My search for the perfect writing software (for now)

After three decades of writing on computers, I’ve found the distraction-free text editor that feels like the digital equivalent of a favourite pen and paper!

In the olden days, every writer had their own favourite type of paper and pen brand. I’ve heard stories of how even a small change in either one would disturb their flow. Along with that, they had their preferred spot where they liked to sit and write. In today’s world, most writing happens on a computer or, at times, on a smartphone. Let’s leave the topic of generative AI-created content for another day.

Coming to my own writing setup and preferences. In the early 1990s, when I started writing using a computer, there weren’t many choices. I used an MS-DOS PC with a word processor called WordStar. I could, even in my sleep, press Ctrl-K S for saving, Ctrl-Q F for search and so on. There was no spellcheck, not even word count, in the early versions I used. Later, when Windows 3.1 came, I did try Microsoft Word. But my favourite then was Lotus AmiPro. I liked its features and power over Word at that time. The feature I liked the most was its style manager. It allowed assigning keyboard shortcuts to different sections, like headings and titles. Today, Word has a strong style manager too, but I found AmiPro’s to be the best and easiest to use. I had used it extensively to write a textbook, a course material on Turbo Pascal for a local high school, back when I was still a student myself—but that’s a story for another day. You can even try out the 1991 edition of AmiPro from your web browser without installing any software on your device, thanks to the Internet Archive.

Fast forward more than three decades, to 2025. These days, I prefer to write my book chapters—whether in Tamil or English—using Microsoft Word on my Windows 11 PC. I do use Google Docs once in a while, but I always come back to Word. Maybe it’s familiarity, or muscle memory, or just that I prefer a desktop app for serious work. Yes, Word is not perfect. But over the years, I’ve learnt how to live with its quirks. Earlier, I would write VBA scripts to fix formatting issues that would otherwise take hours. For my upcoming book “The Founder Catalyst,” I had to move around the chapters and renumber the titles of all 34 chapters. Word doesn’t offer a feature to do that. Rather than waste time manually editing them, I asked ChatGPT to write a Python script. In a few seconds, it generated code using the docx package. I ran it, and the job got done in minutes. It saved me half an hour and ensured everything was numbered correctly in one go.

When it comes to writing code, I use “Visual Studio Code.” It’s simple, has plenty of customisation options, and has all the extensions I need.

For quick drafts, like movie reviews or short blog posts, my go-to for years was Windows Notepad. Long back, I had used the paid version of EditPad Lite by Jan Goyvaerts. But by the time they added proper Unicode support for complex scripts like Tamil, I had moved on. Then it was Notepad++ (notepad-plus-plus dot org) for years. It’s more of a Coding IDE than a text editor, so I found it wasn’t ideal for casual writing. A few years ago, Microsoft added a tabbed interface and autosave to Notepad in Windows 11. That’s when I switched to it fully. It was ticking all the right boxes for me. Later, when they added the Tamil Anjal Keyboard layout, I was happy. But strangely, Notepad struggled to display Tamil typed with Anjal. It seemed like an issue with that particular keyboard layout. This made Notepad less useful for me.

So I looked around for alternatives. I came across Sublime Text 4, from Sydney, Australia. It worked well and supported the Anjal keyboard. I’ve used it for some time. But again, Sublime is designed more for coding. Also, the full version costs USD 99. I don’t mind paying for software I use, but that felt a bit too much for a text editor.

That’s when my friend, the well-known writer Mr Pa Raghavan, wrote about “iA Writer”, which he uses on his Mac and likes a lot. Luckily, there was a Windows version too. I downloaded it and started using it. In fact, I’m typing this post in iA Writer. The interface is super clean—just a large white box for text, and nothing else. Once you start typing, even the menus disappear. Word count shows up only if you move the mouse to the bottom right. It’s truly distraction-free and helps me focus. There are many features like file organisation, content blocks, and linking, but I haven’t explored them yet. That itself is a plus point. Spellcheck is built-in and can be easily turned off when not needed. The markdown support is excellent for documentation work.

The app offers a two-week trial for Windows. I liked it so much, I bought the full version for USD 29.99. The same license works on both my desktop PC and Windows laptop. Activation is also simple—just copy and paste a key, no account logins or cloud sync needed. One more reason I went ahead and bought it was their outstanding support. During the trial, I reported two small issues with handling Tamil text. Both were acknowledged, and I was told they will be fixed in a future release. Another time, I asked about autosave and got a helpful reply within a day from their Tokyo office. It was refreshing compared to the cold support we often get from big tech firms. Their support email was easy to find, too, unlike most other vendors who hide it behind login walls and forms.

In the last two weeks, I’ve used iA Writer to write several blog posts and social media updates, and I’m enjoying the experience. There are still a few things I wish for. Right now, there are only three font choices. I wish I could pick my preferred font, especially for Tamil. Still, the default font “Quattro” looks nice and works well enough. Some settings could be easier to find, but that’s just nitpicking.

If you are looking for a simple, elegant text editor that works like a good old typewriter, try iA Writer. It’s available for Windows (which I’m using), Mac, iPhone, and iPad.

Disclosure: I write reviews about products that I have bought for my usage and paid in full. There were no sponsorship or advertisement, or commission of any sort involved in this post.