Over the last few weeks I've been writing about my shift to Windows from Mac after five years of using a MacBook, and many of you have written to ask what apps I use to replace various Mac-only tools.
All you need to know about writing apps for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac with Apple's Swift 5 developer language. Plus: new features in Swift 5, and why this is the programming language for you. 5 Min Read Published: Feb 1st, 2017. Ulysses is a professional-level writing app for Mac and iOS — it’s pricey, but it’s worth every penny. It’s a free and open-source Mac app that. Pages is a powerful word processor that lets you create stunning documents, and comes included with most Apple devices. And with real-time collaboration, your team can work together from anywhere, whether they’re on Mac, iPad, iPhone, or using a PC. As much as I work on my Mac, I value the option to do things like pick up my iPad to read email messages or grab my iPhone while I’m away from home to make a quick edit to something I’m writing. With that context, below are 40 Mac apps and a few web services that I used this year and consider my must-have apps, divided into seven categories.
In general, I've been impressed with the state of Windows apps — it seems like they've come a long way in recent times, and I've found a number of tools that have enhanced my workflow in a big way.
Lightshot
Windows has built-in region capturing now, but Lightshot takes it to the next level. If you want to annotate, add text or even just copy to your clipboard rather than saving a file every time you make a screenshot this app is for you.
This app has been around forever — and works on Mac too — but as a religious CMD + SHIFT + 4 user on Mac, this was perfect for replacing that reflex (I even mapped the same shortcut to work inside Windows, so I can just keep doing it).
2017 Mac DesktopSeer
Another one of my reflexes is slamming the space key to see inside a file, rather than opening it. One of my annoyances about Windows is that there's no universal 'Preview' style app that lets you open a large range of files quickly.
Seer makes life a lot easier, bringing back the space-button preview, and making it work well inside Windows. I wish Microsoft would just bundle this behavior right in.
Nylas
If there's anything macOS has a glut of, it's mail apps that look good. On the Windows side it was always a little awful, but life is getting better thanks to Nylas.
It's finally on Windows and provides a super-snappy way to access whatever email service you use, with full search and a bunch of nifty other features. I'm a huge fan of the work Nylas is doing simply because their sync engine is so damn good.
All of this said, I'm also finding myself to be a fan of the built-in Windows 10 mail app. It's well-designed, and works nicely in the background providing push notifications and near real-time updates, along with live tiles in the start menu.
Hyper
If you're a developer and plan to use Bash on Windows like I am, Hyper is an essential download. Built by the fantastic team at Zeit, Hyper is the only Windows terminal emulator that doesn't make my brain hurt.
If you want to get it set up really nice, set Hyper to launch Bash every time it opens, install the ZSH shell, and download zsh-pure.
Chocolatey
If you've used a Mac for a while, you've probably come across Brew, a command-line tool that makes installing basically anything a `brew install` command away. Windows finally has something that fills that gap, and it works great.
Chocolatey is a command-line tool for Windows that rids you of those crappy old-school MSI installers where you click next 1000000 times, and lets you install basically any app by typing `choco install` at the command line — incredibly handy, and works for desktop apps too.
Instant Eyedropper
macOS has a mediocre-but-useful built-in eyedropper tool, while Windows has nothing. Instant Eyedropper is a fantastic, tiny tool that lives in your taskbar making it much easier to just grab a color by clicking it at any given moment.
Wallcat
Honestly, I never know what I want my computer's wallpaper to be, so I'm a huge fan of Wallcat.
It's another tiny little app, but the team curates beautiful screenshots within different themes like 'Fresh Air' or 'Gradients' that mean your background picture is something different every day. It's a small touch, but I like the fresh feeling of a new wallpaper every morning.
Visual Studio Code![]()
There are a million coding apps out there, and you probably have your own preference but since switching across I've become a huge fan of Visual Studio Code.
The team behind the app has been iterating on it really quickly and it's packed with useful features like a built-in shell (where you can use Bash!), fantastic Git tracking and a great plugin architecture.
