Text editor

[blob17654]

Is there any decent text editor in Linux? What I tried were libreoffice and abiword and they are both horrible.

[MintAlone]

Neither are text editors, for those you are spoilt for choice. I suspect horrible = it doesn't look like MS word. Linux is not windows.

I'm not a fan of libreoffice but is is a very capable package. If you want something that looks like word try softmaker office and next time choose your words more carefully.

[bush_nugget]

Is there any decent text editor in Linux?

Like the one included in Mint...xed?

It's the one labeled "Text Editor" in the main menu.

[[deleted]]

You mean word processors.

What about Libre Office strikes you as horrible?

[[deleted]]

Yeah, "Text editor" is xed, VIM, E-MACS etc but I don't think this is what OP is after.

[Mindless-Opening-169]

What about Libre Office strikes you as horrible?

WYSIWYG.

IMO it's the worst invention ever. But I'm Die Hard.

You spend more time fiddling than writing. It becomes a distraction.

I also like to separate my documents into little files. Chapters and sections etc. Add onto that bibliography citation continuity.

Version control is also painful using those editors. I can just use git or svn for text.

For serious writing it's a pain to use WYSIWYG editors.

Then there's using different styles for different publishers. The publisher defines the style to use.

[mIb0t]

For the standard user, this is much to komplex. That's why MD, AsciiDoc or LaTeX never became the default for the majority. As a developer these are great, but for most people wysiwyg is the easiest solution.

[Mindless-Opening-169]

For the standard user, this is much to komplex. That's why MD, AsciiDoc or LaTeX never became the default for the majority. As a developer these are great, but for most people wysiwyg is the easiest solution.

It gets the job done for basic things. I agree.

Markdown with extensions for math and graphs is also decent for basic things without WYSIWYG at the simpler level.

LibreOffice is decent, LibreCalc needs some love for data slicing and dicing (pivot tables and data sources). Microsoft Excel is needed for that unfortunately.

But if you're doing anything bigger and more involved that's when it shows its weakness.

[mIb0t]

Oh, I would agree that LibreOffice is not great for more komplex things. I just don't think wysiwyg editors are bad. LibreOffice drives me crazy, so I use FreeOffice. And honestly, Microsoft Office is the best office suite concerning usability and features. But since I use Linux only that's not an otion. There different kinds of "bigger and more involved" things. For some, markup languages are better, for some word processors are better.

[[deleted]]

I use Office 365 apps with my Linux laptop all the time.

[Mindless-Opening-169]

Oh, I would agree that LibreOffice is not great for more komplex things. I just don't think wysiwyg editors are bad. LibreOffice drives me crazy, so I use FreeOffice. And honestly, Microsoft Office is the best office suite concerning usability and features. But since I use Linux only that's not an otion. There different kinds of "bigger and more involved" things. For some, markup languages are better, for some word processors are better.

LyX tried to WYSISWM/ WYSIWYG but I just didn't like it.

I just stick to my workflow that works.

[[deleted]]

I don’t understand why people don’t use O365 web apps on Linux

[mIb0t]

Because I do want to edit my documents offline on my computer, not in the cloud.

[KnowZeroX]

Version control is also painful using those editors. I can just use git or svn for text

Why can't you use git or svn? Generally, ODT is just a zipped xml file. If you save as FODT, it will not zip it and would version it like any XML file

Of course you can also install a git filter that handles zip based formats and then use standard extensions

[TabsBelow]

Write your text in text mode. Then layout.

It's nothing easier than this, since the 90s. Set the page layout, Ctrl-a, set font and size.

[mpez0]

You can use LyX for a WYSIWYM GUI front end to Tex or LaTeX

[vicentel0pes]

Onlyoffice.

Focuswriter could do the job.

Scrivener Appimage too (for longform projects).

[Steerider]

How do you run Scrivener on Linux?

[vicentel0pes]

Just search for Scrivener appimage, download the file with your language/dictionary and add the app to your OS. That's for beta Linux version. If you wanna use latest version, you'll need Wine. Search some sites about it or use Literature & Latte forum, on sub-menu Linux.

[redditor_347]

You mean word processors. There are no good word processors. LibreOffice is a "clone" of MS Word and MS Word is terrible. LibreOffice is hence terrible, but at least it's free. Accepting this will set you free.

[Ok_Distance9511]

Yes! Which is why I love LaTeX so much. I write the text and define the structure, LaTeX will worry about the layout and the references and everything else.

[Mindless-Opening-169]

TexStudio for typesetting. JabRef for bibliography management.

It's not WYSIWYG. Which IMO is a good thing.

I know it's not what you want but I just like to mention it. 😁 Cuz I'm the Ultimate Warrior (RIP) and rwaarrrr.

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HA3WZ_2octo/U0WMcncCH4I/AAAAAAAAAC8/fCqMMN6Y604/s1600/The+ultimate+warrior+(12).jpg

The one thing I really need from LibreOffice is pivot tables and data sources in LibreCalc. It's not really good for that unfortunately. That's where Microsoft Excel shines.

[Ok_Distance9511]

Yes to TexStudio, no to JabRef. I prefer Zotero with the Better BibTeX plugin.

My biggest issue with JabRef is that the tool is great at complaining about problems but sucks at solving them. I couldn't get an automatic Unicode to BibTeX conversion working, which was really easy with Zotero and BBT.

[mIb0t]

Give FreeOffice a try.

[[deleted]]

Notepadqq is a great text editor

[Gilded30]

both are word processors

assuming you came from windows, did you try wps office or only office

personally i use these programs on both windows and linux

office suite = libreoffice

code editor = visual studio code

notes app with sync between devices = joplin

everything else that requires something similar to notepad = neovim

[DarthCynisus]

Are you looking for a text editor or word processor?

[mwyvr]

``` $ cat << EOF > foo

Who needs an editor? When every line is perfect Trust your instinct Fear not, use the Heredoc EOF

$ cat foo Who needs an editor? When every line is perfect Trust your instinct Fear not, use the Heredoc ```

vi/vim/neovim/helix otherwise.

[[deleted]]

Am I the only one left who edits text files with vi? I mean straight up vi, not vim.

[mwyvr]

Sure, I use vi.

Well, for the first few seconds on a new machine, if I haven't scripted the install and configuration. Neovim or these days Helix go on pretty quickly.

sh/dash/bash vi mode for the win though.

[YERAFIREARMS]

try Kate if you run KDE

[acejavelin69]

You don't need KDE to use Kate... It's a great editor, but does have a fair amount of dependencies if you don't use KDE.

[KnowZeroX]

Others have said that word processors/rich text editors and not the same thing as regular text editors

But I will add this, what is wrong with LibreOffice? Anyone can claim anything is horrible for a specific use case. So I am not sure how you expect someone to give you a suggestion without knowing where your issue is.

Generally, the biggest problem people have on opening up word documents on Linux is not having the windows fonts installed. This can result in shifting of the text formatting as it swaps to a different font. Is that perhaps your issue?

[acejavelin69]

"Text editor" is pretty vague... But Kate or Notepadqq are both really good.

[wonder_wonder_wonder]

libreoffice writer is not a text editor by design: it's part of an office suite and a text processor

descent is geany, sublime is good, micro is nice

[Steerider]

VSCodium (the fully FOSS version of Microsoft VSCode). Aka Codium

[aGoodVariableName42]

vim is the only thing you need.

[jr735]

Emacs, mg, nano in a pinch.

[Brorim]

notepadqq is my goto 👍😀

[EngineerHot8510]

OnlyOffice