Finding the right environment to draft out your stories, blog posts, or study notes can be a real pain sometimes. You may find yourself limited by the word processor you currently use, or, alternatively, you may find that your current software is needlessly advanced for what you want to do.
Here are five great word processors that suit different needs and circumstances; simple, advanced, or highly customisable—not to mention different price points!
1. Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word is the staple word processing software. The vast majority of us have used it throughout our lifetime at school and work, often writing basic documents, reports, or making rudimentary posters for a class project. However, MS Word provides plenty of features in the background that are ideal for writers—with some top-name novelists and authors still using it to write their best-selling work thanks to its simplicity, familiarity, corporate support, and robustness.
The biggest downside to MS Word is the cost and lack of ownership. Since Microsoft has taken to favouring the subscription model over a one-time purchase, this means many students or struggling authors can’t reliably risk spending £150 for the one-time activation desktop version.
For those who can both stomach and afford the subscription model, or can leverage a student discount, Microsoft Word is fairly good value for the money. However, it is best to look around first, as plenty of free or cheaper alternatives exist that can do almost as much as this popular word processor. Consider it as ol’ reliable.
2. Google Docs
Google Docs, as well as the whole Google Suite, exists as the biggest mainstream rival to Microsoft’s grasp over the office environment and hobbyist writing sphere.
Docs gets valid criticism for lacking the robustness of Microsoft Word, as surprisingly absent features are still being slowly implemented as the years go by, despite how simple it would be for a large company like Google to go toe-to-toe with a fellow tech giant like Microsoft.
To some, the lack of features or minimal differences is a deal-breaker, but we should also keep in my that Docs is entirely free, which immediately makes it more appealing to younger or cash-strapped writers.
Moreover, it is possible to implement Chrome extensions to expand and enhance Docs, especially when using it through a browser. Some of these handy features include an improved grammar checker or dark UI theme, alongside AI writing tools and aids, if those are your sort of thing.
For non-ChromeOS users, Docs can also be used offline with the appropriate extension installed, but the need to be online is still not ideal. So, unless you own a Chromebook, where Docs can be installed as a native application, then you’ll have to access it through the web browser any time you want to write. Support may also be finicky, depending on what browser (and codebase) you are using, and how up-to-date it is.
Whilst Docs can be downloaded and used on your smartphone or tablet to mitigate these issues, this isn’t ideal for long writing days and a distraction-free experience.
Really, Google Docs is promising—well-known, free, used by many, has the support of a large tech company—but it just feels like Google isn’t prepared to make it as powerful as Microsoft’s offering (despite having the budget and ability to do so). There is also Google’s almost weekly habit of killing off projects and services without warning; Docs should be safe, but it is impossible to be certain.
At the very least, your work is always being backed up to the cloud (unlike certain versions of MS Word), so there’s no fear of losing it thanks to a hardware failure!
3. LibreOffice
For those who don’t want to pay for Microsoft Word, but also don’t want to touch the mostly-online Google Suite, LibreOffice is a great open-source alternative (and one I personally use on older, less important computers).
LibreOffice not only contains (almost) every feature that is included in Microsoft’s word processor, but it is also regularly updated by an official development team that have supported it for many years. It’s position as an open-source project also means that the software is easy to tweak, and that anyone can make their own fork of it to suit their needs. This also means that, should official develop cease, other individuals can continue support out of passion or necessity.
LibreOffice also comes with alternatives to the rest of the applications included is the Microsoft and Google Suites. These include a slide and presentation builder, spreadsheet manager, a drawing/design environment, and a database manager.
All of this means that LibreOffice is undoubtedly a great go-to for anyone on a tight budget. It does take more from Microsoft’s philosophy and layout than Google’s, but the similar OpenOffice aimed to follow Google’s design—but that software is unsupported. LibreOffice is effectively the successor to the now unsupported OpenOffice, so it’s best to jump in here if you are looking for an open-source, freely available, and highly capable writing environment.
4. Scrivener
If you want software that is developed with authors in mind, Scrivener is a great choice for those that are willing to spend up front for bespoke, purpose-built software.
The feature that really makes Scrivener stand out from the other software listed here is its structuring system, which is ideal for creating a complex story. The handiest additions include the drafting areas, character sheets, chapter and scene dividers, alongside being able to export in various formats for book printing.
All of these options sound great, but this way of dividing up each segment of writing can be a blessing and a curse. It’s great for working on a scene in isolation, and allows for easy reorganising and ordering of story events.
Yet, it is important to note that the work environment can lead to tunnel vision thanks to how it cuts off every other aspect of the chapter when working on one scene. In simpler terms: it is easy to lose track of the story without taking regular breaks to read back through each little segment and making sure content is consistent and coherent.
Scrivener, for that reason, isn’t for everyone—it was most likely built for those with an immense amount of patience and time for writing, the sort that never lose track of anything they are working on.
Fortunately, it doesn’t take after the subscription model. You can purchase a single version for Windows or macOS, or buy the combined bundle for both platforms at a slightly higher price. Even better, there is a thirty-day free trial, so there is no need to take the plunge before trying it out first.
5. Sublime Text
Sublime Text is akin to Notepad or TextEdit on steroids. Its main intention is to be used as a coding environment for almost every programming language out there, but it also offers support for plain text and markdown files, perfect for rudimentary writing.
Even though it can appear pretty bare-bones in the beginning, packages and features can be added with a little know-how. These packages allow for the addition of features like a word count, a customisable theme (colours, font, font size, text alignment), and different layouts for the text editor.
Because it lacks a welcoming user interface, Sublime Text can take some getting used to, and you still won’t have any more assistance than a spell checker. These primitive qualities position it as a good platform for drafting out scenes and plot points, whilst not worrying too heavily about the flow or grammar. So, for anyone who is prone to being off-put by visual clutter in their word processors, a plain environment like Sublime Text’s is what you need—especially for rough notes and brainstorming ideas during the drafting phases.
Whilst Sublime Text is technically a paid piece of software, the application merely pops up to occasionally request that you buy a licence after saving a file. In that sense, it’s kind of like WinRAR. You can ignore it, or do the honest thing and pay the £100 licence fee.
Really, though, if you’re not using it for any programming or official work, it’s just a nice text editor to open .txt files in. Of course, there is always Notepad on Windows or TextEdit for the macOS crowd, which are not dissimilar to Sublime Text, just much more limited when it comes to customisation.
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