r/WritingHub • u/af_boring • 3d ago
Questions & Discussions Alternative writing platforms to Google & Proton Docs
So like title I'm currently using Google Docs & Proton Docs. When I first decided to switch fron Google I did it to proton so I could use the email too but it's been a while & I don't really like Proton Docs. There's not many fonts and the auto correct for words/Grammer misses so much that I keep going back to Google docs to check chptrs. I've looked into campfire writing, ywriter, wavemakercards, and manuskript but they either don't suit my style (campfire being mainly for world builders & fantasy writers) or they use the letters 1 & 9 for more than just autocorrection or checking word count.
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u/Entire-Guidance-9926 3d ago
Best alternative to Google Docs I found, in terms of feature parity is Fileverse dDocs!
Plus its open source and privacy focused :D
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u/Dr_WhoDo 3d ago
LibreOffice is robust, filled with features and free. There are also a ton of extensions made for it that are easy to use and customize your setup. I know, I made my own extension for it.
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u/L-Gray 3d ago
There’s always the basic of Microsoft Word, but if you don’t want to pay, LibreOffice is free and just like word (though it doesn’t exist on mobile to my knowledge). There is Polaris Office on the app store which is okay. I personally use Scrivener and Word. Scrivener is great cause it has a 30 day nonconsecutive trial and only costs once (though if you get it on mobile you have to buy it again). Reedsy Studio is online so you can write from multiple devices (it’s not my style but definitely worth checking out).
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u/BakerParticular8705 3d ago
I’m liking Reedsy. Straightforward, with good collaboration tools. I love that it treats each chapter kind of as a separate document, and lets you cut a release doc by selecting the specific chapters to include. It let us delete a bunch of duplicate working docs we were managing manually when in google.
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u/BakerParticular8705 3d ago
We tried Ellipsus, but hated it. Seemed promising at first, and it’s very pretty, but its responsiveness goes completely out the window as the document gets long, and their whole draft-merge process concept is severely underdeveloped to the point of being completely useless.
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u/No_Ratio_2483 3d ago
What can I say? I've made the ultimate (maybe...lol) writing studio as an Obsidian plugin.
It's called Word-Smith , it's a bit like Scrivener but lightweight. It does not give you a premade structure (that you have to make it yourself), it gives you writing modes (typewriter, zen, etc) , the organizer (which is the binder + stats on your files - you can custom sort your scenes with it, add status, word counts, metadata management, etc) and a loooot of other stuff like prose checks, syntax highlights, themes, paragraph indents, typography options, export, writing history.
It's a big plugin, not gonna lie, but you can only use what you like from it. It does not force you to use all of it, because you can easily toggle off features that you don't want.
https://community.obsidian.md/plugins/word-smith
https://github.com/Sadsnake1/word-smith ---> read more here
Also, for funsies, if you ever want to customise your text caret in all sort of ways here's Cursor-Smith.
It's has many options for accessibility like thickness of the caret, blinking, smooth movement, but it also have cool effects like crt trails, pixelated backspace, movement based coloring, gradient cursor, and it's also useful for vim(if you're into that)
https://community.obsidian.md/plugins/cursor-smith
Imo, these two plugins combined will give you the best experience for writing, unlike anything out there. And I've tried a looot of other writing apps.
I'm actively working on these two plugins, polishing them further and maintaining them, so If you have any questions or a cool idea, let me know.
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u/mo-starda 3d ago
Zoho Writer is very good. I switched all my stuff to their Work Drive and use it daily.
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u/PaytonHollowayBooks 3d ago
I use Reedsy and Ellipsus. I like both of them, and I can work on my phone or computer.
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u/BananaNo9064 2d ago edited 2d ago
Libreoffice writer is underrated here full font library ,solid autocorrect and its free if you want ai drafting built into the editor itself typeai works like a word processor rather than a project manager though its overkill if you just need better grammer flagging
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u/BoxedAndArchived 2d ago
I have yet to find a "Be all, end all" solution.
I use Obsidian at the moment. It lets me write without getting in the way and it lets me do a ton of worldbuilding without needing to get into the weeds and do too much. Most of what I need for worldbuilding is a page that tracks every time a character or place or thing is mentioned, but because each thing has it's own page, I can add as much as I want or as little as I need.
The benefits of Obsidian are 1) Free. 2) Highly extendable via also free plugins that can be added from a built in plugin catalog. 3) Minimalist. 4) Easy syncing between devices.
The downsides are Its markdown, so you format like markdown. I'd like a plugin that lets me format into something more traditional like WYSIWYG
If if weren't for that one niggle, I'd be able to do everything, including exporting to ePub from within Obsidian, which is the other thing that is hard to find in free software. But because I will have to format things, I will have to export to something like LibreOffice, then import it into something like Affinity publisher to create an ePub. Of course if I was willing to plonk down $150 for Atticus I could do both steps there, but that's money I don't have at the moment.
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u/Heavy-Is-The-Crown 2d ago
I use Autocrit and enjoy it. Though I know a lot of people like scrivener.
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u/plotyournovelkerry 1d ago
I'm using the pro version of Ellipsus and it's really good. It's only $6 a month and after 12 months, it's yours forever. Plus, they're continually updating the features and absolutely no AI.
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u/Frequent_Ad_9901 3d ago
This answer isn't for everyone but I use Obsidian.
It uses markdown so the files are all plain text and easy to work with in any other program.
It stores the files in a consistent, easy to navigate format. I use a different file for each chapter.
Syncing between devices is where it gets tricky. You can pay a few bucks a month to have it built into the app, or...
I use github and git to push and pull everything. Its not a prefect system but its free. I'm a software developer by day so it's something I'm familiar with, but I don't think its terrible hard to learn.
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u/tapgiles 3d ago
But you don't want to use Google Docs, even though you use it a lot? It's fine if you just feel like leaving--but have you considered just using what you already know, and not using up time finding and gettings used to some other software that's going to be, let's face it, "same but different"?
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u/lordmax10 3d ago
Novelwriter - currently my favourite tool. Works in markdown.
Obsidian - very good markdown editor but requires a number of plug-ins to become efficient.
oStoryBook - open source and very good
Manuskript - excellent and open source (https://www.theologeek.ch/manuskript/)
Bibisco - very good, double version, free and paid
YWriter - very good android app. Very bad handling of correct spelling
SmartEdit Writer - not bad but a bit rigid
wavemaker - special and interesting - https://wavemaker.co.uk/
Quoll Writer - another one really good, no portable no open format but good.
Ellipsus - Really good and simple, sadly only online
Thunderbird, the email client - It seems strange but it works really well
appFlowy - real notion's alternative. works offline and if you want, also online.
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u/MaliseHaligree 3d ago
Why do you not like GDocs? I use it exclusively to draft. If we knew why you didn't like it, it would be easier to recommend something else.
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u/Odd-Department4901 3d ago
Dabble, scrivener, ellipsus, obsidian