Classical Text Processing and DTP Software
Market overview of recommendable text processors and DTP software for creating technical documentation and user assistance (user manuals, reference manuals) – classical documentation tools
On this page:
Editors and add-ons specialized on creating technical documentation (classical documentation tools)
Editors specialized on long documents in general
Editors and add-ons with a focus on collaboration
General purpose WYSIWYG text editors
Tools for converting documents into ebooks
Adobe FrameMaker Price: approx. €1370; also available as part of the Technical Communication Suite FrameScript/ElmScript FrameMaker scripting automation and customization tool. Price: approx. $180 FrameMaker plug-ins http://www.cudspan.net/plugins/ https://www.siliconprairiesoftware.com http://www.weststreetconsulting.com QuickSilver Creation and management tool for long documents. Price: not published http://www.broadvision.com/products/quicksilver/quicksilver-overview/ OfficeForms Add-on for Microsoft Word that gives you the power of single source publishing, including a database and conditional output. Price: starting at approx. €1000 http://www.officeforms.de/en/Home.htm FS Pro Add-on for Microsoft Word that assists you in applying the Information Mapping method to your writing. Price: approx. $179 per year https://www.informationmapping.com/en/software DocuTools for Word Add-on for Microsoft Word that provides a set of predefined writing standards, structures, layouts, and styles. Price: approx. $199 SmartDocs Adds functions to manage and reuse content from within Microsoft Word documents. Price: starting at approx. $395 per user annually RiverFloe Add on for Microsoft Word. In particular makes it possible to use conditional text and to reuse text snippets. Price: free (freeware) Writing Outliner Word add-in for large or complex writing projects. It lets you manage and edit each part of a long text as a separate document, and then merge them into one. Also includes revision control. Price: approx. $49 data2check Checks Word documents and InDesign files for unwanted styles and manual formatting to enforce consistency. Price: free (web application) Macros for Writers and Editors Collection of Microsoft Word macros. Price: free (freeware) GeWoVa Add-on for Microsoft Word, which adds the functionality to work with document variables. You can create, insert and update variables, mass-export variables to Excel, and mass-import variables from Excel. Price: approx. €30 Indexing tools With most help authoring tools and other technical writing tools, you can add index entries easily. If, however, you create HTML pages manually, or if you want to use some advanced indexing features, the following indexing tools may be helpful. http://www.editorium.com/dexter.htm indoition Starter Template Professional Microsoft Word template and OpenOffice / LibreOffice template for creating technical documentation. Aims to produce clear documents that are appealing to the user and efficient to create and update for the author. Price: approx. €19 https://www.indoition.com/en/products/technical-documentation-template-features.htm
Some tools listed in other sections partly provide similar features. Also look at: |
Scrivener Helps you to concentrate on composing and structuring long and difficult documents. Also helps you to collect and organize your input and to outline your documents. Price: approx. $40 http://www.literatureandlatte.com Papyrus Designed for handling long documents without errors and loss of data. Includes DUDEN Korrektor (for German text). Price: approx. €179 RagTime Price: starting at approx. €729 LyX Price: free (open source) |
SMASHDOCs Price: free for individuals; corporate license starting at approx. $9 per user per month Google Docs Price: free (web application and Chrome extension) Annotate.co Not an editor, bur enables you to upload a PDF or Word document and share this document with colleagues. Each person can add notes and tags to the text and images and reply to each other's notes. You can mark notes resolved or reopened for issue tracking. Price: starting free up to approx. €12 per month PleaseReview Provides review and co-authoring features for Microsoft Word documents. Price: not published |
Microsoft Word Price: approx. €279 (some stores sell it for a lower price) OpenOffice, LibreOffice Price: free (open source) ONLYOFFICE Price: free (open source) Calligra Suite Price: free (open source) SoftMaker Office Price: approx. €100; there’s also a free light version available, called FreeOffice WordPerfect Office Price: approx. $250 WPS Office Price: approx. $80; there is also a free version available Thinkfree Office NEO Price: starting at approx. $50 Atlantis Word Prcessor Price: approx. $35 https://www.atlantiswordprocessor.com AbiWord Price: free (open source) Edi Template-based text editor. Inserts values into documents via variables. Price: approx. €20; there is also a free version available |
Adobe InDesign Price: starting at approx. €24 per month QuarkXPress Price: approx. €829 Microsoft Publisher Price: approx. €135; also available as part of Microsoft Office Professional Scribus Price: free (open source) |
calibre Popular tool for ebook library management and ebook conversion. Also includes an ebook viewer. Price: free (open source) KindleGen Command line tool that converts HTML, XHTML and EPUB files to the Kindle format. Officially supported by Amazon. This tool is also integrated into the Kindle Previewer, where you don’t have to use the command line. Note that license terms don’t allow you to sell the generated ebooks anywhere except the Amazon store. Price: free (freeware) https://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000234621 Kindle Plugin for Adobe InDesign Plug-in that converts documents created in Adobe InDesign to the Kindle format. Price: free (freeware) https://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000234621 ePub Maker, Mobi Maker Word to EPUB and Mobi converters. Price: approx. $69 (ePubMaker) and $59 (Mobi Maker) Writer2ePub OpenOffice.org extension that creates an ePub file from any document that can be opened by OpenOffice. Price: free (freeware) https://extensions.openoffice.org/en/project/Writer2ePub PressBooks Plugin for WordPress to produce ebooks in Mobi, EPUB, and PDF format. Price: starting at approx. $20 per book; there is also a free version available that adds watermarks Aiseesoft PDF to ePub Converter Converts PDF to EPUB, based on OCR technology. Price: approx. $25 |
Note: Also many help authoring tools and many DTP programs and office suites can export to ebook formats such as EPUB. We don’t list these programs here again, but only dedicated ebook authoring tools. Sigil Multi-platform EPUB ebook editor. Features multiple views: book view, code view, and preview view. WYSIWYG editing in book view. Source code control in code view. Price: free (open source) Apple iBooks Author Professional ebook publishing tool. However, you have to be a Mac user to use it, and the resulting iBooks will only be available to readers using iPads or iPhones. Price: Free (freeware) https://www.apple.com/ibooks-author/ Jutoh Editor to create ebooks in EPUB and Mobi format. Rich set of professional features. Runs on Windows, Mac, and Unix. Price: approx. €30 (Standard) and €60 (Plus) BlueGriffon EPUB Edition Standalone cross-platform WYSIWYG editor to create and edit EPUB ebooks. Price: approx. €195 |
calibre Popular tool for ebook library management and ebook conversion. Also includes an ebook viewer. Price: free (open source) FBReader Ebook reader available for various operating systems. Price: free (open source) Kindle Previewer Emulates how ebooks display on Kindle devices and applications. Available for both Windows and Mac OS. Price: free (freeware) https://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000234621 Kindle Reading Apps Readers for ebooks in Kindle format. Available for various operating systems. Price: free (freeware) https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/fd/kcp EpubCheck Validates EPUB files. Price: free (open source) https://github.com/IDPF/epubcheck BlueGriffon EPUB3 Validator Add-on to Firefox for validating EPUB3 files. Price: approx. €35 |
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This page was last updated 06/2018
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