WriteRoom App Reviews

The description says rewritten to "support" Lion, but the sys requirements show it requiring Lion. Thanks for that dev. Ill be sure to buy your other overpriced software so I can get locked into an old version after 3 months or less.

I used the demo of this program twice, on a couple of different machines, but I just couldnt justify $30. I ended up setting up emacs to get as close as I could. I monitored the Hogs Bay blog hoping for a discount after missing out a cheaper price earlier in the year. But at $10 this program is highly recommended.

I know this should be the best program in App Store, but the original price 29.9 is too high and doesnt even worth of it. Now they lower the price, which is such an awesome gift for all writers. When you are typing, its like back in old days. The words, sentences, paragraphs are so beautifully aligned. Its just the best program here. Dont waste your money on other things like Byword. I bought Byword to replace WritingRoom since price in unaffordable. But now Writing Rooms time has come to rock.

Not much more I can say. I know there are many other distraction free apps out there and I have tried several and like WR the best. Im able to use it from my iOS devices and sync using dropbox and then I usually import my entries into Scrivener.

WriteRoom has been the nexus of my work. For me, the deciding factor is that it is available for both Mac and iPad; with the flawless realtime Dropbox syncing it sports, I am rest assured that I have the latest version on both. I take notes and write drafts with WriteRoom, and when they are ready, I simply open my documents with Nisus Writer, edit, format, and submit them. The new look with white letters on grey background is literally easy on the eye; it is helpful when I work on the project for hours on end. Organizing documents is very easy with WriteRoom, and it is the case for both Mac version and iPad version. So far, one of the most valuable tools I have ever put my hands on. It simply brings my project flawlessly to the final stage. I cannot thank the developper enough.

Jesse, you nailed this update. Great new features, seamless flow…perfect! I have tried every single writing app on the app store and this kills all of them. Thanks!

For those people who are tired of Microsoft Word and desire ease of use, WriteRoom is a winner. It is a streamlined writing experience. This is a solid software application but it does not compare as well when considering alternative apps such as iA Writer, Byword, and possibly Marked. If I were making a first purchase, I would consider WriteRoom with the alternatives mentioned above. If you want Markdown, go with the others. If you want immediate preview of Markdown, go with Byword and/or Marked. If you want a great writing experience, all are desirable except for Marked which is a handy Markdown viewing utility.

Does a great job of being stable, working with RTF and TXT, and thus you can send it to various applications for further manipulation. Its a winner.

The themes pictured are actually on the web page for the app! You just have to scroll down to the bottom. One happy customer!

Just bought this, Im sorry I did. It has no zoom or scaling function. I cant read it unless I type in 20 pt. Trash. Further research revealed they took this feature out in the newest version. Why, why why. This is trash.

Of all the "minimalist, get the hell out of my way and let me write" apps that Ive tried so far, WriteRoom is by far my favorite. Two editors live in my dock: MacVim and WriteRoom. Sometimes, developers deliver things that make me sigh and say, "Thanks!". This is one of those applications for my workflow. (btw -- just tried out their QuickCursor app, and now have vim showing up when and where I want it as well giving me the best of both worlds)

WR is the original full screen editor, which never disappoints. The 3+ versions move towards greater minimalism and economy, with just the right amount of customization (font size/ themes/ export options) to keep writers in their comfort zone. The reduced price is a big bonus too. Suggest giving it a try.

Well, when I clicked "purchase" for Write Room I thought, "Wow, Im purchasing ANOTHER app that is supposed to change my writing life, but Im probably just procrastinating and spend more unnecessary cash." I opened Wr and its all so deceptively simple, almost too reduced at first glance. A month later . . . my writing practice is totally transformed. This program is amazing - its true how many digital distractions there are, and by removing the "environment" (however flashy Lion is) I fly through paragraphs and stay focused. No bold, no bullets vs numbering, no MS Word changing formatting on its own, no menu bars, no formatting palattes. Honestly, I thought it was ridiculous to buy another word processor, but if you suffer from focus issues, and need to buzz through ideas quickly, I could not more highly recommend this tool. Paired with MindNode and Scrivner, the three are killers together. Thanks Wr!

I got WriteRoom 2 in a bundle a couple of years ago, and didn’t hesitate to purchase version 3 from the Mac App Store. It was a very good app before and it’s great now. The ability to quickly switch themes is wonderful. There are a number of extra themes available on the developer’s page, and I really find that matching the theme to the project I’m currently working on helps me concentrate. The theme editing does need to be strengthened a bit. The “Edit Current Theme” sheet only shows the theme’s color & sound settings; the rest are set here & there in the menus. This makes it difficult to be sure what’s global and what’s theme-specific. I’d prefer a dedicated theme-editing window that lists all the themes, with all theme-related options available in one screen, including font, word-count display etc. Everything. And with a Cancel button, since right now it’s too easy to mess up a good theme. And that doesn’t require you to manually save new theme files in WriteRoom’s Themes folder in the Library; that’s TMI for a user. But none of that detracts from the app enough to dock it a full star. I’m using this daily and loving it.

There is quite a bit of competition in this space now, but I still prefer WriteRoom. I have it set with black background and green, old school Apple IIc green. Buy it; at this price it is a no-brainer.

Ive been using this for a few years. I decided to switch to the App Store version, despite the extra cost, because I did not like the way the web site update process for 3.0 required that I set up a credit card for my Google account. Admittedly, that was required by Google, not Hogs Bay, but I still did not like it. Anyways, I like 3.0, especially the ability to use Themes and to download Themes created by others. The Dyslexia theme is nice. One thing I did not like was that 3.0 initially started as a windowed app, not full screen. I would prefer that WR stay focused on full screen by default and make those who want only a window jump through the hoops to get it. Using WR in a window ignores the history of WR, defeats its purpose, and makes it just another word processor. What makes WR special is its simplicity in full screen. That should always be the default. Always. I have no use whatsoever for the new spreadsheet features. Why on earth would anyone think they are needed for this kind of app? However, they are not really a problem because I can just ignore them. Still, I hope the developer does not think he needs to bloat the program with more stuff like that in the future. Please keep this app simple in every way. I would like to give this app 4.5 stars because of the annoyances (okay, minor annoyances) described above. However, since I must choose between 4 and 5, I choose 5 because that is closer to how much I like the app.

I have both… this is cool, has a lot of neat themes and all, but it is lacking iCloud integration and iOS support. Add iCloud and iOS support and you got me at 5 stars. All in all it is cool… but between the two IA Writer seems to have licked the advanced stuff with a great look and feel as well… While IA Writer is on sale, I recommend IA Writer (the regular price is a little pricey)… but this one is good too! And no, I do not work for IA Writer, nor get any money from them.. these types of apps are popping up everywhere...

Completely refreshing.

WriteRoom for the Mac just doesnt have any useful features. It is just a striped down text editor with limited rich text support. Themes are its only real distinguishing feature but they are too hard to set up and the most useful theme is a black background with white font, which is available in Byword at a lower price AND that has dropbox and iCloud support. This app is not worth $5, let alone $10

Writeroom might be little more than a glorified text editor with theme and full-screen support, but thats exactly what I need - writing without distraction. The first time I used it, I was able to crank out 2500 words in a few hours, a feat Ive never accomplished with any other word processor. Not even the expensive suite sold by Apples main rival. That alone is worth the asking price.