VRH  Nisus Writer Pro manages to pack an enormous number of powerful features into a clean, fast, and well organised interface that never feels obtrusive or unwieldy. And it's that last bit that makes so much difference in day to day use.

While I appreciate the role filled by the Mac version of Microsoft Word, and it has really improved in substantial ways over the years, yet it has never managed to work the way I expect a Mac application to work. In part this is understandably due to a set of conventions that are specific to the MS Word world and that users expect to have carried forward over time. But it's more than that, too. Word has a tendency to let its power and complexity get in the way of what I'm trying to do. Or in the case of some of the users I support, Word lets them render their documents bewilderingly unusable. In my experience this is due in large part either to the intrusion of overly complex features into the users work, or to the overly complex implementation of those features. This is precisely what NWP has avoided!

NWP behaves exactly as I expect a Mac application to behave. It stays out of my way while I'm using it, yet it keeps a wealth of powerful tools quickly at my disposal.  
(Version 1.3)

ANDU  Great application that behaves as expected. Perfect to write complex text with straight forward formatting, easy to handle templates and compatibel (ms word (better than textedit/pages), opendocument, rtf …). It comes with the charme of apple system feeling: a good way to do the work.

Automatic Document naming, easy and flexible way to handle fields for automatic date etc, seperate "first page layout" and a lot more features that are very well integrated in a clear and helpful way. I am just happy to have rediscovered again this one after 10 years after trying (and buying) most of the other "word processors" around.  
(Version 1.2)

MUSAEUS  What a great piece of software! I have been using Pages for quite a while now, mostly because it was so much faster and leaner than Word, and I was generally satisfied with it. However,recently I have been writing a number of longish, multi-language research papers. I don't use reference management software, so that wasn't an issue for me, but the language support in Pages is pretty lousy (e.g., no defined fonts for different languages, no hotkey switching except through the input menu, etc.). The situation was bad enough that I started to look around at what else was available.

So, I tried the demo of Nisus Writer Pro, and, whoa! Amazing! The language support is incredible, and the ability to add hotkeys to ANY menu feature is a huge spoiler. I've never really used a lot of automatic style options before, as I thought they were kind of a hassle, but in Nisus Pro it so easy to reformat for block quotes, drop quotes, etc., all with hotkeys! I love it. This software has literally changed how I work. I also really like the ability to customize floating the palettes, turn them on and off quickly, and reorganize their order. The variable zoom options are great, the statusbar stuff is great. And what I like most? Full documentation! That is logically organized and thorough! Yeah!

So, now the griping:

--My main issue is the lack of thumbnails or other simple navigation for long papers. Multi-pane/tabbed viewing would be great too. I don't generally use many defined sections other than a biblio, so the navigation pane doesn't do much for me. I would like some way to easily flip through early pages when I'm hunting for something I have already written, etc.

-- Secondly, I'm surprised that full-screen mode supports only the 'draft' view. For all the footnoting and such that I do, that simply doesn't work for me, but I would love to have a fullscreen view of 'page' mode, where only the page is there. I can nearly get it by minimizing all the toolbars, etc., but there's still a lot of stuff that could go.

-- The UI is a little clunky, especially the toolbar, The icons are a bit large, and the UI as a whole could use a refresh. And I don't mean to be a jerk, but the Icon for the program is pretty bad. I apologize to anyone who likes it, but to me it does not look like a professional icon design.

But those are just minor issues for me. In general, I love this software! It will definitely be my new WP of choice! Nice job!  
(Version 1.2)

SIGIL  I cannot find any information on their website about their "educational pricing." The only reference to students and pricing is the following statement. "The writing and editing tool that is engineered lean, focused and fast at a price even a student can afford," which is a statement that refers to Nisus Express and describes the affordability of the product not a discount.   
(Version 1.2)

ROBOTANK  Fantastic word processor. I've been using Mariner Write for a while, but Nisus Writer does several things better without becoming bloated or too feature-intensive. I also appreciate Nisus Software's offering excellent educational pricing on their software.  
(Version 1.2)

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 1.1)

BRUMM  Developer: Nisus Software, Inc.

Downloads: 10,843

- Version d/l: 884

Business: Word Processing

License: Demo

Date: 15 Apr 2008

Platform: PPC/Intel

RATING

Write A Review | 15 Reviews

License: Demo --> So how much is it?  
(Version 1.1)

LEV  Now that Nisus does comments -- which make the round trip to Word seamlessly -- there's even less need to have the Beast of Redmond on your machine. Some may need revision tracking (which Pages does quite well) but for the rest of us who work with editors who comment our mss., Nisus has pretty well everything we need.

For writers who use Scrivener for the actual process of composition, Nisus seems the perfect partner. For pure academic writing with multiple footnotes etc., Mellel perhaps still has the edge, particularly with the stunning implementation of cross-references in the latest 2.5 beta and its perfect integration with Bookends (and, I believe, Sente). This is a fine time to be a writer -- of whatever kind -- using a Mac. There are solutions for everything, and none of them involve The Beast. Nisus, Scrivener, Tinderbox, Schreiben, Bean, Mellel, Screenwriter 6, Montage, Ulysses... the list is endless and we're spoiled for choice. Hooray.  
(Version 1.1p1)

CROBERTS  What started out as a good idea has become a fantastic word processor. It's powerful, it's simple, it's gorgeous, and it does just about everything you'd want a word processor to do (I'd sure like to see watermarks and text boxes, but I'm willing to wait). There are few word processors out there that let you customize the interface to the extent that NWP does, and this makes it terrific to use. The developer is also very responsive, and the price is great. Do yourself a favor and give it a whirl.  
(Version 1.0.2)

M-RICK  This version is very fast, the interface is very good, and languages compatibility very good too.

