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RoughDraft

RoughDraft - a writer's word processor

Website - Freeware

reviewed by ClifNotes, Jan 2006

comments?

 

Notes

RoughDraft is a word processor designed by a writer for writers. Who knows what they need better? The author of this program has taken a great deal of time away from his writing so that other aspiring authors will have a great free tool for helping them with their art.

 

One of the subscribers to this newsletter wrote in to recommend it. Richard writes: "Rough Draft is a Free or Donation writers program, I consider it to be one of the best or I wouldn't waste my time now. No I do not have any connections or financial interests, I have used the program to write stories and my daily journal for well over five years and have only last week upgraded to the latest version. Rough Draft is what I consider to be a rare find, a little gem, I think it may be worth your time to take a look at it ..."

 

I gave RoughDraft a test drive, and I agree with Richard. It's simply great. I especially like the integration with WordWeb and the live spell checking.

 

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features:

  • Special modes for plays and screenplays which make formatting easy.
  • A side panel that makes common operations quicker and more convenient.
  • Instant backup of all open files to the device of your choice - a very convenient way to make sure you don't lose your work.
  • Automatic creation of cover pages for manuscript submissions with word and page counts.
  • Automatic insertion of user-defined words - for character names or commonly used words.
  • Four extra clipboards for inserting longer phrases or paragraphs.
  • A comprehensive but simple printing system, including a print preview that shows exactly how your work will look on the page.
  • Creation of HTML files of your work for publishing on the web.
  • Importing of files in Word 6.0, Word 97 and HTML formats.
  • Up to 100 files open at the same time.
  • Spellchecking. British and American English dictionaries are included. Dictionaries for many other languages can be downloaded.
  • Live spellchecking that underlines misspelled words in red as you type.
  • A custom spellchecking dictionary so you can add your own words.
  • A dictionary and thesaurus facility (provided by Anthony Lewis' WordWeb program, which has to be installed separately - it's not required to run RoughDraft, but strongly recommended).
  • Comprehensive text and paragraph formatting options.
  • Saving of files in the popular Rich Text Format (RTF), meaning they can be opened in just about any other word processor.
  • Full find and replace, including the ability to list all the matches in the current file or in a number of files.
  • Font styles for quicker formatting.
  • Shortcut keys for just about everything.
  • A comprehensive help system.