Calmly Writer vs Mousepad

Calmly Writer is an editor designed to help users focus on writing. It renders Markdown formatting as text is entered and includes word and character counts, custom writing targets, reading time, a table of contents, comments and document tabs. The apps import Word documents and export to Word, PDF, Markdown or HTML. Users can customize themes, fonts and layout, and turn on smart punctuation, type sounds or OpenDyslexic mode. Desktop and Android apps work offline, storing documents, backups and previous versions on the device. Files can also be saved in Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive folders for syncing. The browser editor is a limited preview for quick edits; backups, version history, writing targets and PDF export are available in the apps instead. Online documents are saved in browser storage, and the maker says it does not store writing on its servers. The desktop app has a 14-day trial. The Android app costs $16.99, paid once, with no subscription, and requires Android 7.0 or later.

Mousepad is a free Linux editor for quickly changing text files, rather than a development environment. It supports column editing, extensions, and content search. Editing options such as word wrap and automatic indentation are available in the preferences dialog and Document menu. Settings can also be accessed through Dconf Editor, gsettings, or dconf. Printing settings are kept separately in ~/.config/Mousepad/mousepadrc. After first use, Mousepad generates a configurable keybindings file. Version 0.5.9 added a shortcuts editor, which requires Libxfce4ui 4.17.5, and a CSS style class named “mousepad” for theming. Required packages are GLib 2.52.0 or later, GTK 3.22.0 or later, and GtkSourceView 3.24.0 or 4.0.0 or later. Optional components include gspell 1.6.0 or later and libxfce4ui 4.17.5 or later. The documentation lists version 0.7.0, released on 2026-03-02, and links to the current source archive and bug-reporting information.