FocusWriter

Do you ever sit down to begin a lengthy writing session, only to find yourself, two minutes later, scrolling through Twitter, watching cat videos or trawling the depths of Wikipedia? The FocusWriter word processor aims to cut out all these digital distractions and help you finish that report, novel or epic poem.

FocusWriter automatically enters full-screen mode when opened to create a “writing environment”, blocking out all other windows to leave you with a simple blank page. You can move the cursor upwards to reveal a menu with a small selection of formatting options, but that’s about it. However, FocusWriter has a few hidden tricks.

First, there’s a selection of default themes: a classic greenon-black, terminal-style screen; a piece of paper on a wooden desk; plus numerous dramatic backgrounds, including a brooding forest and a gothic lightning storm. If those don’t appeal, create your own theme by uploading an image and selecting different fonts or colours.

You can also set a Daily Goal, measured in either writing time or word count per day – for example, an hour or 1,000 words – with a percentage bar at the bottom of the screen showing your progress. Your daily totals are stored in a calendar, rather like a health app, and organised into “winning streaks” when you reach your target in consecutive days.

Other useful tools include the ability to grey out everything but a single line or paragraph, alarms and a customisable spell checker. For the full retro experience, you can even turn on the sound of a typewriter, although this may quickly annoy everyone else in the room.

FocusWriter files can be saved, automatically if necessary, as plain text (TXT), rich text (RTF), Office Open XML (DOCX) and OpenDocument Text (ODT), making it far more than a gimmicky toy. It’s the best software for easily distracted writers who crave the old-fashioned experience, without the old-fashioned hassle.