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Productivity
Text Editor
Word Processors
What are the best distraction-free word processors?
15
Options
Considered
151
User
Recs.
Feb 1, 2024
Last
Updated
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14
Options
Considered
Best distraction-free word processors
Price
Platforms
License
--
Byword
-
-
-
--
iA Writer
-
MacOS, iOS, Android, Windows
Proprietary
--
FocusWriter
Free
-
-
--
OmmWriter
-
-
-
--
typora
-
Mac OSX; Windows; Linux
Proprietary
See Full List
--
Byword
My Rec
ommendation
for
Byword
My Recommendation for
Byword
All
10
Pros
9
Cons
1
Top
Con
•••
No Windows or Linux versions
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Word count support
See More
Top
Pro
•••
A dark theme is available
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Can publish directly to external services
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Can export to html, pdf, rtf
In addition to plaintext, Byword can export to HTML, PDF, RTF.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Exemplary Markdown support
Byword de-emphasizes the syntax itself, while emphasizing its effects. It appropriately adds style, like italic and bold, to text that's designated by markdown and dims the syntax so it does not getting in the way of comprehension. Additionally, there are commonly used hotkeys (⌘b, ⌘i, etc) that can be used to apply style without having to know the syntax or having to type it out each time.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Includes features that speed up writing
For example, while authoring a bulleted list hitting return automatically prepares a new bulleted line.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Available for all Apple devices
Byword is available on a Mac, an iPhone and an iPad.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Syncs using iCloud and Dropbox
Documents can be synced using iCloud or Dropbox from within the editor for use across all devices.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Live update support
See More
Hide
See All
Get it
here
Recommend
14
5
--
iA Writer
My Rec
ommendation
for
iA Writer
My Recommendation for
iA Writer
All
10
Pros
8
Cons
1
Specs
Top
Con
•••
No Linux support
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Noise Free Writing Experience removes even the program bar
The Noise Free Writing Experience is one of the first approaches to create a first class distraction-free environment. The feature hides the Mac program bar when you start writing.
See More
Specs
Platforms:
MacOS, iOS, Android, Windows
License:
Proprietary
Export:
HTML, PDF
Sync:
iCloud, Dropbox
See All Specs
Top
Pro
•••
A mode that brings focus to the sentence you're working on
Enabling Focus Mode will dim the whole text except the sentence you are currently writing on.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Can tell how long it would take to read through what you've written
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Markdown support
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Syncs using iCloud and Dropbox
iA Writer can sync documents using iCloud or Dropbox from within the editor for use across multiple devices.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Create whole document by including separate images/markdown docs
This is new and very awesome feature in iA Writer 4.0.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Can export a Word document
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Available for all Apple devices
iA Writer is available for Mac, iPhone and iPad.
See More
Hide
See All
Get it
here
Recommend
28
9
--
FocusWriter
My Rec
ommendation
for
FocusWriter
My Recommendation for
FocusWriter
All
5
Pros
5
Top
Pro
•••
Open Source and free with donation
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Customizable themes
This program has a number of good pre-made themes and allows you to create your own.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Can save as ODT, RTF, DOCX and TXT
In addition to Text Open Document (ODT), FocusWriter allow to save as Office Open XML (docx), Righ Text Format (RTF) and text file (TXT).
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Cross platform including Linux, Windows, Mac OS X
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Word count
See More
Hide
See All
Free
Recommend
18
4
--
OmmWriter
My Rec
ommendation
for
OmmWriter
My Recommendation for
OmmWriter
All
5
Pros
5
Top
Pro
•••
Offers a selection of great backgrounds, audio tracks and keystroke sounds to add ambiance
OmmWriter's greatest strength lies in a great selection of pleasant visual designs (images, photographs and chromatherapy backgrounds) and immersive music that can change the look and feel of the writer allowing to create desired ambiance. The backgrounds choices are calm and unobtrusive and the ambient music options are enveloping. You can even choose to replace keyboard strokes with different kinds of sounds. These elements, together with a clean design, create a feeling of a space that's separate from all distractions found in world around you.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Blanks out the any other screens if you have more than one
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Monospace font support
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Exports to a .omm, .txt and .pdf files
OmmWriter can save to plaintext files (.omm and .txt are both plaintext, only the extension is different) and PDF documents.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Cross-platform
OmmWriter is available for OS X 10.5+, Windows XP - 7 and iPad iOS 3.2+.
See More
Hide
See All
Get it
here
Recommend
7
--
typora
My Rec
ommendation
for
typora
My Recommendation for
typora
All
20
Experiences
1
Pros
14
Cons
4
Specs
Top
Con
•••
The immediate rendering of Markdown is hard on the eyes
Having Markdown immediately render causes text to jump into formatted text, which is distracting and hard on the eyes.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Live preview
Typora immediately renders what's typed on the screen in Markdown format. This helps users to have a better understanding of how their document is being formatted.
See More
ivofii's Experience
Loved its appearance, design, keyboard shortcuts, and usability. Had previously been impressed with GhostWriter, Calmly Writer, WriteMonkey, Draft, and AkelPad, but Typora surpassed all of these in my first trial.