I never really thought I'd stop using Sublime Text, but here we are.
Lunacy
The most annoying thing for me personally right now is the lack of Sketch on Windows. The company is adamant it's not coming, but a lot of the designers I work with hand me Sketch files that.. I can't open anymore.
I had a virtual machine with macOS inside it sitting around just for Sketch, but it was a pain in the ass to fire it up every time I wanted to look at a design.
I use Lunacy to solve that, which is a Sketch viewer built by a third-party for Windows. It works pretty well, and lets you do what you probably need to do: slice up files.
UWP apps
OK, this is a total aside, but one of the coolest features of Windows 10 right now is that there are native apps for almost every major service, which means you can do things like running the entire Instagram mobile app, right on your desktop.
Mac Writing Apps 2017 Download
There's apps I use for Facebook, Twitter, Todoist and many others, which work really well. I think when Microsoft's Fluent Design language is in full swing and starts hitting the store it'll be a fantastic alternative to checking all these things in your browser.
That's it, for now..
I'll keep this post up to date if and when I find something cool. If you've got a recommendation, let me know on Twitter or in the comments on this post.
This post is part of a series I'm writing about switching to Windows:
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As a child, I used to read a lot of novels. My fascination for reading kept me glued to books all the time. I used to finish up a Sidney Sheldon novel within days of starting. But do you know how much it takes to write a book? There are authors who take years to finish up writing one. It is for the ease of all those authors and budding writers that writing applications have been developed. If you are in search of the best writing apps for Mac, the buddy, you are in the right place!
The history behind writing…
Contents
Writing began with stone tablets which then moved on to palm leaves and manuscripts. And then when the paper was invented, books started showing up everywhere around the globe. Writing a book with a pen took several months to complete. Typewriters shortened this time by many folds. But with the invention of computers, writing became super-convenient.
In the present generation, writing applications are being developed which will make the life of authors and writers even easier. If you are a tech blogger, the promising writer, author, then a good writing app is a must!
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What is the use of a writing app?
Though a general word file covers the basic needs of a writer, yet for a more convenient experience, you can go for a writing app. It creates the right ambiance in the system for the writer to concentrate just on the content of his write-up.
Additional editing tools, backgrounds, correcting tools etc. will help you create a better story or article in lesser time. When you write a book, you add various chapters or sub-sections to it.
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Managing all these documents can turn quite messy; in these times writing apps come to your rescue.
So, improve your productivity with the following writing apps for Mac…
Mac systems are widely used all over the globe and if you are a writer or author, then this app is god’s gift for you. This ultimate writing application can be used for focused writing sessions encouraging immersion with the text.
The app also helps you organize your write-up related documents and daily blog posts. It works on iPhones and iPads and you can also sync up your work with iCloud through this application.
It has got a 14-day free trial and after that, the monthly rental price is Rs 299.
Really guys? Do you even need an introduction to this app? Popular across the globe for its simplicity yet abundant features, Microsoft Word 2016 can be used in Mac as well as Windows systems.
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Though it is tailor-made for Windows systems, yet it works more than fine in Mac ones. Available at a price of Rs 454, you can find cheaper alternatives of this in this list.
Even the name of the app has got an ‘I’ in it indicating it is made for Apple products. Listed as the best-selling text editor in the Apple store, it is a minimalistic writing application used for focused writing experience.
It is also used by famous author Augusten Burroughs. Though some users complain about its missing settings of preferences, it is this very feature that makes the app help writers focus on their content.
The item is prized at Rs 590.
Just like Microsoft Word is for Windows systems, Apple pages are for Mac systems. But it is not only limited to Mac users. If you have any other PC, then you can download pages and use it through iCloud. And the best part about this writing app for Mac? It is free of cost!
It is certainly one of the best free word processors for Mac. Though it has got an impressive user interface and features, it is not very popular as every user with whom you would like to share or collaborate would have to install Pages in their systems too.
