ZO219  This is simply the best, most tolerable interface, I've written a book with it. Five stars!  
(Version 3.3.1)

EASER  I was using the newest version of MS Office until I realized that, given all of the incremental updates I've had to to, my "Receipts" folder in my Library now has 164 receipts just for Office alone. That's just plain obscene to me, particularly since I have no idea what other nonsense MS manages to install on my machine. I still need Excel, so I put up with it. But I've always had good luck with Nisus, so it's back to this as my word processor of choice.  
(Version 3.1)

BRUMM  My opinion on word processors for OS X:

The last days I've tested many word processors and I found Mellel to be the best so far,

Mellel is not bloated like all the "Office" suites (Neo, OO, MS, are all to slow, ... for me Neo Office is the best of these beasts.)

and Mellel is better than:

- Nisus (Nearest competitor but Nisus doesn't support soft hyphen!, I simply cannot work without soft hyphen.),

- Mariner Write (really bad font display/spacing for many years now, only english, carbon - so it needs to be rewritten for future OSX releases, will they do that? I'm unsure.)

- Pages (Again no soft hyphen!, occasionally crashes and after a while gets very slow, ... but I exspect the next versions will be much better)

- Papyrus (very ugly, carbon, no real testdrive possible - crippled trial version, but some interesting features - I keep an eye on it)

- AbiWord (Many bugs and no updates the last 2 years, I think they don't support the Mac anymore)

- Bean (really fanstatic freeware, but based on Apples buggy text-engine. No soft hyphen! So only usable for some very short texts, best freeware I've seen for many many years - of course I keep an eye on it)

For now I will use Mellel.

The only things that I don't like are related to the interface design, for example the round beveled look of the ruler and tools section is very outdated now, a boring all-grey mix of alien spaceship ("aqua"-style) or early iTunes versions ("metal"-style).

But besides that Mellel has the best combination of features for me, so my money goes to them.   
(Version 3.1)

EASER  After being rather blasted for my comments on the recent MS Word update, I felt compelled to write a review of NWE 3.0, since no one has done that. Word may have its champions, but I am not among them. I've explored literally every Word alternative I could find, and I settled on Nisus.

I have found this program to be fast, stable, and sufficiently feature-rich, particularly now that it offers text wrap with images. I'll grant that Word provides a host more features, but if you want to simply get down to the task of writing, Nisus is likely to be very satisfying. The learning curve is low, and customer support has been good. I'd like to be able to see it work with .docx files, but I'm sure that will come in time.  
(Version 3.0)

NEURON  Great writing tool. Almost prime time, although at this point still a fantastic writing tool for basic writing, drafts, and the like.

Only reason to use word for me is track changes. Also, to ensure compatibility (I opened the finished document in Word, save as Word file, then send it).

Otherwise, its great, I like the interface, has most of the features I need, and is fas, responsive, and stable. A little slow to start up, though.  
(Version 2.7)

LUMPO  I had a meltdown with M$ Word on a Macbook and I just can't get it to run (bound to be font corruption, but alas can't fix it). I have Mellel which is quite nice but it doesn't work smoothly in terms of importing the lingua frnca (M$ word files). Nisus however, opens word files as though they were native, and saves them out the same way without complicated exporting.

The only reason I ever need M$ word is when I am receiving or am required to track changes. For those occasions I open Word in windoze under parallels (runs 1000% faster than word in OSX ever did). Shuddering with relief when that's done, I return to Nisus and it does most of what i want easily.

For bibliographic databases, I use Bookends. You can set it to drop references into the Nisus doc and as the default format is rtf, Bookends can scan it quickly to make a formatted doc and bibliography; this is a 2 step process whereas Mellel is 1-step.

Still if Word compatability is needed, Nisus has it over Mellel ++; otherwise they both have something to offer.  
(Version 2.7)

MARC NOTHROP  if precision of Word compatibility is your top priority then NWX could be improved, if you're looking for a great writing tool, then Nisus is really the best option out there.

No argument that the features trail Word, and even Mellel in places, but development is very active, and new features are coming thick and fast. Definitely worth a look.  
(Version 2.7)

NINJABOY  Used this in OS Classic days as an alternative to MS Word and loved it. Even the lesser (freeware) version was good enough to write a number of report and research assignments etc.

NWE for OSX, however, is a disappointment. My document looks ugly because of formatting & spacing problems, despite my best attempts to alter prefs and/or re-format my document to give it a more polished look. Footnotes seem to be causing the biggest problems and un-justifys the text by shortening line-endings (like Appleworks), but footnotes also alter the line spacing in documents too.

It would be great if the Thesaurus was integrated within the app, instead of running alongside NWE as a separate app or as a plug-in (I like self-integrated apps - especially with word-processors).

It pains me to say that NWE is a word-processor no more advanced than some freeware/cheaper shareware versions. Even TextEdit with Apple's Dictionary app will produce similar results (other than the footnotes, of course).

I will stick with MS Word for now, but only because it produces the polished look to my documents that NWE and AppleWorks cannot produce.  
(Version 2.7)

DAVEF  I have been using M$ Word for the last four years and it has not been a pleasant experience. Today I took M$ Office 2004 off of my computer (its now an M$ free zone) and installed Nisus Writer Express. It is the best word processing program I have ever used. I can write the way I want to write not the way M$ Word thinks it should be done. What a breath of fresh air.  
(Version 2.7)

MARC NOTHROP  Keeps getting better, and at a good pace.  
(Version 2.7)

NFINCH  Where is the real, full-featured OSX NisusWriter?  
(Version 2.7)

AMERGIN  Have used nisus since os8 days and loved it. Fell out of love with the osx version when it came out but think I am now getting to like it again as it matures into a worthwhile application. Keep up the good work!  
(Version 2.7b10)

THIRSTYROBOT  I bought a licence for this app long ago and never once regretted it. Nisus is not Word, no. But then that's the point. If you don't need the bloat of that application and would instead work on a wordprocessor that gives you just the features you need, runs and loads faster, and saves in multiple formats (including Word), then Nisus is for you.

Intel core duo users take note: Nisus is now compiled in universal binary. And the performance difference is quite noticeable.   
(Version 2.7b4)

SAURYA_S  I think it is not at all a good word processor. Even Mellel offers more feature than this. The biggest drawback is it doesn't have track changes like word. Even Apples' pages is more featured than Nisus. I am not sure if developers are trying to improve it. I guess all the fetures of word caan be implemented in a six months time, if developers are seroius about making it mac word processor.

