mac word processor w/ multiple document gui?

February 3, 2008 9:38 PM

I'm looking for a (good) Mac word processor with some sort of GUI for viewing and navigating among multiple open RTF and text documents, a la the TextWrangler document drawer. I specifically want the documents to remain their own separate entities, as opposed to being gathered in a database or project file as with Scrivener or Mori. A pleasing appearance would be a bonus. I'd also be interested if there's a Linux app that does this.
posted by viscountslim to computers & internet (20 comments total)

TextMate does what you want, if I'm reading your question right, and about a million other things, too. Tabbed interface and a drawer that serves as a folder/file browser.
posted by wemayfreeze at 9:54 PM on February 3, 2008

I need something that can read RTF files. Ideally it would read Word docs, since that's (unfortunately) the industry standard, but I can convert them if I have to.
posted by viscountslim at 10:19 PM on February 3, 2008

what about Nisus Writer Express? They have a free demo you can download. It opens Word Docs just fine.
posted by unexpected at 10:21 PM on February 3, 2008

I don't see tabs or any kind of multiple-document pane listed on the Nisus feature list. Do you have reason to believe it has something like this?
posted by viscountslim at 10:31 PM on February 3, 2008

This may be a less than ideal solution, but have you ever looked at StickyWindows? It's not exactly what you're asking for ... but it might allow something close.

It lets you make any window into a tab, so you could use your editor of choice and switch easily from one window to the next.

I've unfortunately never seen a tabbed RTF or Word editor ... but maybe someone else will; you can keep my suggestion as a sort of last-resort option.
posted by Kadin2048 at 11:10 PM on February 3, 2008

You need Scrivener. It's simply the most elegant drafting tool out there, and has a very strong community behind it. It's $35 for a family license, but there's an old free version called Scrivener Gold as well. Get the 30 day trial, trust me, it's awesome.
posted by Happy Dave at 11:30 PM on February 3, 2008

Oh, bollocks, ignore what I just said, just saw the second bit of your question.

Note that Scrivener stores everything as RTF files inside the .scriv file though, and you can export to any number of formats, singly, in whole or in groups you define.
posted by Happy Dave at 11:31 PM on February 3, 2008

Xpad might be more what you're after.
posted by Happy Dave at 11:32 PM on February 3, 2008

I too love Scrivener, but probably not as storage for all my docs. I'm investigating Xpad and Sticky Windows; thanks for the suggestions. Yay lazyweb!
posted by viscountslim at 11:39 PM on February 3, 2008

I might be missing something here, but could you not just hit F9? This makes all open document panes pop onto the screen, with the document name superimposed. It's a mac feature, so independent of the word processing software you use. I write for a living, and using this to swap between open documents is one of the most important parts of my workflow.
posted by dowcrag at 12:41 AM on February 4, 2008

What I'm looking for is something -- a list, a menu, tabs -- that lets me see the titles of all the open documents and navigate through them, preferably while one of them is open in front of me. Also, F9-sized files are difficult if not impossible to read, at least on my screen with my eyes. That said, thanks for reminding me about this. I'll experiment further with it.
posted by viscountslim at 12:53 AM on February 4, 2008

As with *everything* related to text processing, emacs does this.

I wouldn't call it pretty, though.
posted by bonaldi at 6:46 AM on February 4, 2008

emacs handles RTF?
posted by viscountslim at 6:56 AM on February 4, 2008

Oop, missed that. It's really a text processor, but there is a RTF reader for it, and a not-terribly-friendly rtf-mode.
posted by bonaldi at 8:23 AM on February 4, 2008

Bean
posted by Lanark at 1:42 PM on February 4, 2008

I just downloaded Bean, and if it's got some list or tab feature that displays multiple open documents, I can't find it.

I don't want to appear ungrateful for these suggestions, some of which are both thoughtful and useful. I also don't want to waste anyone's time, which is why I made an effort to make my question as clear and concise as possible. But I will admit that I'm a little gobsmacked by how many people are so eager to help me out that they can't make it all the way to the end of my (76-word) question.

I know, it's the lazyweb, and you get what you pay for. Like I said, I'm grateful for the suggestions. But if people don't even read the questions before posting answers, doesn't that sort of defeat the purpose? Or is the idea that, as the sucker who actually asked the question, I get to go check out all the tossed-off dead-end leads and then mark the actual answers for the benefit of others? If so, I will happily perform my role for the benefit of future readers, and recalibrate my expectations (and my future questions) accordingly.
posted by viscountslim at 3:00 PM on February 4, 2008

the problem here is that your question has no answer, because no mac app does this, unless it's incredibly niche. So all the other answers will only go part of the way. You want it you'll have to compromise, which is what all the answers offer.
posted by bonaldi at 3:15 PM on February 4, 2008

I don't mind getting no answer, or a compromise answer that acknowledges the actual question (e.g., the suggestions of Sticky Windows, Scrivener, and F9). And I appreciate anyone taking the time to help a complete stranger.

But I would gently suggest that allotting more of that time for reading the original post would save everyone -- yes, including me -- a lot of time that could be spent much more entertainingly.
posted by viscountslim at 3:45 PM on February 4, 2008

It'd really only save you time, that. Your complaint is nothing new -- MeTa's full of "can we read the questions first, please?" and the answer is invariably (in practice, if not so much spoken), "no we bloody can't, we're busy, there's thousands of questions, so poster beware". That's why you get incredibly carefully worded questions, like:

I'm looking for a word processor for Mac that keeps multiple documents in the same window (like Textwrangler does). It must:
* Handle RTF and Text
* Store the files seperately, not in a database like Scrivener or Mori
and ideally, it'll look good. I'll also take answers that work on Linux.

So, yes, let me gently suggest you recalibrate your questions. Paragraphs don't get read on Ask.
posted by bonaldi at 4:12 PM on February 4, 2008

Bonaldi, your advice rings true and I will take it to heart. Thanks for taking the time. (Seriously.)
posted by viscountslim at 4:36 PM on February 4, 2008