Ulysses' goal feature makes it easy to monitor your writing progress. For instance, you can set a 50,000-word goal for your NaNoWriMo novel. Goals are useful for staying within specific character limits, meeting deadlines, or editing content like blog posts or speeches to a desired length. They can also support the development of a consistent daily writing routine.

Attaching Goals

Writing goals can be attached to single sheets, groups or projects. 

Sheet Goals

To attach a goal to a sheet on Mac, open the dashboard's Overview and click on one of the bullseye icons right above the counters.

Alternatively, you can right-click on a sheet in the sheet list and select Goal… from the context menu.

On your iPad/iPhone, open the dashboard via the gauge icon in the sheet, tap the Progress view, and select Add Goal.

Group Goals

To set a group goal on Mac, right-click the group in the library and select Goal… from the context menu.

On iPad/iPhone, touch and hold the group in question and select Get Info. In the group's settings, tap Add Goal…

Project Goals

When starting a new project, you have the option to set a goal right away. 

However, you can always add one later if you prefer. On Mac, open the project, double-click its title, and check the Goal option. Once you set up the goal, click OK. 

On iPad/iPhone, touch and hold the project in the main Ulysses library, select Get Info and then tap Add Goal.

You can find out more about projects in this detailed guide.

Setting up a Goal

The settings window for a goal is structured as follows:

Goal Type

To create a new goal, first select a goal type. You can choose between:

• About
• At least
• At most

For group and project goals, you can also select Every day. This option allows you to set a daily goal which is especially helpful if you want to create a daily writing habit. A daily goal is automatically reset at midnight.

Target Count/Time and Metric

Next, enter a target count or target time and select an appropriate metric—there is a wide selection:

• Characters (with or without spaces)
• Words
• Sentences
• Paragraphs
• Lines
• Pages
• Estimated reading time (slow, average, fast, or aloud)

If your goal is based on reading time, you'll need to select a time format as well. You can specify reading time using hours, minutes, and seconds in standard formats like:

• 01:10:10
• 1h 10m 10s

If you enter only a number, Ulysses will interpret it as minutes by default. The app also recognizes common time formats in all supported languages, including English, French, German, Italian, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and Korean.

Deadlines

If you need to finish an article or blog post by a certain date, you can enable the Deadline option to set your due date. Ulysses will automatically calculate how much you need to write each day to stay on track. If your deadline is at night and you plan to write on that day, make sure you select Write on Due Date so the final day is included in the schedule.

Writing Days

Prefer not to write on weekends? No problem! Ulysses lets you choose which days of the week you write, adjusting the remaining time accordingly. Note: Writing days are set globally, meaning they affect all goals with a deadline that you have saved in your library.

On macOS, click the goal in the dashboard, drag the edges of the window to detach it, then click the gear icon. From there, you can exclude specific days by unchecking their corresponding boxes.

On iOS, go to the goal's settings and tap the deadline date, then tap the gear icon at the top. From there, uncheck the days you don’t plan to write.

Adjusting a Goal

Once you hit Done, the goal is set. However, it can be adjusted at any time. Here’s how:

• To update a sheet goal, open the goal via the dashboard, then click or tap it again to adjust its settings.
• To update a group goal, go to the library, select the goal icon next to the group, and click or tap the visual goal indicator.
• To update a project goal, open the project, click or tap the circled ellipsis in the top-right corner, and choose Edit Project… to access the goal settings.

Monitor Your Progress

After setting your goal, you will see a visual indicator that allows you to monitor your progress easily. It starts off blue when you begin writing, turns green once you reach your goal, and changes to red if you go beyond it.

If you've set a deadline, the goal will also show how much you need to write each day to stay on track. The progress bar reflects how much of that daily portion you've completed, based on the schedule Ulysses has created. To see the exact number, click or tap on the bar to display it.

Each goal is marked with a small circular icon. If the goal is linked to a group, the icon appears in the library. If it's linked to a specific sheet, you'll find it in the sheet list and on the sheet itself. And if it's linked to a project, you can see the icon below the project title. These icons show your progress at a glance and provide one-click or one-tap access to your goal.

Here’s a useful tip for closely monitoring your writing progress: On a Mac, you can drag a goal out of the sidebar and place it anywhere on your screen. This floating goal stays visible as you write, updating in real time. If you forget which group or sheet it’s connected to, just check the arrow in the upper-right corner. To remove the floating goal, click the circled cross icon in the top-left.

Note: Sheets marked as material are excluded from your goal’s progress calculations.

Session History

For group and project goals, you can also access a session history to track your writing activity. A session starts when you begin typing and ends automatically at midnight. If you don’t write on a given day, no session is created, and that day won’t appear in the history. For daily goals, the progress bars turn green on the days you hit your goal. 

On Mac, click History in the top-right corner to open a dedicated view that shows how much you've written each day—both today and over the past ten days. You can also see your highest-performing day and your daily writing average. To delete individual sessions, right-click the bar and select Delete Session. 

On iOS, this view is located in the group’s settings (only if a goal has been set). Touch and hold the group, select Get Info, then select History. To delete a session, select Show All Sessions…, then touch and hold a session to delete it.

Ulysses keeps a complete record of your writing sessions from day one and allows you to export this data as a CSV file. Just click the share icon to do so.

Share Your Progress

If you'd like to celebrate your progress with others on social media, or share it through Messages or Mail, you can do that right from within Ulysses. Simply open the goal and click or tap Share Progress.