No outline mode, I am not sure about compatibility with endnote or other bib packages.

S  
(Version 2.6.1)

JIM_WALSH  I love lots of things about Nisus. Not having to save. Saving in an open format. My only *real* complaint is that it cannot make a signature line (a partial line -- underlining whitespace). The *work around* is to put a character at the rightmost end of the line.  
(Version 2.6.1)

DAYCARE  Still no way to set headers and footers to zero (killer criteria for me). Beside of this: Looks good  
(Version 2.6b2)

GHOSTMAN  Would be interesting to find out what exactly is new in this version. The "low price" of $69 is actually a bit high, when one considers a feature comparison between the OS X version and the last Classic version published...  
(Version 2.6b2)

MAGID AL-AAKI  Nisus is a powerful application. It is integrated in the Macintosh environment. It has many powerful functions and tools both for textediting, drawing and retrieving. The Find-function, for instance, has many levels (Norman Find, PowerFind and PowerFindPro).

Other functions like endnote, footnote, image, Hyperlink and Nisus-dictionary makes the program useful for every one. The functionality of Nisus goes beyond simple clickability - there is thinking behind Nisus. I heard beautiful words about Nisus from a friend at the university and a translator. At that time Nisus was not known to me. Then I boutht the software and I enjoy its functionality.  
(Version 2.5)

ANONYMOUS  The new NW 2.5 is indeed a nice product. However, after all the work they have done I cannot believe they ignored allowing for split-screen editing. Apple's Pages has the same omission. If MarinerWrite can include it, why can't NW 2.5?  
(Version 2.5)

RYAN  Nisus Writer Express is superb. There, I've said the most important part of the review.

You want more details, you greedy MacUpdate reader, don't you? Well, let's start with NWE's greatest strength: its interface. Besides being very pretty, the NWE work interface is the most elegantly functional I've ever used in a word processor. The Tool Drawer is amazing. It holds all sorts of sweet tools, everything from your styles to a [b]live thesaurus[b] (yeah, a thesaurus that quietly offers possible synonyms for what you've just typed, and yes, it's amazing). The drawer is highly customizable, in the most Mac-liscious, drag-and-drop sort of way. Create a drawer palette group that holds what [i]you[/i] need.

I'm an interface junkie, so it's very important to me that my workspace works with me. A custom palette group goes nicely with my enlarged Draft View, no toolbar. In this mode I can writewritewrite and get everything down, no extra crap getting in the way. Then I can switch to Page View and change palette groups to do the final formatting and whatnot.

Text renders beautifully in NWE. Unlike Word, NWE makes full use of Mac OS X's Cocoa objects, which have wonderful text display features. The Nisus folks have extended the standard objects to include such important features as right-to-left input and more customization of display.

Let's talk about some of the new features in 2.5. There's now automatic list editing, which works very nicely and is unobtrusive, so you don't find yourself suddenly and accidentally composing a list (unlike a particular program I despise *cough* Word). It's also very nicely customizable.

The Nisus people have created a new technology, in partnership with such venerable small software companies as The Omni Group and many others, called LinkBack. Basically, any LinkBack-aware application can paste in content from any other LinkBack-aware app. Then, when you double-click that content, it opens it in the original program for editing. Try this with NWE and the newest version of OmniGraffle. Whoa. Or Keynote (if you download a plugin). It's pretty cool. Developers can freely add LinkBack capabilities to their apps, and it's not particularly difficult. We'll be seeing more and more programs supporting this, particularly those from smaller companies who want to provide the best user experience and usefulness possible.

NWE's implementation of style sheets has always been strong, but the revamped style editor is even more fantastic. It very clearly organizes your character, paragraph, and list styles, then shows you what attributes each style has. Unfortunately, NWE can't yet export/import style sheets, so you'll either have to put the right styles in your templates or create them in each document you use (assuming you're using custom styles and not just the standard ones). This isn't a huge deal, by any means, but it would be nice.

This new version seems very stable to me so far. No crashes, no glitches, nothing out of the ordinary. I'm happy.

I could keep going about the many reasons I love using Nisus Writer Express (I am a writer, after all), but I really just recommend you download and try it yourself.

Ryan

www.r-blog.com  
(Version 2.5)

ANONYMOUS  This current release adds a number of new features that users have been asking for, polishes a lot of features, and fixes just about all of the bugs from previous versions. Nisus clearly took a long time to get the quality right in this release, and it shows. The program is much more refined, stable - and the new features are great.

This really is a great program. You can make it work the way you want it to much more than any other word processor for OS X, and its feature list is impressive. The interface is very thoughtfully designed, and the technical support from Nisus is very strong.

Give it a try. It's a wonderfully-designed piece of software.  
(Version 2.5)

ANONYMOUS  I don't think, there is anything novel about nisus. First of all it is pretty slow to start. Mariner write launcehs extremely fast. The tables made in Word appears pretty different. It is not good for reading as well. If one has to read big document, mellel does good job. When you quit a document and reopen it, it starts from the same position as u had closed. That is not tru with NSW.

I hope developers release substantial improvement reeleases rather than half cooked , not perfected versions  
(Version 2.5)

RONAN  Seems to me that releasing an 'update' every few days is a form of advertising which backfires. If it's so wonderful, why does it have so many updates.

Mellel, on the other hand, delivers something substantial with each update, and stays shtumm in the interim.  
(Version 2.5fc3)

ANONYMOUS  what is interesting to me is that things like mellel seem to work better out of the box for $20 less. meanwhile nwe users seem to be stuck with piles of half finished products and a string of betas that focus more on adding new features instead of perfecting (or making reliable)the old ones.  
(Version 2.5fc3)

LORD LIGHTNING  Dave Larson asks about the difference between Express and Okito Composer. With all respect Dave, Composer is not the issue. The competition is the issue. If you want to find exactly what we are all missing, there was this terrific word processor for OS9. It was called Nisus Writer. it was not built on Okito Composer. It did just about everything we needed. It was a 'magic' word processor. The solution to the current despair among the once loyal Nisus Writer users is to go back and see just what it was that the OS9 version had that Express doesn't. Put that lot into OSX and you have got a winner. Yes, it must be fully compatible with Word and the key design/layout apps.  
(Version 2.5fc1)

ANONYMOUS  Still stinks. Try opening a REAL document, one that is large, complex, or full of images. Then go on vacation for about a week. When you come back, let us know if it's open yet.

