Word processing with/alongside DEVONthink Pro (replacing Nisus)

DEVONthink
1

This post addresses two topics:

1. Word processors to pair with DEVONthink

2. Using DEVONthink as a word processor.

I am a long time DEVONthink pro user but I’m really only now getting around to understanding just how powerful it is. This is happening at the same time that I have discovered that the word processor that has been my primary productivity tool for two decades – Nisus Writer – appears to have ceased development. Whatever the case it’s glitching on my new laptop, forcing me into an urgent search for a successor.

I came to this forum hoping there might be some discussion of these questions and was amazed to find a more than 20 year old thread talking about DEVONthink as a writer’s tool! A more recent thread is 10 years old. So now may be a good time to revisit the word processor/DEVONthink pairing question?

I’ll miss the broad functionality of Nisus, but I’m realizing as I seek its replacement that I can probably benefit from a more stripped down application. DEVONthink can create and edit text documents, so that means it’s in the running. And there may well be efficiencies in staying there. But I have my doubts, and will admit that this is based more on my own impressions so far using editing tools already in DTP and not a systematic analysis.

So, does anyone use DEVONthink for your primary composition? If you do, can you share any configuration tips? If you tried and bailed, can you share any insights as to how it failed, or under-performed?

As for alternatives, Word and Pages are off the table—they both drive me nuts.

Other products I’m looking at so far:

Storyist: I am literally in mid draft for one project, and will be trying Storyist first. The interface seems pretty simple.

Scrivener: I do have a copy of Scrivener, and will dust it off, but I didn’t take to it the first time.

Mellel: Last tried back when I did this search circa 2000, and Mellel lost to Nisus.

I am also intrigued by the possibility of using Obsidian as a stripped down word processor.

Any other candidates or ideas?

TIA

ERIK

2

Why, what’s the problem?
As an Apple User, Pages has always been my staple for general word processing
and adequate for my needs

3

I’m glad it works for you. It hasn’t for me, thus the search.

4

Tools are tools. It’s the craftsman that makes the difference.

We certainly have authors who use DEVONthink. Often for information gathering, organization, and synthesis. I know of people who write long-form documents in DEVONthink. I write in DEVONthink every day, though mine are more short to medium form.

But is DEVONthink a word processor? No. And neither is Obsidian. Nor Bear, Apple Notes, etc., etc. A word processing application implies at least a conceptual page. Those apps, and formats, don’t support pages in a native way. If that’s important to you, your options are more limited. You can write in rich text in DEVONthink and open the document in TextEdit and see pages when Format > Wrap to Page is enabled there.

You need to lay out what you’re must-haves, your “it would be nice if…”, and “this doesn’t matter” lists.

1 Like
5

Re your #1 “paring” another. pretty much any other “word processor” product you pick can be used along side DEVONthink as you can make that app the “default" app for files of its file extension (in macOS), and/or use DEVONthink’s “Open With …” feature. I can’t give you any recommendation as your posts above already reject those that I use and like :wink:. .

Re your #2,@Bluefrog explains in his post and others do same to use DEVONthink as a writing tool. I sometimes do also. The editor works like most other editors. I would not use DEVONthink Editor for any long-form writing, though there are probably some who do and may well advocate that.

For you there is probably no “nirvana” and your selection is probably not related to configuration of such a tool.

It’s all down to personal choice, type of writing, experience, etc.

1 Like
6

Appreciate the reminders re tools and craft and not attaining nirvana. That’s definitely a part of this search. But when I found Nisus 20 years ago I had no idea of most of what it could do. The functionality of the app facilitated (and perhaps even in some ways hindered) the development of my work flow. I’m using this search as an opportunity to explore the alternatives out there, and don’t want to limit myself to my own priors.

7

What sorts of things do you normally write? Someone who writes primarily flash fiction will have very different requirements from someone who writes book-length technical non-fiction.

I use Scrivener for anything longer than a grocery list. YMMV.

3 Likes
8

Search the internet for “best word processor software” for lots of articles and reviews.

I use DEVONthink, Scrivener for most things, Word for collaboration with others who use only Word. I like all of them. Used for decades.

9

Like others here, I use Scrivener for my long form writing and DT to store the associated research. All my writing these days tends to be in markdown (which you can do in Scrivener even though it is a rich text editor). The Scrivener binder/outliner is a great help in organising large documents.

For medium sized work, I create the initial document in DT but tend to use IA Writer to work on it mainly for it being distraction free (that DT navigation pane calls to me to digress :pensive_face:).

For short stuff, I will create and edit in directly in DT. My default is double clicking opens within DT. To open in other editor I use shift-Cmd-O. IA writer is the MD default. Although probably not recommended, I keep my Scrivener projects in DT so they are also quick to open. To date, I have not encountered any issues with having a Scrivener project in DT.

4 Likes