PENDRILO Help center
Get Pendrilo

Joining the {{SITE_NAME}} beta, recovering your beta link, installing all six programs on Windows, and updating

Before you start

Pendrilo is in beta and runs on Windows 10 and Windows 11. A Mac version is in testing.

Pendrilo has six desktop programs, and each one has its own beta download:

  • Pendrilo Studio is the writing app. It already includes everything the Pendrilo Formatter does.
  • Pendrilo Formatter is the book formatter on its own.
  • Pendrilo Maps draws the map for the front of your book.
  • Pendrilo Cover Wrap makes the full print cover (back, spine and front) for your paperback.
  • Panelhouse letters a comic and publishes it in print, as an ebook, as a webtoon and as a CBZ.
  • Pendrilo Type turns your handwriting into a font you can install and use.

Most people only need Studio. During the beta, all six programs are free. Everything is unlocked, nothing is watermarked, and there is no key to buy or enter.

Joining the beta

To get your beta downloads, sign up in the Galley copies section on the front page of pendrilo.com:

  • 1. Go to pendrilo.com and scroll to Galley copies.
  • 2. Type your Email.
  • 3. Under I mostly write, choose what you write: Fiction, Non-fiction, Screenplays, Poetry, or A bit of everything.
  • 4. Under My computer, choose Windows, or Mac (tell me when it's ready).
  • 5. Click Send me a galley copy.

You'll get a welcome email with a link to your own beta page. Your downloads are on that page, under Install. Keep the link to yourself, because it is personal to you.

If all the beta places are taken, you go on the waiting list. Your beta page says "You're on the waiting list." When a place opens, you'll get an email, and your page will then show your downloads. If you chose Mac, your page says "You're on the Mac list" until the Mac beta is ready.

Lost your beta link?

If you lose your welcome email, you can have the link sent again:

  • 1. Go to pendrilo.com/beta.
  • 2. Under Lost your link?, type the email address you signed up with.
  • 3. Click Send my link.

The link is emailed to you again.

Installing on Windows

The steps are the same for all six programs. Repeat them for each program you want.

  • 1. Open your beta page, using the link in your welcome email.
  • 2. Under Install, click the program you want. Your browser saves the installer to your Downloads folder.
  • 3. Open the installer from your browser's downloads list, or double-click it in Downloads.
  • 4. Follow the steps in the installer. When it's done, the program opens, and it stays on the Start menu from then on.

The current beta versions are:

  • Pendrilo Studio and Pendrilo Formatter: version 0.9.6
  • Pendrilo Maps, Pendrilo Cover Wrap, Panelhouse and Pendrilo Type: version 0.2

If Windows says "Windows protected your PC"

Click More info and check that it says Publisher: Pendrilo, LLC. Then click Run anyway. The beta installers are signed by Pendrilo, LLC and verified by Microsoft, but the certificate is new, so Windows may still show this warning for the first few weeks. If the publisher is any other name, or says "Unknown publisher", don't run the file.

If your browser says the file "isn't commonly downloaded"

Click the … menu next to the download, then choose Keep.

After you install

The first time a program opens while you're online, it unlocks itself. To check, open the About item in its Help menu:

  • Studio: Help → About Pendrilo Studio
  • Formatter: Help → About Pendrilo
  • Maps: Help → About Pendrilo Maps
  • Cover Wrap: Help → About Pendrilo Cover Wrap
  • Panelhouse: Help → About Panelhouse
  • Type: Help → About Pendrilo Type

It should say "This app is free to use." If you installed while offline, open the program once with your internet connection on.

The first time each program opens, it shows a sample and a short welcome tour. Click Next to move through the tour, or Skip tour to close it. To see the tour again, choose Help → Getting Started.

Updating Pendrilo

Each program checks for a new version when it starts, at most once a day. When one is available, a banner appears at the top of the window: "Version X is available."

  • 1. Click What's new to read what changed.
  • 2. Click Update to download the new version. A progress bar shows the download. Click Cancel to stop it.
  • 3. When the download is ready, Pendrilo asks Install version X? Click Install Now. The program saves your work, closes, and runs the installer. Or click Later to install it another time.

To skip a version for now, click Not now on the banner. To check for a new version yourself, choose Help → Check for Updates…. You don't need to uninstall the older version first. The new one installs over it, and your books and settings stay where they are.

Getting more help

In any program, choose Help → User Guide… to open the help center at pendrilo.com/help in your browser. In Pendrilo Maps, Cover Wrap and Type, it opens that program's part of the help center: Maps, Cover Wrap or Type. Panelhouse's articles are in its own Panelhouse category.

To report a problem from inside a program, choose Help → Send Feedback…. If you can't find an answer in the help center, open a support ticket at pendrilo.com/support.