FocusWriter - distraction-free word processor

[Pyromaniac]

Website: http://portableapps.com/apps/office/foc ... r_portable

Screenshot: http://portableapps.com/files/images/sc ... rtable.png

Download: http://sourceforge.net/projects/portabl ... e/download

Category: Productivity - Word Processors

Synopsis: FocusWriter is a fullscreen, distraction-free word processor designed to immerse you as much as possible in your work. The program autosaves your progress, and reloads the last files you had open to make it easy to jump back in during your next writing session, and has many other features that make it such that only one thing matters: your writing.

Writes Settings to: Application folder

How to Extract: Download the self-extracting EXE and extract to a folder of your choice. Launch FocusWriterPortable.exe.

Stealth: of course!

Path portability: hell yeah!

Unicode support: you betcha!

License: Freeware (open source)

System Requirements: Win2K +

[NickR]

Hi Thanks
FYI your screenshot is currently not accessible gives error '403 Forbidden

[webfork]

Good news. The addition of this program will probably prompt me to ask Andrew to create a "distraction free" editors section.

[JohnTHaller]

FYI your screenshot is currently not accessible gives error '403 Forbidden

You need to access it from the app's homepage (link just above) and click on it to expand it. Hotlinking images is disabled.

[guinness]

Tested: Portable

[webfork]

Troubling error message when I moved FocusWriter Portable from my desktop to another drive:

The path to FocusWriter Portable has changed, since it was last started, from \Documents and Settings\Administrator\Desktop\FocusWriterPortable to \portable programs - new\FocusWriterPortable. Moving portable apps like this is not advised, and some features may not work. Are you sure you want to continue?

Can someone duplicate this or is it just me?

Thanks.

[JohnTHaller]

Troubling error message when I moved FocusWriter Portable from my desktop to another drive:

The path to FocusWriter Portable has changed, since it was last started, from \Documents and Settings\Administrator\Desktop\FocusWriterPortable to \portable programs - new\FocusWriterPortable. Moving portable apps like this is not advised, and some features may not work. Are you sure you want to continue?

Can someone duplicate this or is it just me?

Thanks.

Looks like JW forgot to update the launcher configuration for the last release. It's the standard warning built into the PortableApps.com Launcher until the developer has ensured that all paths are fully portable (instead of just drive letter changes). Generally, it'll only show up on an older app that hasn't been updated to support full path portability but it'll only affect a few entries in recent files.

You can turn off that warning by adding DirectoryMoveOK=yes to the App\AppInfo\Launcher\FocusWriterPortable.ini file in the [Launch] section. I'll push out a revision now (1.3.3 Rev 2) to be sure it's taken care of and works properly for everyone with full path portability.

UPDATE: 1.3.3 Rev 2 is now live to fix the issue. If you notice this issue with any apps in the future, please drop a note in our support forums. Thanks!

[webfork]

Few things:

1. New version out: 1.3.4.1. Looks like its Bug fixes, basic ODT support, more translations
2. Its rare that I see a program THIS cross platform. Wow. 7 Linux distros, Windows, Intel and PPC Mac, and OS/2. Jeeze.
3. The program lists a "Portable Mode," which might mean its natively portable.

All good news.

[ashghost]

3. The program lists a "Portable Mode," which might mean its natively portable.

It is, in fact, natively portable. There's no Windows installer - the Windows build is distributed as a zip archive only. The ReadMe file in the archive says:

Create a folder named "Data" in the same folder as the executable (the application bundle if using Mac OS X) to run this program from a USB drive.

I can confirm that it's portable. I still don't know which registry settings still qualify as stealth, but I suspect that it may be stealthy.

[I am Baas]

3. The program lists a "Portable Mode," which might mean its natively portable.

It is, in fact, natively portable. There's no Windows installer - the Windows build is distributed as a zip archive only. The ReadMe file in the archive says:

Create a folder named "Data" in the same folder as the executable (the application bundle if using Mac OS X) to run this program from a USB drive.

I can confirm that it's portable. I still don't know which registry settings still qualify as stealth, but I suspect that it may be stealthy.

Tested V1.3.5
FocusWriter is natively portable but not stealth.
Writes the usual QT (Trolltech) junk to the registry but also an empty key @

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\GottCode\FocusWriter

[webfork]

Update out for 1.5.1:

June 25th, 2014

Added keywords to .desktop file
FIXED: Spelling underline was broken
FIXED: Incorrect MIME type for Office Open XML
FIXED: Incorrect version number string
FIXED: Compile issues with Qt 4.6
FIXED: Regression with sound effects on Windows
FIXED: Regression with default cursor width on Windows
FIXED: Regression where menubar was not shown in Ubuntu
Translation updates: Spanish (Mexico), Korean, Swedish

http://www.softpedia.com/progChangelog/ ... 39099.html

[Checker]

Question: Why do we link to an outdated PortableApps.com version if there is an updated portable version available on the official site

[JohnTHaller]

Question: Why do we link to an outdated PortableApps.com version if there is an updated portable version available on the official site

I've updated it to the zip version listed on the official site and revved the version number as well as updating the Stealth info and the much-larger install size (165MB). The PA.c version is now listed as an alternative that is stealth and adjusts paths. Note that the PA.c version is at the same version as the zip version. I noticed it hadn't yet been updated to Wednesday's release this morning as you did.

Side note: The larger size started with the 1.5.0 release due to the dictionaries included. Compressing using UPX via the PA.c AppCompactor saves about 30MB but results in an unusable app. I think I've determined which files can't handle compression, but did not want to include it in the 1.5.1 release without testing it extensively.

[webfork]

Why do we link to an outdated PortableApps.com version if there is an updated portable version available on the official site

It makes sense that natively portable programs will come out before the wrapper version but, more to the point, site policy is to list natively portable programs as the primary entry focus. Has anyone tested the native one?

[JohnTHaller]

It makes sense that natively portable programs will come out before the wrapper version but, more to the point, site policy is to list natively portable programs as the primary entry focus. Has anyone tested the native one?

I did. It is portable but not stealth. It leaves the Qt keys, as expected. It no longer leaves the other app registry key that I am Baas noted in 2011 above, though.

I've updated the record to link to the standard app as mentioned in my last post since the author is linking directly to their zip as the portable version. I think the reason this was listing the PA.c version previously is that the author was linking to the PA.c version for a time and recommending that for a portable download... they also added WPP iirc. I think they began promoting the zip directly when they did a site redesign around the time of the 1.5.0 release. I might be confusing this with another app, though.