See More
Specs
Platforms:
Mac OSX; Windows; Linux
License:
Proprietary
Export:
HTML; HTML (pure); PDF; Word; OpenOffice; RTF; Epub; LaTeX; Media Wiki; ReStructuredText; Textile; OPML
Sync:
iCloud
See All Specs
Top
Con
•••
In beta
Typora is still in beta and may be prone to changes or bugs.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Custom theme support
Typora has clean yet beautiful built-in themes and allows for users to create new themes using CSS.
See More
Top
Con
•••
No portable version (Windows)
You need admin rights on a managed Windows computer to install it. There currently is no portable version available.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Support for tables
It supports tables for Markdown Extra. And also provides a GUI to make it easy to insert and edit them.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Unusable image management
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Inline images
It won't display image like , but shows the image content inside the editor.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Support for LaTeX expressions
It supports LaTeX expressions, with an easy-to-use MaxJax panel.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Shows table of contents for the document
It supports an outline for the document by showing a table of contents on the left side of the screen.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Syntax highlight for fenced codes
It supports GFM's code fences, with syntax highlight support for C/C++, java, etc.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Natural typing experience
Editing in Markdown, either in WYSIWYG mode or in markdown code mode, feels natural. It never gets in the way.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Cross-platform
Currently works on Windows, Mac and Linux.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Free during beta
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Sidebar with a list of files
You can open any folder in sidebar and see a list of other markdown files.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Supports RTL languages
With a bit of CSS one can change the text into right-to-left orientation
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Hybrid interface
The editor and preview dual-pane setup typical of desktop Markdown editors are gone; instead, a singular interface makes for a WYSIWYG experience. This streamlines the workflow and encourages direct manipulation.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Useful keyboard shortcuts
Select line/sentence with Ctrl+L, word with Ctrl+D, styled scope with Ctrl+E. Adjust heading level with Ctrl+= and Ctrl+-. Copy as Markdown with Ctrl+Shift+C.
See More
Hide
See All
Get it
here
Recommend
11
4
--
Emacs
My Rec
ommendation
for
Emacs
My Recommendation for
Emacs
All
10
Experiences
1
Pros
7
Cons
1
Specs
Top
Con
•••
Not a word processor
Emacs is not a word processor, and using it as such might be cumbersome.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Free
Licensed under GNU GPL.
See More
Yanis's Experience
Great for programming.
See More
Specs
Platforms:
Unix-like, macOS, Windows, Cygwin
License:
GPL-3.0-or-later
Multi Language Support:
Yes
Auto Complete:
Yes
See All Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Versatile
Emacs is great for everything.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Interactive Shells
Emacs has a number of shell variants: ansi-term, shell, and eshell.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
It's also an IDE
You can debug, compile, manage files, integrate with version control systems, etc. All through the various plugins that can be installed.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Cross-platform
Works on Linux, Windows, Macintosh, BSD, and others.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Has been widely used for a long time
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Keyboard-focused, mouse-free editing
Emacs can be controlled entirely with the keyboard. While true, I often find the mouse and menus handy for those lesser-used commands. An aide-memoir.
See More
Hide
See All
Get it
here
Recommend
5
4
--
JotterPad
My Rec
ommendation
for
JotterPad
My Recommendation for
JotterPad
All
2
Pros
1
Cons
1
Top
Pro
•••
Fountain support
See More
Top
Con
•••
Free version includes a PDF watermark
If you're using the free version of the application PDF exports will have a watermark.
See More
Hide
Get it
here
Recommend
4
1
--
Poe
My Rec
ommendation
for
Poe
My Recommendation for
Poe
All
9
Experiences
1
Pros
6
Cons
2
Top
Pro
•••
Free
See More
Top
Con
•••
Only has options to save as markdown or .txt
See More
shePhoenyx's Experience
Poe is one of the most enjoyable desktop apps to write in that I have found. It equals or rivals Calmly Writer, and surpasses many, many more complex apps and programs. I've tried Focus Writer, Nimble Writer, OmmWriter, Scrivener, and so many more. I've tried journaling apps and websites and I use 4theWords daily. (To give you an idea of how often I use these programs, I wrote 90,000 words in the month of November.) Nothing really compares to the beautiful simplicity of Poe. I am still using the free version, but plan to upgrade soon. I wish there was an iOS equivalent, but I'm sure that would be prohibitively expensive for the developers to create. I highly recommend you try Poe through the Windows app store. It's free for most of its functionality and it DOES work (and show on the store) on Windows 11.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Beautiful UI
It might be the typewriter fan in me, but I'm a big fan of serif fonts, and this app comes with dark mode and serif font readily accessible and gorgeous together (see screenshot).
