1/2/2024 0 Comments Markdown focuswriter![]() Dropbox keeps them all in sync and every device can edit text. One of the huge advantages of using text only is that I can edit any document on any device. They’re great text editors (as opposed to word processors) that I use almost solely for the initial stages of my academic writing and I’ve switched almost entirely to text-only editors for the original drafting of my work. ![]() I’ve also worked with Focuswriter, Gedit, and ReText on Linux, and MarkdownPad on Windows. If you’re thinking that, as an academic, Word has features that you absolutely must have, it seems that with a little bit of thought, you can avoid it completely. However, there’s a growing movement among academics who are switching from writing in Microsoft Word (or LibreOffice) and simply using markdown and plain text editors. I also do a lot of more formal writing for research projects and for that I have always used a combination of LibreOffice and Dropbox to sync between machines. However, Drive is constantly getting better and it is now a service that I really can’t live without. The early versions of the Docs app on iOS and Android were also a bit clumsy. While I think it’s probably best in class when it comes to collaborative writing and editing because of the range of services (Docs, Sheets, Forms and Slides), the online requirement can be problematic. I use Google Docs / Drive regularly as part of various collaborative research projects I’m involved in, as well as some classes that we team teach. However, if you need your writing editor to do heavy lifting, then Drive and Docs may be good choices for you. While Google has made enormous improvements in the file management features of Drive and the new Docs has done a lot for offline access, native editing of Word documents and collaborative writing, it sometimes feel like it’s trying to kill a mosquito with a cannon. I should probably also mention the Google Drive app, which runs on Android and iOS devices, as well as through the browser. Once I’ve put as much as I can into Draft, I export the document as a plain text file and either move it into a desktop editor or something like Google Drive (if it’s something I’m going to share with others).ĭraft aims to not only provide you with a writing service, but to help make your writing better. It has a really minimalist interface, and with the browser in full screen mode, I can just write without any distractions. ![]() I tend to use Draft to get the ideas out of my head and onto a “page”. My only concern is that the offline access isn’t entirely intuitive and is still under development. It has some amazing features (great for productivity, rather than power), is regularly updated and has a really nice UI that gets out of the way when it’s not needed. Of course, the downside is that you have to be online to use them, which isn’t always possible. By and large, they get out of the way and let you write. They’re always up-to-date, you don’t have to worry about backing up or even saving, and they don’t burden you with too many features that you’ll never use. There is a certain appeal to the idea of writing tools that are web-based. I thought I’d give an overview of the different places I write because I know that many of my colleagues think that Microsoft Word is the only option, which makes me sad. I’m not nearly as prolific as I’d like to be but I think I do a decent job of getting words onto the page, either here on the blog, journal articles, research proposals, lengthy emails to students, conference presentations, or notes in workshops I attend. It began as a list of text editing software that I thought might be useful for people who are stuck using MS Word but has since grown beyond a simple list. ![]() Note: I started writing this post more than a year ago and have regularly pushed it back in the queue.
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