Best free mac apps for writing
It should provide an environment that is aesthetically pleasing and makes it easy for you to focus and create, and then allow you to take your content and export it wherever you desire. The design should be as minimal as possible so as not to be distracting, and therefore the features that are not included in a pro writing app are just as important as the ones that are included. These are the characteristics we consider important in a pro writing application and the criteria we used when selecting the best one:. A pro writing app is not a word processor. Word processors also make it very difficult to work on your project outside the application you started with because of their proprietary file formats.
Ever open up a Word document you received from someone and were welcomed by a warning message saying the font is not installed? These apps have some great layout and design tools — but, for the purpose of writing words, these are overkill. These are very powerful applications with specific use cases, but are overkill for the person who needs to put words on a page. These applications have a lot of very powerful features like code completion and multiple cursors that are great for coders and developers, but unnecessary for people who just want to write. Ulysses is an extremely powerful writing tool with well thought out features that will provide great support for any writing project.
It provides all the tools you need to be a more productive writer, but still maintains a simple UI that limits distractions so you can focus on accomplishing your writing goals. While Ulysses does offer a full-screen mode for completely distraction-free writing, I found myself using the default layout a lot because it allows me to quickly find something in another sheet or document by using the search feature.
The left pane offers a couple of locations for storing files, including iCloud and local Mac storage. Your writing workflow may differ, but with the ability to add text from many different sources iCloud, Dropbox, local Mac storage, etc. I would argue this is not only necessary in order to keep the design simple and clean, but actually helps you focus on using the tools that are available and specifically chosen to assist you in the writing process.
In our opinion, the features the developers chose to include are powerful, useful, and easy to use. There are a lot of apps that offer a word count, but Goals is different because it sets a target for you to strive toward. Seeing that green circle appear is much more rewarding to me, at least than a word count. This allows you to edit ruthlessly, as you can always go back and get that sentence you deleted a few days ago if you decide it really should be there.
One of the best things about Ulysses is that it looks great. You can customize the colors and styles of Ulysses , but in my opinion the standard color scheme is pretty much perfect. Ulysses also has great Markdown support, so if you decide you want something a little more powerful than Byword — our previous pick for best Markdown writing app — Ulysses is a great option as all Markdown elements Ulysses are easily distinguishable headers are blue, bold text is displayed in red, lists are indented, etc.
I also love the way Ulysses handles links and footnotes. Markdown links can be long and messy, but Ulysses cleans these up and makes them more visually pleasing by displaying a link box which pops up when double-clicked. This makes for a more distraction-free writing environment and also keeps the word count accurate. For example, when sending a file from a Markdown editor like Ulysses to a Markdown previewer like Marked , an excellent real-time Markdown previewer that integrates seamlessly with Ulysses , users have to explicitly permit access to every single image file.
This is obviously not ideal when you just want to quickly preview your work. To solve this problem, the developers of Ulysses have worked with internet genius Brett Terpstra to create a new file format called TextBundle which provides a way to get around traditional sandboxing limitations on the Mac. Without getting too deep into the weeds, TextBundle is revolutionary because it basically takes all the assets that the plain text file points to and packages it all together, so if you wanted to edit the plain text file somewhere else like a PC , all your assets are right there. With the external folders feature mentioned earlier, Ulysses will sync via Dropbox and provide access to your plain text files via just about any other plain text editor out there.
It was designed to mimic the look and feel of Ulysses for the Mac and provide a comfortable, familiar writing environment. Everything about the iPad app is top notch. Ulysses uses subscription pricing. Scrivener is a serious writing tool and can certainly be used for smaller writing projects as well, but its UI is not quite as nice or intuitive as Ulysses and has a much steeper learning curve. Scrivener includes a built-in text-based tutorial that will walk you through all the features, but it will take you at least a couple hours to go through it all.
This is a free form organisation and best when you need to show a single note in multiple groups. Probably the best feature of Bear is its iOS client. Bear handles writing and editing short-form content like articles and blog posts like a breeze. It also has better theming capabilities than any other app on the list. The only major drawback is that it follows a subscription model. For the most part, I have found FadeIn to be the best screenwriting app out there. The interface is easy to understand and you can start as soon as you launch the app.
