Zettlr 2.0 is finally a reality! This release is quite big, so I won't go into too much detail here, but direct you to the resources where I have collected the necessary info for you to look the new stuff up. First, as always, I have written an extensive blog post outlining the major changes and what will be happening going forward. Furthermore, please feel free to join our Subreddit or Discord to ask questions regarding this new release. You can also start a discussion on GitHub.

Below follows the full changelog, which doesn't contain everything but only the major points. Please make sure to read through it before updating, since it also contains some advice on how to update!

Please note that we are, as of now, still migrating the documentation to 2.0, so some things are not yet properly documented. Please ask on Reddit or Discord if something seems not documented and refrain from opening issues, except we concur that you have found a bug!

Changelog

Since the last release, 1.8.9, there have been 1,921 commits and 823 files
inside the codebase have changed (plus one or two commits after editing this
changelog and bumping the version string). Thus, the changelog this time does
not contain a meticulous list of every change. Rather, we focus on notable
changes here. If you would like to see the full list of every change, please
follow this link.

32bit Builds Are Discontinued

We do not ship any more 32bit builds. From 2.0.0 onwards, only 64bit builds
(both Intel and ARM) are supported. For Windows ARM builds, Pandoc is not
available, so to export and import files on Windows ARM you must install Pandoc
manually, if possible.

New Configuration Options

Several existing configuration options have changed their format. This means
that changes to these won't be recognised and they will reset to their default.
In this case, you may have to re-adapt your preferences in several places.
Please have a look at your settings after updating and see if they still are set
the way you like.

Writing Targets Must Be Re-Applied

Due to a change in the underlying data structure, this version of Zettlr will
not recognise any writing target set by a Zettlr version 1.x. This means: Please
note down the important writing targets you have set before updating and then
once re-apply them. We would like to apologise for this inconvenience, but
believe its benefits by far outweigh the single additional migration effort on
your side.

No More Transitive Files / New Browser-Like Behavior

The idea of "transitive files" we implemented in previous iterations of Zettlr
proved to be counter-intuitive to many people. We now removed that feature
in favor of a much better tab-management. By default, Zettlr will now try to
avoid opening new tabs and instead attempt to replace existing tabs whenever you
open any new file. You can force Zettlr to open a file in a new tab instead by
either middle-clicking, or right-clicking the file and choosing "Open in a new
tab." If you generally do not want tabs to be closed in favor of other files,
you can uncheck the option "Avoid opening new tabs." Files with unsaved changes
will never be replaced. This behavior is very closely aligned with how modern
browsers handle links.

Autosave Is Now A Setting

A few years ago we implemented auto-saving after a delay of five seconds with no
change to the current file. However, some people mentioned that they'd like to
choose what to do. Now you can switch between three modes of autosaving. "Off"
disables autosave and you have to manually save using Cmd/Ctrl+S.
"Immediately" saves files after a very short delay of 250ms, that is basically
whenever you stop typing. "After a delay" (default) will save files after the 5s
delay you know from previous versions of Zettlr.

PDF-Preferences Are Discontinued

The PDF-Preferences window has been removed in favor of the new "assets
manager." While it did prove to be a nice reminiscence of how LibreOffice or
Word handled layout, it was not a scalable solution. Instead, we have now
switched to defaults files, which are a little more complex than this dialog,
but provide much more functionality and flexibility.

New Dialog: Assets Manager

Instead of the old PDF-Preferences window, Zettlr now contains a so-called
"assets manager." This is a new preferences window that allows you to customize
settings which are stored in individual files. The first two tabs feature
exporting and importing settings using so-called defaults files. Defaults files
are written using YAML and provide Pandoc with sensible defaults for every
export. We will shortly after the release of 2.0 include extensive documentation
for how these work. The defaults we provide should work well for most users.

The third tab contains the custom CSS, and the fourth tab contains the new
snippets feature.