Give it up Nisus. There is FREE competition that will whup your A$$ (Neooffice). Let's not even discuss Pages or Mellel, which are each about 16 steps ahead of this shoddy product--and getting better.  
(Version 2.5fc1)

DAJNJ  Still waiting for the return of what was called "Gloss" (called "Ruby" by others, it places small character over a word--ESSENTIAL for Japanese). The OS 9 version had it, and it has been explained to me that MAC 0S X make it nearly impossible, but Microsoft Word (Japanese version) and LightWay Text (or iText) has figured out how to do it. Has Nisus given up on making this a software for the Japanese language???  
(Version 2.5fc1)

MATTHEW NELSON  I am impressed with what has happened to this program between version 2 and now. It gets faster and faster with each release. There is a wonderfulness to the gui making using Nisus a joy. Columns, lists, tables work well. It is not bloated and it does what I need it to do and it does it well. I am looking forward to the final non-beta version of this release. The price is right for me, considering the feature set, the ease of use, the constant work by Nisus.  
(Version 2.5fc1)

ANONYMOUS  What did you like better about Composer? Is it just price, or missing features or ? Sorry, not trying to be a pain, but in order to make Express better, we need more than just what you wrote.

Thanks,

Dave Larson

Nisus Software, Inc.  
(Version 2.5b7)

MACPETE  This greate little app has NOTHING to do with MS Office, Open/Neo Office or AppleWorks.

It's a very well-designed application for people that simply need a fast and modern word-processor (with a tight integration with MacOS X).

Its competitors are Mellel, TextWrangler and - above all - MarinerWrite.

Pietro  
(Version 2.5b7)

ANONYMOUS  Not better than AppleWorks. Useless, especially at $60.  
(Version 2.5b7)

JON  i've been holding out on buying this because it hasn't quite felt worth the $60, but i keep looking at it and waiting for it to get to that point where i'd like to own it. the problem is i am starting to doubt it will get there. their styles bloat files and crashing inDesignCS2, you can't get rid of headers & footers, and the margins aren't fully under your control. from the beta it looks to me as if these issues aren't the focus, instead of making the basic features smooth and easy they are working on features i'll never use. maybe it time to move along, but to where? i certainly can't stick with text edit for much longer and i refuse to ever return to word.  
(Version 2.5b6)

LORD LIGHTNING  This twice the price of the old Okito Composer and not all that advanced. It's a pale, limp cousin of Think Free Office and particularly the smooth and very compatible Mariner Write. In any case, why would anyone pay $60 for beta anything. Every version reveals new crashes. It pretty and at the same time pretty useless. If you can't rely on it you are not smart to buy it. Let the manufacturers borrow from the Capital market to develop this. You don't have to pay for the development.

You could always try Mellel. At least it works reliably every time. It has never crashed on me using Tiger. Neither has Mariner Write, which I keep going back to for really important stuff that just has to be completed on time without any glitches.  
(Version 2.5b6)

MRANDRE  I liked this better when it had about the same functionality, was called Okito Composer, and did not cost $60. May I direct your attention to: Mellel.  
(Version 2.5b6)

ANONYMOUS  ms word does not work fine, one instance of trouble is that if you have a large font library it takes a long time to open, i mean nearly a minute... for a word processor that is just stupid.

save your files as rtfs, only run into slight problems with layout when open in ms word and really if layout is essential you should be saving it as a pdf becuase that is the only way to be sure a document will look perfect from one computer to the next.

also, did you ever consider these might be issue with ms word and not the others? maybe you should be demanding word make itself compatable with the rest as well. lets hold all the players equally accountable.  
(Version 2.5b4)

MARKUS  still US-page-format by default instead of the OS-settings, still no way to have NO footer, NO header - therefore no replacement for Mellel (among others) as long as You don't live in the US  
(Version 2.5b4)

JON  my only problem with nisus is that the documents it creates crash indesigncs2 when you try to import them. that is a deal breaker for me.

otherwise i really like nisus. it's silly to think things have to be perfectly compatable with ms word, why not blame word for some of these problems? it certainly isnt like people are trying but ms makes it hard because that is how they keep the competition away. the fact is you should be using rtf files in the first place, because they are far more cross os, cross app compatable. and if you open an rtf file in word and it doesn't look right BLAME MICROSOFT not nisus or pages or whatever. honestly, preappraise your prespective.  
(Version 2.5b4)

WILLIAM DONELSON  Still does NOT import ClarisWorks or AppleWorks files.  
(Version 2.5b4)

STEVE  Why in the world would I want 3 word processors? Pages for layouts? Pages can read and export Word documents. Nisus Writer Express can't. What good is a word processor if it won't allow me to be compatible with MS Word?

Like it or not, MS Office and MS Word is used by the majority of people. If I draft a document up in NWE and can't export it properly to MS Word then how can I send it to my colleagues. Pages comes close, but it is still lacking.

As I see it, MS Office 2004 for OSX wirks just fine. I was using Apple Pages but the lack of compatibility with MS Word is so frustrating.

Until NWE or Pages fully export and import MS Word documents, I'm sticking with the real thing.   
(Version 2.5b4)

MRKRANKY  Use Word only when you have to,

...Pages for fancy layouts,

...and Nisus for everything else.

It's that simple.  
(Version 2.5b2)

RYAN  A quick note to a few of the previous reviewers: remember you're using a beta version of the software. With BETA software you should expect to see some crashes.

Nisus Writer Express is, in my opinion, the finest word processor available. It has a clean, polished interface that really uses OS X's objects in an effective and elegant way. The Tool Drawer is extremely easy to customize, and can hold all your common tools. For example, I have a "Writing" palette in my drawer that holds things such as Styles, Language (an interactive thesaurus!), and dynamic word/character count. This drawer is freakin' awesome. Seriously, see what you can do with it.

If you're moving from Word, you'll appreciate many things about NWE. Not the least of which is the price. For an app that does this much for you, and opens and saves Word documents, who can complain about a much lower price tag? Of course it's a great value!