You will learn the pro features along the way. The best part about FadeIn is its predictive typing experience. Most of the times it figures out correctly if you are about to write a scene heading, a character or a dialogue. In cases, if it does fail to predict correctly, you can use the tab key to simply move between the options. This makes formatting your screenplay very easy. Our main theme for picking apps today has been selecting the apps which help you getting your words onto the paper and FadeIN does just that. Final Draft 10 Final Draft is the most popular screenwriting software out there.
However, I have kept it at second place because of two specific reasons. Secondly, over the years it has borrowed a lot of features from its competitors which have made it really complex. Hence, it has a steep learning curve associated with it. However, if you get over these shortcomings and I am not sure that I can, at its heart, it is a great piece of software aimed at professional scriptwriters. Like FadeIn, it also supports keyboard shortcuts to change the different script writing elements. In fact, I have found its prediction to be more accurate than FadeIn. However, the premium it demands over FadeIn is not justified in my opinion.
Day One Day One is one of those few apps which make the experience of using the app more powerful than the purpose it serves. The app just looks beautiful. From its design to its UI and its colour scheme to its typography, everything induces a sense of calm. The feature set is also huge. You can create multiple journals and each journal can hold infinite pages. Not only you can write inside the app, you can even attach photos to support your memories with visual cues. My favourite feature is the addition of geolocation data.
It helps you to see the places where you have recorded your journal entry. Day One serves as a multi-purpose tool. Apart from recording your days, you can use this as a dumping ground for your ideas. You can create tags and stars to sort your notes. It also has an inbuilt search feature which is lightning fast. The app is also password protected which helps in keeping your thoughts safe. The fact that it has apps for both iPhones and iPads makes this one a must for on the go journalism. There is so much to love here. If you are a regular journal writer, this one is a must have.
Journey If you are looking for a journaling app which is truly cross platform, Journey is where your search ends. It has an app for all the major OS platforms including Android and Windows. The app is powerful and has a feature set which is comparable to that of Day One. It syncs across devices, supports photo attachment, markdown, and syntax editing and so on. First, it only uses Google Drive to sync your notes.
What is a “pro writing app?”
I hope they add other popular cloud storages such as Dropbox in the future. Also, even when you buy the full app, there are certain features for which you still have to pay for, which is just outrageous. Other than that, it is a perfectly good app and you will not enjoy using it.
There used to be a time when Pages felt like a cheap rip off of Microsoft Word. Now, things have changed and Pages has become one of the best word processor apps present in the market. The best thing about Pages, apart from the fact that it is totally free is that Apple keeps on improving releasing updates every few months. Writing apps are quite different, each with its own strengths and target audiences. The right app for me may not be the right app for you.
10 Best Writing Apps for Mac You Can Use () | Beebom
The writing process can feel like torture, leading to procrastination and fear of the blank page. But not every day. So you want the writing process to be as fluid as possible. Your writing app should be pleasant to use, adding as little friction and as few distractions as possible. Besides encouraging the writer to keep writing, some additional tools are useful, but they should keep out of the way as much as possible until they are needed.
The last thing a writer needs is clutter. Those tools needed depend on the writer, and the writing task. There is the need for basic formatting, such as bold and underline, bullet points, headings and more, and some writers need additional options, including tables, mathematical and chemical formulas, and support for foreign languages. Spell check and word count are useful, and other statistics such as readability scores may be appreciated.
Do you need to manage information other than the actual text of your document? Before starting to write, many writers like to leave time to let the ideas start to marinate. Brainstorming and research may need to be done. Planning the structure of the document may be important. Coming up with an outline of the main points is often useful. For fiction, keeping track of your characters is essential. Different writing apps may provide features to help with some or all of these tasks. Especially for longer documents, it can be very useful to see an overview of the structure.
Outlines and index cards are two ways to achieve this. They also make it easy to rearrange the structure of your document by dragging sections from one place to another. What happens when you finish writing? You may need to create a blog post, ebook or printed document, or you may first need to pass your document on to an editor.
