/changelog/#more-reliable-offline-mode 2026-03-01-more-reliable-offline-mode Sun, 01 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved Offline writing is now sturdier, with hardened syncing, cached fonts, and clearer feedback when you're disconnected. https://essay.app/changelog/#smoother-onboarding 2026-02-25-smoother-onboarding Wed, 25 Feb 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved Getting started is faster, with topic recommendations and a cleaner signup flow on desktop and mobile. https://essay.app/changelog/#redesigned-version-history 2026-02-23-redesigned-version-history Mon, 23 Feb 2026 12:00:00 GMT Improved Version history now lives in a dedicated modal with previews and inline actions, on desktop and mobile. https://essay.app/changelog/#import-from-google-docs-word-pdf-and-markdown 2026-02-18-import-from-google-docs-word-pdf-and-markdown Wed, 18 Feb 2026 12:00:00 GMT New Bring existing writing into Essay. Imports preserve headings, highlights, blockquotes, and fonts. https://essay.app/changelog/#zotero-integration 2026-02-17-zotero-integration Tue, 17 Feb 2026 12:00:00 GMT New Connect your Zotero account to import your reference library, including your notes. https://essay.app/changelog/#endnotes 2026-02-17-endnotes Tue, 17 Feb 2026 12:00:00 GMT New Choose between footnotes and endnotes for your essay. Endnotes carry through to PDF preview and Word import. https://essay.app/changelog/#discover-new-sources 2026-02-13-discover-new-sources Fri, 13 Feb 2026 12:00:00 GMT New The new Discover tab recommends books and papers for your topic, searching Crossref and Open Library as you type. https://essay.app/changelog/#export-to-google-docs-word-and-markdown 2026-02-13-export-to-google-docs-word-and-markdown Fri, 13 Feb 2026 12:00:00 GMT New Export your essay to Google Docs, a Word document, or Markdown, footnotes included. https://essay.app/changelog/#citations-footnotes-and-bibliography 2026-01-26-citations-footnotes-and-bibliography Mon, 26 Jan 2026 12:00:00 GMT New Build a reference library, cite sources in your text with page locators, add footnotes, and generate a bibliography in APA, MLA, or Chicago style. https://essay.app/changelog/#versions-overhaul 2025-11-11-versions-overhaul Tue, 11 Nov 2025 12:00:00 GMT Improved Saving, naming, and restoring versions of your essay is now faster and more reliable. https://essay.app/changelog/#topic-recommendation-tool 2025-09-12-topic-recommendation-tool Fri, 12 Sep 2025 12:00:00 GMT New Not sure what to write about? The new topic tool suggests essay topics and angles based on your interests, with quizzes to help it get to know you. https://essay.app/changelog/#a-brand-new-essay-app-landing-page 2025-04-21-a-brand-new-essay-app-landing-page Mon, 21 Apr 2025 12:00:00 GMT Improved Our landing page has been redesigned from the ground up to better show what Essay can do. https://essay.app/changelog/#checklists-and-links 2025-04-09-checklists-and-links Wed, 09 Apr 2025 12:00:00 GMT New Add checklists to your essays and notes, and insert links in the editor, notes, and comments. https://essay.app/changelog/#comments-and-highlights 2025-02-05-comments-and-highlights Wed, 05 Feb 2025 12:00:00 GMT New Readers of a shared essay can now highlight passages and leave comments.