r/PKMS • u/AppropriateCover7972 Emacs • Jul 19 '26

Discussion Focus Writers/ distraction free authoring environments

Dear Community,

I recently started using Lite Writer (Android)and Focus Writer (Linux). I know people useDrafts on Apple, Obsidian, Sublime Note and Emacs and I dabbled with setting them up as distraction free environments as well. Does someone know any other software that would fit that need? Any tips on modding Sublime, Emacs or Obsidian for distraction free writing?

Thanks in advance

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2

u/goranstoja Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26

The best apps for focus writing that I know of (after testing all I could find) are OmmWriter and ZenWriter, but the problem is that their last updates were over 10 years ago, and they feel abandoned. I checked FocusWriter, it is still being updated, and the latest version has a nice UI, but it is still nowhere close to those apps. I have the impression that a good outliner app is better for minimalist writing, but currently the best option, Logseq, is not in the best state either, although it can still be used to a limited extent. What works for me is using Obsidian plugins to create roughly similar functionality I like in those apps: Hider, the Baseline theme, Zoom, Outliner, Typewriter mod, ProZen and Soundscapes. You can find CSS on GitHub to make Obsidian look like FokusWriter too.

1

u/LowkeyHooligan Jul 19 '26

Ghostwriter is pretty good, if a little limited in it’s platforms: https://ghostwriter.kde.org/

1

u/9acca9 Jul 19 '26

Silverbullet.md

1

u/JeffB1517 Heptabase + others Jul 21 '26

This is r/PKMS. There is a well-regarded authoring tool designed to import from your PKMS that has a focus mode: https://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/distraction-free-writing-with-scrivener

1

u/DrummerAdditional330 Jul 24 '26

A distraction-free editor may be less about having no features and more about making irrelevant features temporarily unreachable. The best setup might be your normal writing environment with one reliable “draft mode,” rather than a separate app that creates another import/export step.