Export to Microsoft Word format can be useful—many editors will use its revision tools to move the document forward towards publishing. Some apps can publish directly to a number of blogging platforms. Or you may want to share or sell your document online in a common ebook format or as a PDF. We live in a multi-platform, multi-device world.
You may start writing on your iMac, add some material on your MacBook Pro, and tweak a few sentences on your iPhone. You may even do some typing on a Windows PC. How many platforms does the app support? Does it have a document library that syncs between computers and devices? Does it keep track of previous revisions of your document in case you need to go back? Many writing apps are free or very reasonably priced. However, the most polished and powerful apps are also the most expensive.
Here are the costs of each app we mention in this review, sorted from cheapest to most expensive:. Ulysses is a streamlined Mac and iOS writing app that keeps you focused by offering a smooth and minimal user interface, and by its use of Markdown. Its document library will keep your entire portfolio synced across your computers and devices so you can work anywhere, any time.
Once you finish writing, Ulysses makes it easy to take your text to the next stage. It can publish to a number of blogging formats or export to HTML.
The Best Writing Apps for Mac
Or you can create a properly formatted and styled ebook right from within the app. Payment for the app is through a subscription. Download from the Mac App Store. A pleasant, focused writing experience combined with effective document management, fast syncing and flexible export make Ulysses the first choice for writers of all kinds. Ulysses is my favorite writing app.
For me, it feels nicer to write in than other apps, and keeps me writing longer. A large part of the appeal for me is how modern and streamlined it feels. Ulysses uses plain text, and formatting is added using Markdown. Formatting is added using punctuation characters like asterisks and hash symbols , as seen in the screenshot above. For example, you can set a minimum word count for each sheet, and a green circle will appear next to the document title once you meet it. I use this all the time, and find it very useful. I can write notes and attach images and PDF files. When I want to capture information from a website, I will either create a PDF and attach it, or add a link to the page in a note.
I will often brainstorm and outline ideas right there in the document. For long articles like this one , I like to have a separate sheet for each section of an article. I can rearrange the order of those sections by a simple drag and drop, and each sheet can also have its own writing goals. I usually prefer the dark mode when writing. Once you have finished your piece, Ulysses gives quite a number of flexible options for sharing, exporting or publishing your document.
If your editor wants to track changes in Microsoft Word, you can export to that format, or a variety of others. Alternatively, you can create a properly formatted ebook in PDF or ePub format right from the app. You can choose from a wide number of styles, and a style library is available online if you need more variety. Each document is always up to date, ready for me to take the next step wherever I am. File names are avoided to keep things simple. Ulysses has never been cheap, and it is clearly aimed at professionals who make a living at writing words.
Last year the developers moved to a subscription model, which proved to be a controversial decision for many users, especially those who used the app more casually. I believe that for most people who need a pro writing app, this is their best choice, and the subscription price is worth the benefit you get from the app.
Many of my writing friends agree. Learn more from my Ulysses app review. Get Ulysses Free 7-day Trial. However, if you prefer not to use subscription-based software, or you prefer not to use Markdown, or you write long-form content, then have a serious look at our other winner, Scrivener 3. The app is a bit of a chameleon, and can be adapted to some extent to work the way you do.
Plan, write and prepare to publish
But those features are there when you need them, and are especially useful for long-form writing that involves a lot of research, planning, and reorganizing. This app will take you through each step of the writing process, from brainstorming to publishing. A free trial is available that lasts for 30 days of use. Also available for iOS and Windows. Scrivener is the go-to app for writers of all kinds, used every day by best-selling novelists, screenwriters, non-fiction writers, students, academics, lawyers, journalists, translators and more.
If Ulysses is a Porsche, Scrivener is a Volvo. One is sleek and responsive, the other is built like a tank, both are quality. Either would be a great choice for a serious writer. I closely follow its progress and love to read reviews about it. Until recently its interface seemed a little dated, but all of that changed last year when Scrivener 3 was released.
This is how it looks when you first open it. It has more features than Ulysses, and is especially suited to long-form writing.