See More
Top
Con
•••
Currently only available on Windows 8/8.1/10 through the Windows Store
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Custom Theme support
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Simple, easy to use interface
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Wordcount goal and timer features
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Built in list of writers resources
See More
Hide
See All
0
Recommend
2
--
Spacemacs
My Rec
ommendation
for
Spacemacs
My Recommendation for
Spacemacs
All
5
Pros
2
Cons
2
Specs
Top
Con
•••
Poor performance when compared to other Emacs distributions
If you already like or even love space-emacs, do yourself a favor and give Doom Emacs a try. Space-emacs has more features, but this is Emacs. It has more features than you will ever use in your entire life before you ever even installed a distribution. 99% of what you like about Space-Emacs will be there in Doom, and the remaining things will be pretty easy to get back, and your editor will be MUCH faster
See More
Top
Pro
•••
VIM Keybindings with EMACS ecosystem
EMACS ecosystem and language support is best in show. The EMACS is a great IDE that was in search of a good text editor. Spacemacs makes EMACS have a good text editor.
See More
Specs
Platforms:
GNU/Linux, MacOS, Windows
License:
GPL3
Export:
Yes
Multi Language Support:
Yes
See All Specs
Top
Con
•••
Emacs is slow
Emacs is single threaded which means that if you enable all the great features you might be used to from Vim, it will run noticeably slower which can be quite frustrating at times. There are efforts at a concurrent Emacs, but they don't seem to be going anywhere.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Preconfigured emacs distro
Spacemacs is just a well-configured Emacs distribution with community-sourced best in class plugins and layers selected to take the setup pain out of Emacs. Evil mode gives the Vim bindings and modes for fast editing, while Helm makes everything discoverable to make learning to be more productive simple and unintrusive.
See More
Hide
See All
Get it
here
Recommend
2
1
--
Prime Draft
My Rec
ommendation
for
Prime Draft
My Recommendation for
Prime Draft
All
2
Pros
1
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Tracks not just word count, but also time spent writing
Many writers don't aim for a word count, but instead aim for amount of time spent writing. First Draft allows you sets targets for word counts or writing times, with a calendar showing the full history of your writing done per day.
See More
Specs
Platforms:
Windows, MacOS
Hide
$14.99
Recommend
3
--
CreaWriter
My Rec
ommendation
for
CreaWriter
My Recommendation for
CreaWriter
All
5
Pros
3
Cons
2
Top
Con
•••
Windows only
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Allows creating ambiance
CreaWriter's main selling point is the fact that it adds atmosphere to its workspace. By default there's a background with a sunset over water and a sound of trickling water, but the background and sound can be changed to anything to create the desired atmosphere. Along with background and sound, CreaWriter has options for customizing transparency, font size, family and color, status bar information and visibility, etc.
See More
Top
Con
•••
The free version is somewhat limited
The paid version adds useful feature such as word count, text styles (bold, italic, underlined), hotkeys, autosaves, ambient sound volume and customization options such as configurable text color, text areas's color, size, position and transparency, and adjustable ambient sound volume.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
A free edition is available
If you just want to test the software out or don't need the extra features, a free version is available for download on the official site. A paid version with added functionality is available to donors (5 EUR and up).
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Exports to txt, rtf and doc
When saving a file, CreaWriter does not offer any options, but manually adding an extension will allow exporting to txt, rtf and doc formats.
See More
Hide
See All
Get it
here
Recommend
3
--
Dark Room
My Rec
ommendation
for
Dark Room
My Recommendation for
Dark Room
All
5
Experiences
1
Pros
3
Cons
1
Top
Con
•••
Requires .NET to be installed
It depends on .NET before it is able to run.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Portable
As long as the target machine has .NET Framework 2.0 or later installed (and most Windows machines do by default) the software can be run without requiring an install. It can be carried around on an external device, such as a USB thumbstick, and run directly from that.
See More
LivelyIshara's Experience
simple&saves into txt what more do you want?
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Decent customization options
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Completely free
See More
Hide
See All
Get it
here
Recommend
7
1
--
WriteRoom
My Rec
ommendation
for
WriteRoom
My Recommendation for
WriteRoom
All
5
Pros
3
Cons
2
Top
Pro
•••
A selection of community submitted themes
WriteRoom can be customized with a selection of community contributed themes.
See More
Top
Con
•••
No Windows or Linux support
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Able to track your writing time and export it
See More
Top
Con
•••
No Markdown support
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Plain-text and Rich-Text Format writing modes and export options
See More
Hide
See All
Get it
here
Recommend
1
1
--
Atlantis Word Processor
My Rec
ommendation
for
Atlantis Word Processor
My Recommendation for
Atlantis Word Processor
All
7
Experiences
1
Pros
4
Cons
1
Specs
Top
Con
•••
No Mac version.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Spotlight
Has the Spotlight feature to let you focus on the current document fragment.
See More
JoyfulMoneta's Experience
I've used a good dozen of word processing applications over the years. Each with its pros and cons. Atlantis Word Processor is my must have.
See More
Specs
Platforms:
Windows
Top
Pro
•••
Sounds
Can play old-fashioned typewriter sounds when I type text.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Ebook
Can export documents directly to EPUB and MOBI.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Fully customizable
Can customize toolbars, colors, sounds, and keyboard shortcuts.
See More
Hide
See All
$35 or free
Recommend
3
3
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Paper
My Rec
ommendation
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Paper
My Recommendation for
Paper
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Recommend
10
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