From: Little Girl

Date: 11-04-06

RoughDraft is, according to its author, a "word processor designed with the writer in mind." I'll have to agree. Although it can be used as a basic word processor by anybody, the special features it offers are tantalizing for writers.

This is a tabbed word processor capable of opening more than one file at a time. The modes available are Normal, Screenplay, Stage/Radio Play or Prose. Some of its features are line spacing control; alignment; styles for title, header, etc.; bullets and numbering; text controls like font style, size, etc.; background color control; word count for the current file and for all open files; the optional use of WordWeb as a dictionary integrated into the program; live or manual spell checking; user-definable autowords; a built-in calculator; a quick-open menu option for Recent/Favorites; export to .html; save as .rtf or .txt.

What I love most about this program is the separate tabbed panel on the right-hand side of the screen. Whenever you create a new file to work on, RoughDraft automatically creates a separate text file by the same name and makes it available in this little right-hand panel. This is where you can keep notes about what you're working on. The fact that this is visible at all times is wonderfully helpful when trying to keep track of various aspects of your writing project.

Also in this panel is a tab for listing all hits for your searches, another tab which allows you to browse the files on your hard drive, and a tab for creating a list of auto words, inserting special characters, and keeping up to four separate user-defined clips for pasting into your work.

All in all a very pleasant way to write. Try it - you'll love it!