You'll also appreciate MUCH better text rendering than Word (the Cocoa frameworks Nisus uses have excellent font support and great features such as lovely anti-aliasing, as well as many niceties the Nisus folks have added).

The tags along the bottom bar of the NWE window are deceptively powerful, and give you access to a wide variety of formatting and such.

This new version (2.5b2) includes a stellar style editor (this is really cool, an improvement on what was already good), several improved language tools (NWE can have multi-language documents, meaning the spell-checker won't freak just becuase you're quoting something in another language -- this is cool), and a few other cool features I haven't used yet.

In short, I HIGHLY recommend this program, over Pages, over Mellel, and especially over Word.  
(Version 2.5b2)

MDB  Nisus Writer Express still isn't fit for academic work. I was just writing a page with several footnotes, and when I tried to delete one of those footnotes, NWE beta one made the main body of text invisible and then crashed.

I paid for NWE, so I would like it to work. But, unfortunately, it doesn't.  
(Version 2.5b1)

DETLEF  Very very nice. NWE: small, stable, speed. And it looks great. Feature Request: Bookmarks, please!  
(Version 2.5b1)

ANONYMOUS  Sorry, Mellel for long documents and Pages for Layout. (at least until Mellel 2.0)

Nisus, again I repeat others' statement. "Too little, too late, and too much $$.  
(Version 2.5b1)

T  I see a wonderful future for Nisus Writer Express: Make it a screenwriter app, or add the option. Why? Because many people in the Mac world are fed-up with old dinosaur apps like Final Draft and Movie Magic Screenwriter (just look at the comments here and at Versiontracker). These companies no nothing about what makes a great Mac OS X app. I would ask Nisus to look around and see where it truly can make a difference for the Mac community. There is a big void in the Mac screenwriting market. We love Macs and writing, but there are no great screenwriting apps for Mac OS X. We also don't like companies taking $250 for their mediocre apps. Come on Nisus, see the potential, step in, and show how to do things the right way. Might take a lot of research and resources, but we Mac users are screaming for a good alternative for FD and Screenwriter.

I'm just rambling. This got nothing to do with the current app. I'm just seeing the potential for a bright Nisus future.  
(Version 2.1.3)

ANONYMOUS  Have now tried 5 times to download 2.1.3 unsuccessfully! v2.1 messed up my computer running osx 10.4.1. I have paid for this based on experience with os9 version and regret it. Problems too numerous to go into. This is buggy beta software - you have been warned!  
(Version 2.1.3)

DETLEF  Nisus Writer Express is a great Word Processor for me. Yes a Word Processor, not a Layout-Program. So what? It is stable, fast, small, beautiful and very elegant. I love it.  
(Version 2.1.2)

ALEX SANCHEZ  Agreed. I was anxiously awaiting its release also. But to my disappointment, Nisus came up VERY short. I did a comparison test between Apple's Pages, Nisus Writer, Mariner Write, and even Mellel. Apple's Pages now has my vote because it was very intuitive. The layout is amazingly simple and yet it's polished. Is it perfect of course not, but Pages is the best replacement to MS Word because it opens and retains MS documents better than any of the others. In fact, it has replaced MS Word as my main word processor. Besides, it was only $49 (education discount) and I got Pages AND Keynote. Sorry Nisus, too little...too late.  
(Version 2.1.2)

DANA SUTTON  There was a time when a Unicode-aware Cocoa word processor with a Save as HTML feature was impossible to find, which bad news indeed for somebody with a very text-oriented Web site. So when Nisus first brought this out I was excited by it, even if it had a lot of stablity problems and rough edges, and felt much more like a public beta than like a finished product. But that was then, this is now. It has taken a l - o - n - g time in development (and I'm not sure that this development can be called completed) and now we have Pages, which does a lot of what this does but is far more polished. So, for me at least, the original excitment has worn off.  
(Version 2.1.2)

ERIC ANDERSON  Nisus should have released a stable, ready-to-go, out-of-the-box word processor. Now that Apple has introduced Pages (http://www.apple.com/iwork/pages/) for $79, you get a word processor AND a presentation software called Keynote.  
(Version 2.1.1)

ANONYMOUS  i like nissus writer express. it isnt perfect but its better than most, i just wish it was a bit cheaper.  
(Version 2.1.1)

KRC  I really like Nisus Writer Express. I downloaded version 2.1 and thought it was cool. It did crash on a few Word 2004 files but this 2.1.1 seems to have taken cared of that for the most part (it hasn't crashed yet on the Word files I have opened so far).

What I really like about Nisus is the Thesaurus. If I type something general like "war", it'll show up with many different wars, like Korean War, Franco-Prussian, Persian Gulf, and the like. If I type a word like "Japanese" it would give different kinds of Japanese people like geisha and shogun. MS Word's Thesaurus isn't like that.

I thought the Style Sheet editing was rather simple as editing a document but it took a while to get use to at first but once you figure it out, it's simple.

One thing I kind of missed was the Grammar Checker but I sure hope that shows up in a new version. That would really help.

Aside from that, I think it's worth it.

A little side note though: I still had the demo version of 2.1-- still hadn't paid for it yet. I installed 2.1.1 over 2.1 and it resetted my demo back to 30 days. Seems pretty generous of Nisus to do that but I'll probably make my purchase soon.  
(Version 2.1.1)

ANONYMOUS  I'm underwhelmed by the NWE. It's interface shows promise, but it's still very clunky and counterproductive. It's style system, while original, is slow to apply and modify. It's palettes aren't very smart regarding content that is currently selected. It's table features show promise, but don't quite work reliably yet. I want to give Nisus my money, but right now I'll have to stick with other apps. Hopefully by v3 it'll actually be a mature product.  
(Version 2.1.1)

FRANK  If you're going to emphasize the "affordability for students" angle, then a price comparison with MS Office Student/Teacher Edition sort of wrecks that argument. $60 for Nisus vs. $130 for Word, Entourage, P-Point, and Excel. By my math this works out to $32 per app in the suite---hey Nisus, are you sure you want to stick to the "student affordability" line?

Not that I'm advocating for MS or Office---they bring their own particular miseries to the computing experience, and the fact that I have to purge and reinstall Office from my Mac on a regular basis when the suite corrupts itself is proof that we need competition from good programmers like the Nisus folks. My point is only about pricing.