Custom CSS Has Moved

The Custom CSS can now be edited directly in the assets manager instead of in
its own dialog.

Zoom Functionality Has Changed

Previously, you could increase and decrease the editor's font size using the
zoom shortcuts. Now, the zoom shortcuts will zoom the complete user interface.
This is an accessibility feature, since several people with visual impairments
as well as people with large external displays have mentioned they would like
the user interface itself to be scalable.

The editor's font size can now directly be edited with a new setting in the
editor settings tab.

Scroll-to-zoom has been removed, because too many people have accidentally held
down Cmd/Ctrl while using the scrollwheel, causing many accidental zoom
operations.

The Pandoc Command Has Been Removed

In the past, you had the ability to modify the command that Zettlr would run to
export your files. However, several times we had to adapt the command, which
lead to frustration among users because we had to manually inform everyone of
these changes and they had to manually "reset" the command. Now that we have
switched to defaults files, the command that will be run in every case is
pandoc --defaults "/path/to/defaults.yaml". Instead of modifying the CLI
arguments, you can now adapt the defaults Pandoc will be run with, which is
possible because every CLI argument has a corresponding setting in defaults
files, which can be edited in the assets manager.

Native User Interface

Another notable change is that now we have switched to a native user interface.
This means that Zettlr does not have a completely custom design anymore, but
rather orients itself at the various interface guidelines published by Apple,
Microsoft, and the GNOME team. Thus, on macOS and Windows Zettlr now follows the
Big Sur style and the Metro style respectively. On Linux, we have attempted to
model the GNOME interface but had to make a few changes due to the fact that
there are numerous different window managers with different aesthetics.

Two PDF Export Options

You will notice that there are now two different PDF exporting options, one is
called "PDF Document", the other "PDF (LaTeX)". The first option enables you to
export a document to PDF without the help of a LaTeX distribution. This way you
can have PDF exports without installing such a distribution. The second option
allows you to export to PDF as you know it from previous versions of Zettlr.

Project Settings Have Moved

With the introduction of defaults files, there is less necessity to ship a full
dialog just to edit a project's settings. Instead, the project settings have
been moved to the novel "Properties" dialog of directories, which you can access
via the context menu.

