Writing Apps

This page will be expanded and updated regularly.

Check this page for note-taking apps: Evernote, Bear, OneNote, et al.

Major word processing programs:

Microsoft Word

• The long time industry standard

Pros

• Powerful.
• Unparalleled for commercial office work.
• Good outlining.
• Good distraction-free mode.
• Microsoft Office 365 is good value if you need its powerful features and cloud storage. Most of us don’t.
• Very good for compiling manuscripts for publishing.
• Compatible with Windows, iOS, and macOS.

Cons

• Expensive if a user doesn’t need the Microsoft Office power and the associated OneDrive cloud storage.
• A word processor which was indispensable when everything was printed. Now more of a niche product.
• Long form writing produces very big unwieldy files.
• No dark mode.

LibreOffice Writer

It’s free!

If you need a powerful office suite, this will do everything that 99% of users will ever want.

Pros

• Did I mention free? Although they do request a donation. Justifiably.
• 99% compatible with Microsoft Office file types.
• Powerful.
• Available for Windows, MacOs, iOS, Android, and Linux.

Cons

• Dated and unattractive interface.

Apple Pages

Pros

• Free for all recent purchasers of Macs.
• Beautiful.
• Powerful word processing and image handling.
• Accessible online in iCloud from any computer.
• Uses iCloud cloud storage, which is very reasonably priced.

Cons

• Doesn’t support the de facto industry standard .docx format. You must save files in Apple’s .pages format and then export them for Word users if required.
• No native Windows application, but, as noted above, you can use it online.
• The current MacOS version has been “dumbed down” to attain compatibility with the iOS app. Unsurprisingly, this has infuriated many previous users.

WPS Office

Almost an exact replica of older version of Microsoft Office.

Pros

• Free with ads at startup, but a very reasonable subscription rate to go ad-free. US$30 per year, or US$80 for a lifetime subscription.

Google Docs

• 15GB free. Google Docs and Gmail storage don’t count toward your total.
• No app for Mac or Windows, must be used online.
• US$1.99 per month for 100GB, US$6.99 for 1TB.
• Very good for teams who need to collaborate on documents.

Long form writing apps for authors

Scrivener 3

Pros

• Powerful.
• Good distraction free mode.
• Like Ulysses, it has an excellent facility for easily rearranging your chapters or sections.
• Most suitable for long-form writing: novels or screenplays. Maybe non-fiction.
• No dreaded subscription model. The MacOS, iOS, and Windows apps are very reasonably priced and you only have to pay for upgrades.

Cons

• Even with the recent major update which was supposed to be an improved visual design, the appearance is dated and ugly.
• It is verging on overwhelmingly complex.
• Eventually, you still need Microsoft Word to format your work for publication.
• I’ve found it infuriating, but many users love it.

Ulysses 3

US$40 or NZ$60 for an annual subscription.

Pros

• Excellent distraction free writing and dark mode.
• Good for writers who use Markdown. If you don’t, give it a try, it will make your life easier.
• As with Scrivener, it has an excellent facility for rearranging chapters/sections.
• The iOS app is really easy to use because it’s almost indistinguishable from the MacOS parent.

Cons

• Comparatively expensive when you consider what gets bundled with, for instance, Microsoft Office or Dropbox.
• Apple’s ecosystem only.

Bonus apps to help writers

Pocket

• Excellent for saving interesting web pages for your writing reference.
• Free, but for $US30 p.a. you can text search all your saved pages.

Flipboard (use in conjunction with Pocket)

• Good news source.
• Save interesting articles to Pocket or post to social media.

My personal conclusions

Stick with free Evernote as a digital filing cabinet for searchable data: photos, text documents, PDFs, etc., because nothing else can match its tagging and search capability.

Use paid Bear for regularly accessed notes.

Use Pages (and its companion spreadsheet Numbers) for my undemanding word processing requirements. Maybe one letter a decade.

Main hitches for each app

Dropbox Paper: no tags except online, no offline app for MacOS or Windows.

Bear: Apple only.

Heading, and bold and italic markdown tags are intrusive. This will be fixed in Bear 2 currently in beta.

Ulysses: the new subscription model, while worth the money for professional writers, is expensive compared to other options. No Windows app.

Pages: Apple ecosystem apps, but online only for Windows.