  
(Version 2.1.1)

DDCHENE  I've been using Nisus Writer and now Nisus Express for fifteen years or more. For a long time I used Framemaker for design and long documents, Nisus mainly for text-munging and documents that didn't need much layout. Nisus was quirky (the graphics layer never quite worked) but it did some things so much better than the competition that I put up with the quirks. Discontinuous selection did and still does set Nisus apart.

The new Nisus is not ready for serious work. It doesn't display properly, it hangs, it's clumsy in its handling of styles (why can't more than one style at a time be deleted, for example, which would be a boon in cleaning out unused styles in Word docs?). The Nisus macro language has disappeared. Perl is supposed to take its place. It doesn't. Try sorting paragraphs with styles and unicode. The result? No styles, all the unicode deleted. Useless. You can't compensate with Applescript very easily because the program is not recordable and there's no support to speak of beyond the standard text suite.

Serious wordprocessing requires "keep on same page", widow & orphan suppression, date and time stamps -- to mention a few things conspicuously lacking that Nisus Classic did reasonably well.

I'll use Nisus to work with Word documents and cross my fingers in hopes that it doesn't hang. Otherwise I'll use Tex-Edit for munging and put up with Indesign when I need layout.  
(Version 2.1)

ANONYMOUS  Nisus Writer Express still suffers from a bug that causes pages of text in long documents with footnotes to “disappear.” Actually the text is not lost, it simply fails to render on screen until you close and reopen the file. Be prepared to panic when this first happens; just remember that your text is still there.

This bug is emblematic of my primary gripe with NWE. It’s inconsistent, so I don’t trust it. Sometimes my text appears on screen; sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes styles stick; sometimes they don’t. (Paragraph styles in footnotes/endnotes are most problematic.) Sometimes NWE prints with the correct margins; sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes preferences stick; sometimes they don’t. Sometimes drag-and-drop works; sometimes it doesn’t.

I am a registered user of Nisus Writer Express, Mellel, and Microsoft Word 2004. I use Mellel everyday because it is consistent and dependable; it is by a large margin my favorite word processor for Mac OS X. I use MS Word because colleagues occasionally send files that won’t open correctly in any other application. I use Nisus Writer Express to test it out with some non-critical data for a few hours after an update is released. Then I open Mellel and get back to work.  
(Version 2.1)

ANONYMOUS  Are we ever going to get backwards compatibility with NisusWriter Classic? I'll upgrade as soon as I can open my old documents and retain the formatting.  
(Version 2.1)

ANONYMOUS  Nisus Writer Express 2.1 improves on the speed of version 2.0 substancially, making the program a joy to use.   
(Version 2.1)

ANONYMOUS  much faster than word. great product.  
(Version 2.1)

ANONYMOUS  good soft, only when I need to digest hard stuff Word is superior. try to open compllex tables with this with exell sheet embeded, see what happens  
(Version 2.1)

ANONYMOUS  Small, fast, compatible and so, so elegant.

Why would anyone use Word after this?  
(Version 2.1)

ANONYMOUS  This is an amazing tool! I love it love it love it!

Ok, after years of working with that clunky MS-Word I finally have some software that has everything I need and nothing I don't. With 2.0.1 any of the sluggishness is gone. Their spell check is intuitive and their thesaurus is bar n none the best I've seen. If you're a novelist this is the one.

I don't do complicated newsletters or other formats so I can't speak to those functions, but I can say if you want a clean easy comfortable place to type stories Nisus has created it.  
(Version 2.0.1)

ANONYMOUS  Nisus Writer Express is still a work in progress but the app seems to be progressing rapidly. Apparently we can expect to see significant speed increases in the near future according to the Nisus blog. Whilst Nisus Writer is a very mature OS9 product with several years of development behind it, Nisus Writer Express for OS X is relatively young - but catching up fast - even so it is shaping up to be the premiere Word alternative and its 100% cocoa  
(Version 2.0.1)

PINK PANTHER  Nisus 2.0.1 is premature, at least in my opinion. To keep their Mac reputation, as perhaps the best OS9 word processor, they should have waited until having a full grown product in their hands. After so many years of promises and apologies I was waiting for much more. At this stage, Mellel 1.8 is my choice. It is half the price, extremely reliable, and loaded with sophisticated features.  
(Version 2.0.1)

SIMON G.  Mellel 1.8 is still less buggy and has more features. I do not understand why it is never mentioned as a potential competitor to Nisus: It is far superior and has been since Nisus moved to OS X.  
(Version 2.0.1)

RICHO  At least the 'internal error' is gone and it's usable - in fact very usable for writers, just as the original Writer was. Hang in there people, don't forget Nisus strengths: the Find, well built in Thesaurus. Wobbly start but it's finally looking good.  
(Version 2.0.1)

HERVé S.  This comment will be a bit specific: I *need* to read complex Word documents (things with .doc at the end ;-)

I currently use ThinkFree Office, a java app that is maybe 20 times slower than NWE. NWE pleased me, I tried.

Word documents import is just *shameful* compared to TFO. Even the free Ragtime Solo does better.

no incorporated wmf graphics support, no ToC handling...

Do use NWE to create you documents, do never consider using it to even read a .doc word other than an ascii letter.  
(Version 2.0.1)

ANONYMOUS  This update still doesn't fix the multi-column problem. Doh!  
(Version 2.0.1)

GREG SMITH  With 2.0.1, Nisus Express is my word processor of choice. It has the features and “feel” that make it just right for working in OS X. It is unfortunate that previous releases have had such annoying bugs that potential users have been put off from even trying the product. Now that has changed. It’s time to give NE a second chance.  
(Version 2.0.1)

ANONYMOUS  It's 12:30 at night and I have a Synsopsis to do. Where the hell is the thesauruses?

Someone at Nisus needs to take a good look at Nisus Writer 5 and this. I don't care to make my Mac talk what I've written, I just wrote it. I don't care to make the text go from right to left. I simply want a OS X version of Nisus Writer. Why is that so hard?  
(Version 2.0.1)

SWITCHER  This is a big step forward for the program, and I'm really like working with it I'm not having the speed problems others are writing about, and find the program to be quite responsive and completely stable. The additional features (and there are a lot of them) and the tweaks to the interface are adding up to a very solid program that's easy to use and quite powerful. I strongly recommend people to give it a test run. This is becoming an excellent word processor and I'm convinced it will only get better.  
(Version 2.0)

JGMIYAGI  I've been using NisusWriter for 12 years. This ain't it.