GUI and Functionality

• Feature: Switched to using defaults files in the exporter. Additionally,
  the exporter is now modular, allowing for more extensions in the future.
• Feature: You can now define snippets, reusable pieces of text that allow
  you to save some time when writing
• Feature: The "global search" has been renamed "full text search" and has
  moved to its own sidebar panel -- you can switch between the file manager and
  the full text search using the three-way toggle in the toolbar
• Feature: A new sidebar tab shows you related files
• Feature: Added a calendar view to the stats dialog, showing you what
  you've written over the year
• Feature: The macOS version of Zettlr now boasts a new application icon,
  adapted to fit the style of the Big Sur operating system. It was provided by
  Marc Oliver Orth (@marc2o) – thank you!
• Feature: Zettlr now supports bibliography files on a per-file basis. Just
  set the wanted bibliography in your YAML frontmatter, within the
  bibliography-property.
• Feature: The tag cloud now offers you "suggested tags" for the current
  file. Tag suggestions are words equalling tags found inside your file which
  are not yet prepended with a hash-character. You can modify the list of
  suggestions and insert them at once. Zettlr will insert them into the
  frontmatter so that the actual text will remain untouched. If there are any
  tag suggestions, the tag cloud icon will feature a small red dot.
• Feature: Now Zettlr can export to PDF even without any LaTeX-distribution
  installed on the system.
• Feature: The footnote editing logic has been improved. Now, multiline
  footnotes are handled appropriately, and you can safely use multi-line
  footnotes alongside the in-place editing feature.
• Feature: You can now customize the data directory using the
  --data-dir="/path/to/directory" switch. This allows portable installations.
• Feature: In addition to the "Glass" sound you can now also have the
  Pomodoro timer play a "Chime" or a "Digital Alarm" after each step
• Feature: The filter now not only filters the file list but also the file
  tree
• Feature: New "Properties" popouts give you access to information about
  your files and folders via the context menu
• Feature: Projects can now be exported into multiple formats at once,
  allowing you to choose from every available format
• Feature: You can now further filter which files will be exported using
  glob patterns
• Feature: A new update dialog improves the updating experience
• 32bit AppImages and Windows builds are no longer supported.
• Double-dollar equations are now rendered in display mode.
• Removed the Pandoc installation item from the help menu.
• Moved the Pandoc and XeLaTeX settings to the export tab in preferences.
• Updated the tutorial instructions to install Pandoc
• Fixed a bug that would delete file if it got renamed as itself.
• All languages will now be downloaded by the CI workflow. Updates will still be
  pulled via the application on boot.
• Removed the ability for the translation provider to arbitrarily request
  languages that have not been installed in order to remove that fragile
  feature. All languages will now be provided from the application immediately.
• All windows will now remember their last position.
• Some components of the renderer elements will now respect a given accent
  color set by your operating system (only available for macOS and Windows).
  You can choose between a theme's accent color and the operating system's in
  the display settings.
• You can now close files by middle-clicking their tabs
• MDX supported as a type of markdown file
• New File and Edit File can now fast rename without selecting the extension
• Add a tray to the system notification area, off by default. To activate, see
  Preferences → Advanced → "Leave app running in the notification area" (or
  "Show app in the notification area" when using MacOS).
• Fixed a bug that would mark some quotation marks as misspelled
• Fix the visibility problems under night mode mentioned in issue #1845
• Enabled syntax higlighting for fenced code blocks that use attribute lists as
  per issue #2259
• Added the SIL Open Font License to the About dialog

Under the Hood

• Removed support for 32 bit AppImages on the CI.
• Migrated the exporter to TypeScript.
• Completely rewritten the exporter in order to be able to use defaults files
  and enable much more flexibility.
• Removed the Pandoc command.
• Add typings for external modules, remove the internal custom ones for bcp-47
  and nspell.
• Reenabled the Pandoc and XeLaTeX options in preferences.
• Removed the generic IPC call from the config provider and replaced it with
  consistent checks as to which options have actually changed. This increases
  the performance after configuration saves.
• Migrated the config provider to TypeScript.
• Migrated the Citeproc Provider to TypeScript, and cleaned the provider up:
  • The provider has now the capability to load multiple databases at once and
    switch between them.
  • Furthermore, the provider now needs much less variables, the logic is much
    simpler, and many unnecessary ipc calls have been removed.
• Migrated many utility functions and other scripts to TypeScript.
• The translations are now loaded by the trans helper to make sure it will
  always work.
• Migrated the complete GUI to Vue.js, using a reusable component system.
• The window chrome is no longer controlled by the window registration handler.
• Now tests can be run as JavaScript or as TypeScript files (use .js or
  .spec.ts files respectively).
• Generalised the window state management so that all windows are now able to
  remember their positions easily.
• Zettlr is now completely jQuery-free.
• Migrated the FSAL cache from unstable Objects to Maps and Sets.
• Migrated the TagProvider to a Map as well.
• Added an assets provider responsible for maintaining the various files Zettlr
  now uses
• Completely sandboxed the renderer processes. Now, even if an attacker gains
  access to a browser window, the chances of them causing any damage is greatly
  reduced
• Moved all static assets to their own directory
• Fixed font, image, and resource loading in general via webpack
• Fixed the debug capabilities; now everyone should be able to debug both the
  main process as well as the renderer processes using VS Code
• Added "recommended extensions" to the VS Code setup, allowing for easier
  interoperability across code contributors
• Switched to the native "recent documents" functionality on macOS and Windows
• Switched to a new, completely GDPR compliant API for updates. No piece of data
  will be transferred anymore (except the update information from our server to
  the apps)