But the compatibility with Word looks to be just a dream ...  
(Version 1.0.2b)

EASER  I haven't tried this Pro version although I have the other version of Nisus. Although I like this program a lot, I found that files I save in Word format did not always open in an identical way in Word itself. (Nisus is the best at saving in Word format, nonetheless.) But the bottomline for me is that I found, ultimately, that I need to use Word. And Word has not been problematic for me, like it or not. Ultimately, I'm saving my money for the newest version of Word. I've played with the PC version, and it's actually pretty nice. Since Word owns the market, and I need to play in that market, then Word is what I shall own.  
(Version 1.0.1)

DANA SUTTON  This would have been a very welcome product if it had hit the market a few years ago. At that time there was a crying need for a reasonably sophisticated Cocoa word processor that could serve as a viable alternative to Word. But Nisus' author did not exactly rush his product to market: progress was so slow that by the time Nisus came to maturity there were several other similar products available (Mellel, Pages, etc.). If Nisus had made faster progress, its author would cornered the market and made Big Bucks. Now it seems that he is trying to reimburse himself for his sluggishness by adopting a cheesy and cynical pricing policy, taking his profit out of the hides of his relatively small fan base.   
(Version 1.0.1)

LEO SPILL  .

As a paid user ( Express $70+ version two upgrade fee ) I am taken aback by Nisus software attitude towards paid contributers. I paid $70 for Nisus Express and they decide instead of continuing to develop Express into the leading writing software to charge users another $45 to upgrade to Pro ? ( which is just Express with features needed since this application was brought from a developer who was releasing it as freeware ) As a paid user I will have to pay $120+ my license upgrade from version one to two for Pro when a new user only has to pay $79.

Fleecing the users is wrong - Registered users are the ones who should get all the breaks not new users. We are the ones supporting the company for the last four years of OSX.

Very poor company attitudes towards user loyalty and fiscal greed.  
(Version 1.0)

JFM  I like Mellel very much, but I must admit that it is not always easy to use and has its constraints. Nisus is easier to use, elegant, and pleasant, although Nisus Writer Express has not been 100% stable in my experience (especially when handling several pages of text with footnotes at at time with cut and paste). Mellel did NEVER quit abruptly, NWE did sometimes.

Nisus Writer Pro, which I have immediately bought, adds those features which were missing in NWE (e.g. widows and orphans control). It has an attractive interface, very familiar to people who have already used NWE, it just offers more possibilities. It is pleasant to use, it is easy to find one's way. There is a very detailed manual. I think it is really on its way to become a substitute of choice for people on Mac who do not want or do not like to use Word. Provided it proves to be completely stable (only time will say), then I think many of us will make it their word processor of choice.  
(Version 1.0)

ALLANMACAM  What a pleasant surprise this morning. The full version at last. Loved what the beta version could do and I'm really looking forward to exploring this one.

Now perhaps that bloated Office stuff can go from my system.  
(Version 1.0)

MARSVIOLET  While it may lack the scruffy, dishevelled geek charm of Nisus from the System 7 era, this new all-Cocoa "Pro" version is slick, polished and fully featured. I'm impressed with the progress made in this second public beta to squash the few bugs I ran into. Very cool.  
(Version 1.0b2)

HMURCHISON  I'd rather Nisus return back to the old days where they delivered world class Word Processing. They aren't a shareware company here to deliver bare bones cheap software.

Express isn't going anywhere but if you want more features then the cost goes up.

I'll probably buy both Mellele and NWP. Supporting both helps out loyal Mac developers and is much cheaper than MS Word to boot.   
(Version 1.0b1)

JOEHARDY  As a loyal Nisus Writer Express user for two years now, this is what I've been waiting for. Although it's a public beta, it's very, very stable and feature-packed. The Table of Contents and Index features not only allow me to leave MS Word behind, but they are more intuitive and easier to use.

Indexing is aided greatly by NW Pro's very powerful Find function.

Creating and editing styles is just as easy as in NW Express but with more options.

Also, as with Nisus Writer Express, the default save format is RTF, not a proprietary format as with some other non-Word programs. NW Express and NW Pro can also save a document with the .doc extension so that documents open easily in any version of Word. (Both Nisus Writer versions can open Word documents as well.) Nisus Writer Pro also adds the ability to insert graphics with text wrap options as well as inline.   
(Version 1.0b1)

SHERMAN  Replying to the comment below: Nisus Writer Pro is a quantum leap up from Express. I think you need to wait and see what the upgrade price will be for current Express users before complaining about being stabbed in the back (wow!). And as for purchasing Mellel: yes, purchase both. I did. They're both excellent applications.  
(Version 1.0b1)

LEO SPILL  I feel stabbed in the back by this company - Why 'Nisus Writer Pro' instead of just a Nisus Writer Express 'version-up' ? like 2.8 ?

This is either fleecing existing users or just kicking them in the pants. Loyal users have suffered with a slow three year development only to have the proverbial carpet pulled from under our feet.

You are better off purchasing Mellel !  
(Version 1.0b1)

MARSVIOLET  This is looking really nice. I have only one gripe so far, and it's silly, but hey — I don't like how the "close" Xs in the formatting drawer are on the right rather than the left.  
(Version 1.0b1)

SHERMAN  Looks very promising! Fast and stable (so far) on my MBP. Nice new features.  
(Version 1.0b1)