The formatting controls are not an improvement over NW Classic: I can't seem to get column settings to work at all, line spacing cannot be set in points.

There is no "gloss" for entering text above the main line of text. And backwards compatibility with NW Classic documents is still lacking in the extreme.

I guess I'll wait for Nisus Writer Express 3.0 or 4.0. (I do like Nisus Thesaurus, though.)  
(Version 2.0)

PROF AD  Waiting for the Mac eddition for so much time, I find this version highly PREMATURE. In particular, this new express version is:

1. Handicuped - Drag and Drop does not function. I can only open files from within the application.

2. Self inconsistent - Some older files (that could be opened with version 6.5) would not open at all. They get stuck in the formating mode.

3. Useless - I can preper new Hebrew documents, but contrary to the official claims, cannot read older Hebrew files.

4. Unstable - I had to Force Quit the application several times.

How dare they ask money for it. Until all drawbacks fixed, I will keep using (the less sophisticated but tenable and trustable) Mellel.  
(Version 2.0)

GRADUS  Well, seems like I wrote them off too soon. NWE 2 really is a word processor, not just an over-priced text editor. It still lacks some more advanced features like TOC and index creation, but it can do all the basics like tables, footnotes & endnotes and styles. And it has some nice extra touches like the "style sheet" view which shows all available styles on a separate page and makes it very easy to reformat them. The Word docs I threw at it opened in reasonable shape; at least pagebreaks, footnotes and styles were retained, which was more than I expected. The interface is not exactly what I'd call elegant (they should fire their icon designer immediately), but it is functional and intuitive and shows that a lot of thought went into it. It grows on you the more you use it.

Unfortunately, this 2.0.0 release is very slow and crash-prone. It feels like a beta version in its earliest stages. Sometimes a simple click on any interface element makes it hang and crash. Don't expect it to work like a finished product. Just take it as a sign of life from Nisus and a means to collect bug reports.  
(Version 2.0)

RICHO  Like to write a review but I can't. NE stops on launch with a program error that only goes away when you fill in a report and send it. Trashing the pref file helps for a short while but the error comes back again. Almost never any problems on my G4 P'book, well maintained etc, so I'm very disappointed. I've used Writer on the classic OS and loved it, and I want this update to work, it looks good (from a distance). Come on Nisus, get it together.  
(Version 2.0)

MICHAEL  Seems like a nice application, but line spacing like double spacing is lost when opening a Nisus-created document in Word  
(Version 2.0)

ANONYMOUS  I tried opening a .doc file and it crashed. useless.  
(Version 2.0)

JON  I love this program. I am a writer and i hate been looking for a n application that can actually replace word. this one does. people seem to write reviews mostly when they have problems, i've had none so far. i am sure some of the negative feedback is legit, but complaints for instance about performance while editing a word template... seem silly. ms word uses its own format, nisus can handle most of it *very* well, but it is much easier and smarter to use .rtf format as it is closer to a cross-platform/cross-product file type. but if you are determined i've managed to write plenty in .doc format with some medium-heavy style/formatting and it's opened like a peach in word.

in short try it out and you may like it. one suggestion though is that you use it for at least a week before you make your choice-- it takes time to get used to a new program, especially after using ms word for years and years.

also note that nisus.com has a help forum for questions and the developers are quick and eager to respond to feedback & bugs.  
(Version 2.0)

ROB  Very, very slow when working within a MS Word template. The program couldn't keep up with my typing. I love the interface, love the feel of everything, but if it's slower that Word, what good is it.

Hopefully there will be a quick bug-fix update coming soon.  
(Version 2.0)

NOLAP  Trying to save as HTML a Windows Word 97-2000 document (a single page with a table in it) opened in Nisus Writer Express 2.0, the software launched an infinite loop, writting and writting on my HD. Soon the disk was almost full, and I had to force-restart my iBook.

Trying to open 3 Windows WordPerfect documents didn't give any result...

Interesting but too buggy at the moment. Or could it be only on my side ?  
(Version 2.0)

DA RONZ  I like this. I've been using it for a few weeks now and it's very much like the WriteNow of old days.

Here's a good review with much more detail:

http://www.mac360.com/index.php/mac360/more/first_look_nisus_writer_express_20_write_now_with_class/  
(Version 2.0)

SHAITAN  NWE 2 shows great promise, but still seems a bit buggy. For instance, whenever I create custom widths in a multicolumn page and save, the next time I open the document it's reset the the widths of each column to something wonky. I tried messing with template settings, but that doesn't fix it either. This is true of other layout/style features too, so NWE 2 seems to be having trouble retaining custom settings. I'm sure it'll be fixed, but until then, it's unusable for people who require a multicolumn format.  
(Version 2.0)

ANONYMOUS  Wow. Excellent program, wonderful interface, all the features I need. The only thing that is slightly off is the price, as noted by all the other users.   
(Version 2.0)

ANONYMOUS  Great start ***** for the promise of this app - its still missing a few features but with feature like the style sheet this is the most promising Cocoa word processor  
(Version 2.0)

SMKSENSEI  Well, I'm finally impressed with NWE. It's too bad the price is so steep though, that'll keep me away. For now, Mellel has my business (and, unfortunately, so does Word 2004, since my biz requires it.)  
(Version 2.0)

ANONYMOUS  Very nice and promising application.

Full cocoa, very Apple/Omni like.

Font palette and PDF-EPS import finally done right. Very good tables and styles.

