Tag Archives: Byword

Essential software for academic work on Mac: 2021 update

Posted on June 12, 2021 by Aleh Cherp

It’s been seven years since I listed 25 apps essential for academic work on Mac. This list has proven to be very popular and relatively stable, but over the years I dropped or significantly reduced using 13 of these applications and … Continue reading →

Posted in Automation, Bibliographies, Collaboration, Files, Graphics, Notes, Presentations, Projects, Tasks, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Disciplining the mind with software

Posted on September 15, 2013 by Jessica Jewell

One of the challenges with writing is switching between different mindsets. Theoretically it is possible to switch between these mindsets within a single writing environment like Microsoft Word or even on a sheet of paper. The problem is that when … Continue reading →

Posted in Writing | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

Note-taking with Ulysses: beside NValt and Byword

Posted on June 22, 2013 by Aleh Cherp

Following Csaba’s post on Ulysses, I have been trying it for over one month. Somewhat surprisingly, I have used it quite often. For example, for drafting  grading rules, evaluating research proposals, writing a report for an Academic Board, preparing a … Continue reading →

Posted in Notes, Writing | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Collaboration in academic writing: software and beyond

Posted on November 24, 2012 by Aleh Cherp

Unfortunately, collaboration in academic writing often causes frustration. Academics are used to think that co-authoring a manuscripts means emailing back and forth Microsoft Word documents with endless “Track Changes” and “Comments” layered on top of each other. Whereas writing is … Continue reading →

Posted in Bibliographies, Collaboration, Writing | Tagged , , , , , | 17 Comments

Collaborative writing with Papers

Posted on October 13, 2012 by Aleh Cherp

Preparing manuscripts with Papers in collaboration with other co-authors can go very well if you observe a couple of simple rules.  When I am the only contributor and use my standard writing workflow (OmniOutliner → Byword → Scrivener → Word) … Continue reading →

Posted in Bibliographies, Collaboration, Writing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Three stages of the academic workflow and Mac software

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Aleh Cherp

The’academic workflow’ is a representation of scholarship as a series of stages or steps connected to each other without gaps or duplication. Although simplified, the idea of the workflow helps to structure, develop, and communicate tools, knowledge and experience across … Continue reading →

Posted in Workflows | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Microsoft Word: 5 misuses and 7 alternatives

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Aleh Cherp

If you work on a Windows PC your life most likely revolves around Microsoft Word. It does not need to be so on a Mac. I still need MS Word to exchange files with Windows-based colleagues and also because it … Continue reading →

Posted in Workflows, Writing | Tagged , , , | 18 Comments

Byword – an ideal tool for plain text writing on a Mac

Posted on March 16, 2012 by Aleh Cherp

I often need to write a piece of text between 200 and 2000 words: an abstract of a talk, a blog post or an administrative memo. This is longer and more complicated than an occasional note but much simpler and … Continue reading →

Posted in Notes, Writing | Tagged , | 13 Comments

Papers 2 is here!

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Aleh Cherp

My earlier post on Papers and Sente said that the biggest disadvantage of Papers is that it does not allow working with bibliographies. This has changed in Papers 2 immediately bridging the gap between pdf file management and scholarly referencing. As a … Continue reading →

Posted in Automation, Bibliographies, Files, Writing | Tagged , , , , | 30 Comments