Nisus Writer Pro - 1.4

Why can't someone make a word processor that uses .doc (or even .docx) format as its native format? Like it or not, the reality is that the Word formats are the standard and are extremely widely used. They are the defacto interchange format for editable files (PDF for non-readable files) and it is a real hassle to use a WP application which has to import and export to these formats. This is the ONE thing which keeps me with Word and I wish it was possible to move away.

Nisus is a good example of a missed opportunity in the real world. It's a good product to use, but its importation of Word files is slow and imperfect. And when saving I have to save two copies - one in Nisus format (to read back in with formatting intact) and one in .doc format (to send to others).

I know that Nisus uses RTF as its own format, but this just doesn't hack it as a real alternative to .doc. And I also know that this may not be a trivial challenge to solve, but that isn't the point - for any application that does address the challenge there are riches awaiting...

Why Nisus Writer Pro is my new favourite OS X word processor: It’s fast, lightweight, and easy to learn and use, but is still rich in features; it has a lovely interface that allows easy access and customization of the toolbar and sidebar; keyboard shortcuts can easily be assigned for almost any action; imports other document formats extremely accurately (at least of version 1.2, though I hear there were some issues prior to this); it’s extremely stable; uses .rtf as its default file format instead of a unique and nontransferable file format (like Mariner Write or Mellel); it’s backed up by excellent support—I received very quick and friendly responses to a bug report regarding an issue that turned out to be my (or rather Unsanity’s) bad.

There’s no substitute for stability in a word processor. The fact is that Nisus runs extremely smoothly and handles all aspects of document formatting and management perfectly in a nearly universally compatible format. There are plenty of good options for word processing on OS X, but Nisus Writer Pro, in my opinion, is leading the pack. Also, Nisus Software offers excellent educational pricing, making this app accessible for students without a lot of disposable income.

At least, the import is so poor, it's useless.

Nisus apparently uses an open source library - libwpd - but Nisus is clearly doing something wrong. NeoOffice also uses libwpd and does excellent Wordperfect imports.

With the availability of making comments and with its new merge feature, Nisus Pro has really become THE Mac word processor. I really have made productive use of its terrific built-in thesaurus, great style controls and rather attractive interface. High recommended.

Elegant. Straightforward. Capable. I've used Nisus since Word4 tried to get me to buy into Word5.