A stripped down, relaxing writing program
Do you spend a lot of time writing on your PC? For many people, Microsoft Word is the default application for writing text, but it has many more features than most people need. Focus Writer is a lightweight basic text writer, designed to be free of the distractions of complex word processing applications. In fullscreen mode, there are no toolbars of windows, just a background and your text - so it can help people writing who need to concentrate
Focus Writer can be windowed or full screen, and the ribbon of buttons at the top appears when you mouse over the area. Its basic features include a find tool - you can search for a word in your text and replace it. The themes button allows you to create custom themes, with your own background, font and so on. In preferences you can turn on auto save and also set goals for the day - by time or number of words, useful for professional writers. Rolling the cursor over the bottom of the window brings up another ribbon, with basic file information - title, word count, percentage of daily goal and the time.
If you need complex formatting, or to add images or tables to your work, this in not the right kind of application Focus Writer is solely for text, and nothing else which may suit writers, but will probably be too limited for many people. It doesn't feature a spell checker, either. Despite this, if you need a distraction free writing program, Focus Writer works very well, and its customization tools are really good.
Focus Writer will helps to create a quiet atmosphere on your computer, perfect for writing without distractions.
User reviews about FocusWriter
by Kobac
I just read a review of this program elsewhere and it mentioned that there *was* a spell-check function under the Tools tab. It even showed a screenshot (F7 is the shortcut key). More
by Lubna Sayeed
not a good app since it doesn't have most of the features with latest versions which is now available with any upgraded features.
by Keith Gledhill
Great piece of software that has increased my writing outpu by 150%. Well done people
by Anonymous
The best word processing program ever!.
The best word processing program ever!
99.9% of the time used for writing is simply writing, formating, adding pictures etc is the remaining 0.1% and that can be done in some other program.
Per
Cons:
There are some problem to use the proof while you write function, if you don't like to use mouse (as I). F7 key can be used as alternative to right mouse-klick, it does not work without mouse. There seems to be a bug (in the Linux version only?) More
by Anonymous
Super-clean, attractive interface; great for journaling and pure writing .
I use FocusWriter along with about 5 other word processors. With modern machines, you can easily have multiple word processors for different writing purposes. I use FocusWriter when I want a very clean, very attractive interface that is as simple and clean as possible. It also auto-saves files so that you don't lose work, which is a must-have feature for all my word processors. Another great feature is sessions, and particularly that when you close FocusWriter and reopen it, it restores you to *exactly* where you were when it closed -- the very same files are open, and the cursor is exactly where it was when you closed it. It's amazing this is not a universal feature in word processors. It takes literaly two seconds to to close FocusWriter, reopen it, and keep typing wherever you left off. This makes it a great program for journaling.
Pros:
reopens sessions exactly where you left off
auto-save; very clean, pleasing interface
Cons:
only saves in TXT, RTF or ODT.
basic features; focus is on pure writing. More
by Anonymous
FocusWriter, where have you been all my life?.
I've been looking for a lightweight, no-nonsense writing program for a while that doesn't bog the user down with gratuitous features or unfriendly user interfaces. This is the fastest, most intuitive notepad replacement I've used. The customization options were exactly what I've been looking for. I can't rate this highly enough.
Pros:
very fast, user-friendly, customization is excellent More