Text Editor

FocusWriter – distraction-free writing environment

FocusWriter is a simple, distraction-free word processor. It uses a hide-away interface that you access by moving your mouse to the edges of the screen, allowing the program to have a familiar look and feel to it while still getting out of the way so that you can immerse yourself in your work. Improve your writing productivity.

FocusWriter allows you to customize your environment by creating themes that control the font, colors, and background image to add ambiance. It also has on-the-fly updating statistics, daily goals, multiple open documents, spell-checking, and much more.

When you open the program your current work in progress will automatically load and position you where you last left off so that you can immediately jump back in.

Key Features

  • Timers and alarms.
  • Session management.
  • Daily goals.
  • Fully customizable themes.
  • Auto-save (optional).
  • Live statistics (optional). Statistics include word count, page count, paragraph count, and character count.
  • Spell-checking (optional) for supported languages, on-the-fly, or performed in the background.
  • Multi-document support.
  • Sessions.
  • Portable mode (optional).
  • Scene list sidebar.
  • Keyboard shortcuts.
  • TXT, basic RTF, and basic ODT file support.
  • Basic support for Office Open XML files.
  • Typewriter sound effects (optional).
  • Cross-platform support – runs under Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, and other operating systems that support Java.
  • Translated into over 20 languages including Armenian, Lithuanian, Czech, Dutch, Greek, Finnish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Japanese, Romanian, Serbian, Swedish, Turkish, and Chinese.

Website: gottcode.org/focuswriter
Support: Blog
Developer: Graeme Gott
License: GNU General Public License v3.0

FocusWriter

FocusWriter is written in C++. Learn C++ with our recommended free books and free tutorials.


Related Software

Writing Tools
FocusWriterSimple, distraction-free word processor
Ren'PyUsed to create over a thousand visual novels, games, and other works
novelWriterPlain text editor designed for writing novels
CherryTreeHierarchical note taking application packed with features
ZettlrMarkdown editor for the 21st Century
oStorybookOffers authors a complete and well integrated tool
TwineVisual tool for creating interactive stories
ManuskriptSnowflake method can help you grow your idea into a book
Quoll WriterJava tool to help you focus on writing and your words
JoplinNote taking and to-do application with synchronisation capabilities
HammerSimple tool for building stories
BibiscoWrite your story, in a simple way
WareWoolfMinimalist novel-writing system built specifically for fiction writing
ScriptoriumWrite short stories and novels
SkribistoBorn from the ashes of Plume Creator
novelibreNovel organizer for writers who use LibreOffice or OpenOffice
Plume CreatorProject manager and rich text editor for writers
NovProgGraphs your progress when writing a novel

Read our verdict in the software roundup.

Distraction-Free Tools for Writers
FocusWriterSimple, distraction-free word processor
Mark TextSimple and elegant Markdown editor
ApostropheEditor that stays out your way
Quoll WriterDesktop writing application written in Java
ghostwriterDistraction-free writing experience offering a clean interface
BibiscoNovel writing software
TextRoomBasic full-screen rich text editor for writers
AbricotineMarkdown editor built for the desktop with inline preview functionality
PyRoomEditor that stays out of your way
ManuskriptTool for those writer who like to organize and plan everything before writing

Read our verdict in the software roundup.


Best Free and Open Source Software Explore our comprehensive directory of recommended free and open source software. Our carefully curated collection spans every major software category.

This directory is part of our ongoing series of informative articles for Linux enthusiasts. It features hundreds of detailed reviews, along with open source alternatives to proprietary solutions from major corporations such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Cisco, Oracle, and Autodesk.

You’ll also find interesting projects to try, hardware coverage, free programming books and tutorials, and much more.

Discovered a useful open source Linux program that we haven’t covered yet? Let us know by completing this form.
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
1 Comment
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
JGarbo
JGarbo
3 years ago

Good for short simple work, but useless for even a novella with three characters, unless the writer has a photographic memory. I’ll stick with Manuskript.