I still miss some features to ditch Word, like table of contents generation, import graphics by reference, possibility to change orientation of pages between sections, negative margins for paragraphs.   
(Version 2.0)

ANONYMOUS  I love this app! Never really used it before but tried out the demo. Seems very "Mac-like." Kind of an OmniWeb of word processors -- ie. even if it's not perfect in every single way, if just feels right. :)  
(Version 2.0)

ANONYMOUS  NW must be force-quit after unsuccesfully trying to open a word doc containing tables and pictures.   
(Version 1.1.2)

GRADUS  I just downloaded the latest version to take it for another test drive when I noticed that I reviewed NE on these pages exactly one year ago (see below). So much time has gone by, but I still could repeat this unfavorable review word for word, including the statement that NE "still lacks tables and footnotes". I would, however, not iterate my hope to see a "real" OS X Nisus Writer soon. I'm afraid we will never see anything that lives up to people's expectations. The Nisus folks have been working on a native OS X version for years now, and they don't seem to be getting anywhere. They still haven't implemented the basic features that separate a word processor from a plain text editor, and if you think that such a stripped-down app would at least be "lean and fast" as claimed by the advertisement above, you're in for a surprise. In a recent performance test by Barefeats that compared several Mac word processors ( http://www.barefeats.com/wp.html ) the conclusion was that 'the abysmal performance of Think Free Office Write and Nisus Express entitles them to the "un-acceptable" award"' - which means NE's speed can barely match a crappy Java app like ThinkFree. Even Word runs circles around NE in this test. (Mariner Write was the clear winner, btw.)

I can't say that I actually experienced "abysmal" performance with NE 1.1.2, but it certainly didn't behave like an "Express" version of Nisus Writer either. Seems like the Express in the name mostly refers to Nisus' "get it out of the door before we go out of business" attitude. NE does not look promising but incomplete, it just doesn't look promising from any angle. The interface has more buttons and levers than a 747, but there is almost nothing beneath the surface. Even Panther's TextEdit has advantages over NE (text styles and speed, to name only two). Okito Composer, NE's foundation, made faster progress when it was in the hands of a single independent developer. There is nothing that would justify spending $70 for this thing, not even sympathy with the Nisus brand. The spirit of innovation that made their product famous in the late 80's has got lost many years ago, and they have been haunted by the ghost of stagnation ever since. Any hope that OS X would give their inspiration a much-needed kick was in vain. What a letdown.   
(Version 1.1.2)

ANONYMOUS  A "word processor" that can't handle smart quotes? That's a basic and essential function for professional-looking output; Mellel offers it (for a lot less $), TextEdit does not.

Two stars for the excellent Power Find feature, carried over from the classic Nisus Writer.  
(Version 1.1.2)

STICKMAN67  Fixing minor glitches is not really taking this app to the next stage, which is where it needs to be. There are still too many features absent for it to be considered anything more than a text editor. Pitching it at students is misleading, because most student would require far more features (footnotes and endnotes not the least of them), and would be much better served by some of word processors mentioned in these review pages. I do not yet consider Nisus Writer Express a word processor, because it has few if any of even the most basic features that would place it in that category.  
(Version 1.1.2)

LORD LIGHTNING  Shaitan is spot on. This is just a heartbeat away from vapourware. Don't waste your money on it with other excellent contenders around. Mellel and Text Edit Plus or even the updated Z-Write beat this hands Down.  
(Version 1.1.2)

SHAITAN  I agree with Luhmann on this one. Nisus Writer Express hasn't really grown that much from it's original Okito roots. I'm less than impressed. Mellel, Apple's TextEdit, and of course the behemoth, MS Word all beat it hands down for features -- the latter, not in performance of course. I really want NWE to succeed, but it needs more power, not less to justify the cost.  
(Version 1.1.2)

LUHMANN  Still no useful features (apart from "find"). If you want to do RTF editing, use Apple's TextEdit for free! If you want more features, use Mellel. But I don't see how they can charge for this!  
(Version 1.1.2)

SMKSENSEI  Too damn expensive, too feature-less.

Mellel does most of what this does, plus a WHOLE lot of what it doesn't and for a lot less with a generous 3 year upgrade policy. PLUS new features are being added with much user imput about every 6 weeks or less.   
(Version 1.1.2)

ANONYMOUS  Go Format > Ligature, select "use all" and you'll get your curly quotes.  
(Version 1.1.1)

ANONYMOUS  Everything negative everybody says is true, and one could also mention the steep upgrade price (so if they get everything that should work to work, we'll have to buy the thing all over again). But Nisus can perform one trick that no other word processor for the Mac platform can do, and this alone makes it a worthwhile purchase for those who need this feature (and I certainly do): it can create a file in Unicode and then save it as an html document. This is an important thing, and it infuriates me that no other and better word processor can do this.  
(Version 1.1.1)

LEOOFBORG  Left in the dust by TextEdit. Lessee, for shell and code we have vi, TextEdit, BBEdit, Pagespinner and GoLive.

Now that we have Unix, who needs Applescript or another useless macro language.

During the dark days of MOS 7-9, Nisus was one editor that did it right. But, if they can't do left to right languages (of which there still is a need), why continue to develop YA-Editor, and one with a steep price tag at that? This from an old Nisus user.  
(Version 1.1)

ANONYMOUS  Doesn't even handle smart quotes. Come on, man, how hard is smart quotes?  
(Version 1.1)

ANONYMOUS  $60??? TextEdit is perfect. Or AppleWorks. Even Word. Nisus Writer is a joke.  
(Version 1.1)

ANONYMOUS  Nisus really sucks!!!

Now, Panther has support for Hebrew but nisus can't even use this support!

It has nothing to offer to me as a Hebrew user.

Use "Mellel" instead. It is cool, supports non-Roman languages right and develops all the time. It also cost $25 which is a very reasonable price.

Forget about Nisus and move to Mellel!  
(Version 1.1)

ANONYMOUS  $60 for a word processor that lacks of non-English languages? No way...

What a robbery, yuk!  
(Version 1.0.3)

DAN MADIGAN  I am really disappointed in Nisus Writer Express --- even with its latest version 1.0.3.

I do not see how something that cannot even handle a footnote deserves to be called a word processor.

Nisus Writer in its earlier versions up to 6 was a wonderful tool. It could handle everything I needed to write a scholarly book that had arabic, hebrew, syriac, greek and graphics in it. I even used Nisus to prepare the camera-ready copy from which Princeton University Press printed it. It made the indexes and everything.

Now along comes NWE and it cannot even write in Arabic. It claims to be able to open (read only) previous Nisus Writer files, but the file I opened was illegible.

I have sent feedback to Nisus several times but they do not respond.

DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY until Nisus do their job.  
(Version 1.0.3)

MAXIMUS  Nisus Express came out 4/26/03 and almost 6 months later there has been NO improvement except for Panther compatibility. Compatibility for what? For a buggy, under-developed text editor? Sad.  
(Version 1.0.3)

ANONYMOUS  When the first beta came out, I had a lot of hope for it. But the more I use it, the more disappointed I get with it. As a word processor it is no where near Mellel or Word. Mellel at $25 is a better deal and Textedit in Panther can now open .doc files. I was hoping to use it as a text editor to replace QUED/M, but it is so buggy that it is impractical for large text files and perl.  
(Version 1.0.3)

ANONYMOUS  I tried to write a couple of lines in Persian/Farsi language; I just couldn't do it. It was a very frustrating experience, and I decided to trash Nisus. Someone on this board mentioned about Mellel, I went to their website and downloaded it. I could compose my letter, there were some minor problems with it, but at least I could finish my letter successfully. The price of Mellel is about one third of Nisus and it looks much more exciting than Nisus. I am sorry, I won't buy your software(Nisus).  
(Version 1.0)

ANONYMOUS  Should be named Nisus ExCUSE. This thing is a glorified text editor. $60 for something that does less than most freeware options is ridiculous at best.

If you really want to read some crap, check out the excuses listed on the website why this thing doesn't have basic wordprocessing functions.

Don't waste your time.  
(Version 1.0)

ANONYMOUS  Finally Nisus Writer writes RTF, hooooray. In 2003, good, good. Maybe in 2087 it will draw tabs... Did Nisus hear about Appleworks, Word or Open Office? This is a ridiculous overpriced word processor, Apple's TextEdit is far better and free. R-i-d-i-c-u-l-o-u-s!  
(Version 1.0)

MAXIMUS  I really wanted to like Nisus Writer Express, but it only looks good. It fails to reproduce MS Word documents exactly like the way they were created. This is UNACCEPTABLE. I hate giving a bad review, but this is from actual use and I don't want to lie about how great it is when it isn't. Keep trying though guys, I do look forward to later updates. Hopefully they'll come out soon. But as it is now, it gets a 2 out of 5. And I threw in 1 point for looks. It actually deserved a 1 out 5. =(  
(Version 1.0)

GREG SMITH  I am a longtime fan of Nisus and I have been looking forward to the release for OS X. I am very disappointed. There is little here that gives me reason to pay the overly high fee. Without even a way to copy fonts or rulers (features in TextEdit and almost everything else) there no way that I am going to manually format every ruler change! Mellel is an oustanding alternative with a rich set of unique and compelling features and a very reasonable price of $25. In comparison, Nisus Express is a feature poor application worth maybe $15 but asking far more. In the real world of software, one rarely pays for a promise. Produce something worth paying for, and I will! I would not want to be a Nisus company owner or investor right now!!  
(Version 1.0)

ANONYMOUS  The negative comments might have been caused by the high price and the time that has passed since Nisus have bought Okito Software. When I write about the price, everyone who has downloaded the free Okito Composer and was expecting the final release (still free for the basic package) will be disappointed with what Nisus have achieved in all the time that has passed.  
(Version 1.0)

GRATEF  I, too have been waiting for Nisus to release its new word processor. After spending a few days with Nisus Writer Express I must admit that I am perplexed at the mostly negative reviews. The software appears to be exactly as Nisus promised. Lean and fast, no bloat, an easy and elegant drawer and exactly the set of features that I need. And I look forward to the upcoming features that Nisus is promising. This word processor is exactly what I wanted, both Mariner and Mellel were both a bit too 'heavy' for me. Buck up Nisus! This is a good piece of software...thanks.  
(Version 1.0b4)

NCIANCA  Great user interface and a preview of things to come. Still one has to wonder why it has taken so long to release what appears to be a minor update to Okito Composer (I understand that combining codebases can be involved, but still). This can be one great word processor app if they can get some more WP basics like footnotes and tables (and better Word import). Still, I use it for most of my writing needs and it works well for what I need. I've been able to give up WordX for the most part.   
(Version 1.0b3)

ANONYMOUS  Very pretty and Aqualike (as expected since it came from Okito) but so empty! What a real disappointment! Right now it's either Mariner Write (Carbon but full-featured including a decent Word translator) or Mellel (Cocoa and growing fast --keep an eye on this one!)  
(Version 1.0b3)

MAXIMUS  Too basic. They took how long to develop this, and it's STILL not fully functional. I'm hoping that by the time they release the full-version that there will be many more features and the bug are corrected. As someone said, at this point, this is unuseable. It is not a word processor, just another TextEdit. =  
(Version 1.0b3)

FRUSTRATED  Really pathetic. After a two-year wait, all they can do is cough up a version of TextEdit with a sliding drawer. This is not in any way a word processor, and it's a slap in the face to their customers who have been waiting for something for so long. For any serious writer, this program is essentially unusable, and who knows when they will actually get around to updating it. I'm pretty disgusted with Nisus for putting out such shoddy software after so much time. I've already erased NWE from my hard drive and am continuing to look for something other than vaporware.  
(Version 1.0b3)

FRANKS  Nice look , basic features. Too basic for daily use also price is a bit much. Found that the RTF exported is not compatible with Adobe applications.   
(Version 1.0b3)

GRADUS  I know this is only a preview of things to come, but Nisus? debut on OS X is still a disappointment. Basically, this is Okito Composer with a Word filter (which doesn?t work well) and a new name. After half a year of development, I was expecting a bit more. Obviously, they are so far behind schedule that they decided to get an ?Express? version out of the door and let a ?Pro? version with all the advanced features follow later. The beta still lacks tables and footnotes, but even if these features were included in the final version, NW Express would not be more than a basic, boring word processor. For $60, Mariner Write is a far better offer IMO, with a bigger set of features and a more mature appearance. I do hope that Nisus release the real deal soon, but I?m afraid it will take much longer than everyone, including themselves, expected ...  
(Version 1.0b3)

ANONYMOUS  True beta, to be honest I expected a bit more development since Okito. Lacks some basic features, and the interface is a but too Cocoa for me, just my taste.

I hope it will develop strongly, right now I'll stay with Mariner Write  
(Version 1.0b3)

PAOLO  gorgeous interface... shows what Cocoa can do! Doesn't quite format imported M$ Word docs properly alas... nice to see RTF-based word processor though. I don't actually use one much (mainly text or email) but it's far nicer than AppleWorks or Word for basic stuff. And the grep PowerSearch is fab! Very nice use of "drawers" and font handling BTW. Check it out!  
(Version 1.0b3)