For years I have been searching for a good, free, portable markdown editor and some time ago I think I found it- ghostwriter is open-source, cross-platform and portable, it is customizable, the project is in active development.
Synopsis
ghostwriter is a Windows and Linux text editor for Markdown, which is a plain text markup format created by John Gruber. For more information about Markdown, please visit John Gruber’s website at http://www.daringfireball.net. ghostwriter provides a relaxing, distraction-free writing environment, whether your masterpiece be that next blog post, your school paper, or your NaNoWriMo novel. For a tour of its features, please visit the ghostwriter project page.
Features
Links
- Distraction-Free Writing
Enjoy a distraction-free writing experience, including a full screen mode and a clean interface. With Markdown, you can write now, and format later.- Built-in Themes
The built-in light and dark themes provide an aesthetic writing experience out of the box.- Live HTML Preview
Preview your Markdown document in HTML. With the live preview, you can copy the HTML to paste into your blog, or export to another format. You can even set your own custom style sheet to see how your document will appear once it is posted on your website.
The live preview will only update when you stop typing, so that you can continue to work on a large document without the application freezing.- Export to Multiple Formats
Use the built-in processor, Sundown, to export to HTML. Alternatively, install any of the following to export to multiple formats in your preferred Markdown flavor:ghostwriter will automatically detect their installation, allowing you to export to HTML, Word, ODT, PDF, and more!
- Pandoc
- MultiMarkdown
- Discount
- commonmark
- Navigation
ghostwriter utilizes head-up displays (HUDs) to provide information and special actions. The Outline HUD facilitates navigating large documents. Simply click on a heading in the HUD to go to a different section of your document, including within the live preview.- Focus Mode
Clicking on the "Focus" button in the lower right corner of the editor will enable Focus Mode, which highlights only the current text around the cursor while fading the rest. You can configure ghostwriter to highlight the current line, sentence, paragraph, or three lines.- Hemingway Mode
Clicking on the "Hemingway" button in the lower right corner of the editor will disable your backspace and delete keys, creating a typewriter experience. This feature is especially useful if you want to avoid editing and force yourself to write.- Custom Theme Creation
If the two built-in themes are not enough, you can create your own! With background image support, you can create the ambience you need for your writing.- Document and Session Statistics
In addition to displaying a live word count at the bottom of the window, ghostwriter displays even more live statistics in its Document Statistics and Session Statistics HUDs.- Drag and Drop Images
Easily create image URLs within your Markdown document by dragging and dropping an image from your file system into ghostwriter's editor.- Free and Open Source
Over the years, I have greatly benefited from free and open source software. As such, I want to give something back to the community. Enjoy!
Website
Project
Download
Wiki
Issues
Publisher
Softpedia
Softpedia
AlternativeTo
Downloads
Direct download links for ghostwriter version 1.6.2 (released on 2018-04-15): Images
ghostwriter - classic light theme:
ghostwriter - classic light theme - preview:
ghostwriter - classic dark theme:
ghostwriter - classic dark theme - preview:
ghostwriter - file:
ghostwriter - edit:
ghostwriter - format:
ghostwriter - view:
ghostwriter - preferences - general:
ghostwriter - preferences - editor:
ghostwriter - cheat sheet:
ghostwriter - about:
Portability
ghostwriter has a natively portable version:
In fact with versions 1.6.0, 1.6.1, 1.6.2 there is no need to create data folder since it is included in the archive. ghostwriter automatically saves settings in INI file (ghostwriter.ini) inside data folder:Portable Mode
You can download the Windows Portable version of ghostwriter, or make your own on any OS. Just as with FocusWriter, simply create a folder named data in the same folder as the ghostwriter.exe or ghostwriter executable file (depending on the OS). The application will now use settings and themes in this folder. If you need to migrate existing themes you created while running in non-portable mode, simply copy them from the relevant folder below:
- Windows: C:\Users\<your_user_name>\AppData\Roaming\ghostwriter\themes
- Linux: /home/<your_user_name>/.config/ghostwriter/themes
- MacOS: ~/Library/Application Support/ghostwriter/themes
Code: Select all
ghostwriter\data\settings\ghostwriter\ghostwriter.ini
- Download the archive;
- Extract the archive to a folder of your choice;
- Run ghostwriter.exe;
ghostwriter should run on Windows 7 or higher.
License
NoteThe source code for ghostwriter is licensed under the GNU General Public License Version 3. However, various icons and third-party FOSS code (i.e., Hunspell and Sundown) have different licenses compatible with GPLv3. Please read the COPYING files in the respective folders for the different licenses.
ghostwriter is written in C++.
On my machine (Windows 8 x64) ghostwriter uses about 80-100 MB of RAM.
Details
File details for ghostwriter version 1.6.2 (released on 2018-04-15):
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Archive
Name: ghostwriter-portable-v1.6.2.zip
File Size: 77444023 Byte(s) (73.86 MB)
Modified Date: 2018-04-16 02:09
MD5: e4bae917f0e3108dfed307400e968291
SHA1: c7f4db7ef8a51288855320817cd5604d5d918e93
SHA256: e8b69f817e88afa3f2ae3ed486aa6b9ce874a5872bac51cd0c3d7473e76dce6a
SHA512: 719ca503e1a72fb3ccbcfdd30ff83781df30ffc0667b1c987b179c8c8b971ba813322ee789fd3757b6b20968c34999a41d43a3f056ef891302860d43f8a8d1f4
==
Installer
Name: ghostwriter-v1.6.2-setup.exe
File Size: 55057438 Byte(s) (52.51 MB)
Modified Date: 2018-04-16 02:04
Version: 0.0.0.0
MD5: bf3a8232fada31864939c2c66e2f3ef4
SHA1: fcb832fa2487e1122cd0bf2ea79de5dfe1449c6c
SHA256: 9a8e9400dea05c1ae8fa2fe5d3eb89a20dfa58ef74727cf25995b7f4b7f10ce9
SHA512: 7fb3a4333c85f8dc149f956120243427b15d9558ad34a76a784b04f01b36a95c03646c7270a5cd81b9dee9b72262b47e3d780ca0ea093c3c51a71fa290064e19
==