Recommend me a osx word processor
- Thread starter IceDigger
- Start date
ElDiabloConCaca
U.S.D.A. Prime
OpenOffice is just about your only option. It uses Mac OS X's X11 windowing system, so be sure you have that installed (/Applications/Utilities/X11). It's available from http://www.openoffice.org and is just about as close to Microsoft Office as you'll get for free.
NeoOffice/J is a "prettier" port of OpenOffice that uses Aqua windowing (Mac OS X's native windows) and a little bit of Java as well. It usually lags behind OpenOffice in terms of using the latest and greatest release, but it's generally pretty good:
http://www.neooffice.org/
I just tried to download it from that site, and it seems that NeoOffice/J's website is down, or is having problems.
NeoOffice/J is a "prettier" port of OpenOffice that uses Aqua windowing (Mac OS X's native windows) and a little bit of Java as well. It usually lags behind OpenOffice in terms of using the latest and greatest release, but it's generally pretty good:
http://www.neooffice.org/
I just tried to download it from that site, and it seems that NeoOffice/J's website is down, or is having problems.
jbarley
One more, for the road!
IceDigger said:
Here are the links to 2 FREE office type packages,
NeoOffice http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/15797
RagTime http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/7989
NeoOffice I've used, but RagTime I haven't.
jb
Ragtime is really targeted more toward DTP than toward office productivity. I find it odd that no one has listed the MacOS X version of that Linux stalwart AbiWord. It reads both Word and WordPerfect documents. If you are willing to eschew a few features, there are three well-respected, inexpensive titles in Mariner Write, Mellel II, and Nisus Writer Express.jbarley said:
ora
Registered
Like Qion said, textedit.
Its fantastic, there are many free plug ins to give it lots of extra features, its lightweight and comes with the machine. RacerX posted a bunch of the addins ages ago but i can't find it now, maybe he can give us a pointer?
I use Word for work stuff as i live in windows world, but for eveything else textedit is great.
Its fantastic, there are many free plug ins to give it lots of extra features, its lightweight and comes with the machine. RacerX posted a bunch of the addins ages ago but i can't find it now, maybe he can give us a pointer?
I use Word for work stuff as i live in windows world, but for eveything else textedit is great.
TextEdit certainly is enough for basic wordprocessing, and I would _only_ move to something else if you _really_ really need a certain feature it hasn't got.
As for spreadsheets: NeoOffice. It's good enough for the spreadsheet part. If you _do_ have AppleWorks installed, that can be used, too.
As for spreadsheets: NeoOffice. It's good enough for the spreadsheet part. If you _do_ have AppleWorks installed, that can be used, too.
Lt Major Burns
"Dicky" Charlteston-Burns
there's also Abiword, which is nicer than NeoOffice by a long way, but takes an age to load up.
neooffice os horrible to use regularly. things like not respecting the macos open/save dialogues and no vertical rulers to speak of really start to gripe after a bit.
neooffice os horrible to use regularly. things like not respecting the macos open/save dialogues and no vertical rulers to speak of really start to gripe after a bit.
RacerX
Old Rhapsody User
And there isn't too much that it doesn't have or that can't be added!fryke said:
Starting with the basics, you have built in spell checking (system wide as it is a service), nearly unlimited undos, a very nice find system, the ability to use graphics or images, very good control of fonts (thanks to text services) and text controls (which can be expanded via TextExtras).
Add to that Apple's Dictionary app (10.4 and later), OmniDictionary and Nisus Thesaurus and you have a lot of references for words at your finger tips.
As TextExtras is an input manager type of service, it modifies TextEdit's (and other Cocoa application's) menus. I also use HotService (puts the Services menu back where it was before Mac OS X moved it to the application menu) and FontSight (shareware, gives you a font menu with the fonts displayed using the fonts).
Additionally, WordService adds a ton of features (accessible via the Services menu) that help round out what most people need in a word processor.
And starting with 10.3 TextEdit has native support for MS Word format, and added styles. In 10.4 TextEdit got a basic table editor and the ability to do lists (from a pull down menu on the tool bar).
I put together an old page (using TextEdit from 10.2) here, and Apple has a nice page here on the latest version.
For me, by the time TextEdit is not up to the task of what I need, I pretty much need a page layout application (I use Create) rather than a better word processor.
Ted Witcher
Registered
Nisus Writer Express is the one. Latest release is excellent, Universal for the next update, and priced well. Streamlined, designed for those who don't like the feature-bloat of Word. I've used Mellel as well, but that is a little more difficult to get a handle on and is intended primarily for academic writing. It's still more than enough for everyday tasks, though, and very reasonably priced. But I've decided on NWE.