Released back in 2007, it is one of the bestnovel writing software for Mac. It is also supported by systems running on Windows and Linux. You can now easily organize your documents and notes with the help of this content managing app. The app also offers various templates for creating screenplays, fictional, and non-fictional manuscripts.
The split-screen mode and drag-drop feature of virtual index cards make it a top choice for various writers.
The Mac word processing app SimpleText was replaced by TextEdit. It uses the Cocoa text format to read and edit documents in various formats like Rich Text Format, plain text and HTML.
Though it is not a very advanced tool, it can be used for applying various text edits to your content, adding multimedia inputs to it and writing different character encodings. And the best part? It is a free novel writing software for Mac.
A top-notch text editor and writing app for Mac is Byword, available on Mac and Apple app store. You can easily use this app anywhere to edit your stories, blog posts, and school projects.
There are various features like on-the-tip keyboard shortcuts and syntax highlighting that help the user achieve better productivity.
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Mac app store pending app. Sync up your work in iCloud or Dropbox so that you can work on them from any device, anywhere, anytime.
The finest in the industry, it has been used by various authors and movie script writers in the entertainment industry. All have given rave reviews about this app. Tailor-made for the entertainment industry, it offers more than 100 templates for drafting screenplays and stage plays.
You can also collaborate with a partner for real-time writing, outline act, scenes and sequences easily. Apart from these, there are several other text editing features that make it one of the best word processor for Mac.
It also works on Windows systems.
Yet another free writing app for Mac is Write! Gmail calendar mac app. Though currently, only its Windows version is available, its Linux and iOS versions are on their way for release. If you get quite distracted while writing your blog or story or even school essay, then use this tool for a distraction-free writing session.
Features like automatic spell-check, tunable autocomplete (completes your word before you end), multiple keyboard shortcuts, support for Markdown, Wiki, and Textile syntax, unlimited undo etc. make authors prefer this over the others.
An advanced writing app for Mac preferred by various novelists and screenplay writers is Storyist. Talk about focused writing environment, more organized writing, easy access to all documents…Storyist covers them all.
It supports Mac systems and also works on iPhones and iPads.
With the help of this app, you can now create stunningly formatted manuscripts and screenplays and get a customized high-level view of the story with the help of index cards. How to delete mac app purchases.
Experience a distraction-free writing session with app Whiteroom which creates a full-screen writing environment. It was developed as an alternative to Microsoft Word to provide a more convenient writing environment. It has got spell check and auto-save feature in addition to basic features of Word.
More the features more the distractions; that is why Whiteroom has stuck to the basics.
Writing a movie script or screenplay? Go for one of the best writing apps for Mac named Slugline. It is a simple and elegant writing application for Mac and iOS systems. Its outline navigator helps you write sections and sub-sections of the write-up in a more organized way.
Just like other writing apps in the list, you can sync up your documents in iCloud and Dropbox and then work on them on other devices too.
The dark mode of the app helps you work in low light conditions. You can also pair a keyboard to your iPad and then write using it.
Work on multiple document types like DOC, DOCX, PDF, HTML, RTF etc. and create amazing stories with the help of Tinyword. Featuring multiple editing tools like inserting tables, symbols, footnotes, hyperlinks, page numbers etc., it is highly preferred by budding writers and authors.
You can also protect your content with a password and also put editing restrictions on your content.
Focus on your story or write-up with the help of this amazing writing app for Mac. With quick note feature, easy to use interface, advanced markup editor with knowledge of over 20 programming languages, multiple work themes, cross-note links, focus mode, hashtags, smart data recognition, multi-device sync…and many more,
it is certainly one of the most feature-rich writing apps for Mac.
We hope the above writing apps for Mac help you create your dream story or screenplay in time. If you want a better work space, do take a look at free time tracker apps for Mac and Calendar apps for Mac.
Just the way above-mentioned tools will help you improve your writing productivity, these apps will help you achieve more work in less time.
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