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Top 5 Alternatives to LightPaper for macOS 12

Audrey Goodwin

2024-04-18 11:56:27 • Filed to: macOS Tips and Tricks • Proven solutions

One of the most powerful text editors is LightPaper. It is useful in all kinds of text documents. However, you may want to experience alternatives to LightPaper for macOS 12 for more productivity or for change. This article has some of the best alternatives to LightPaper as of 2023 for macOS 12.

5 Best Free LightPaper Alternatives for macOS 12

1. Letterspace

One of the most significant LightPaper alternatives and similar software for macOS 12 is Letterspace because it is a multi-platform and cloud-syncing note-taking app. This application also comes with Markdown, #hashtag, and @mention support and easily organizes notes and even creates to-do lists.

When you think about all the notes that you must take on a daily basis, you should focus on Letterspace. It is a good note taking app that can help you get your thoughts and ideas on the page as quickly and efficiently as possible. It does not distract you, but rather provides a noise free space.

Other interesting facts about this alternative to LightPaper for macOS 12 are the four purchasable color themes that improve its appearance. They include Cobalt Blue, Matcha Green, Charcoal, and Dark Side.

Pros

It is simple, yet has a powerful interface
It provides keyboard shortcuts for basic text formatting.
It has a few theme options.
It has interesting features such as full screen mode and swipe gestures.
It comes with advanced Markdown support
You can use it to export to PDF or HTML with formatting

Cons

It does not provide an in-app Markdown preview

Price

Letterspace goes for $9.99

Download it at https://download.cnet.com/Letterspace/3000-18509_4-76274978.html

2. Lenote

Lenote for Mac Is actually the best free LightPaper alternative for macOS 12 because it loads faster than the average word processor. Therefore, it is the most convenient application for note taking. Additionally, it comes with numerous features and delivers excellent performance, making it the best solution for people looking for a hassle-free and sleek notepad.

Lenote is a simple, distraction-free note taking app that lets you capture and organize notes more productively. It provides a clean and intuitive interface that promotes maximum focus on putting thoughts into words. Using its elegant formatting, organizing your thoughts gets easier.

This best free LightPaper alternative for macOS 12 also does a powerful search when you need to locate certain aspects.

Pros

It is the perfect tool for note-taking
All of its entries are organized in notes and notebooks, accessed from the sidebar or via search.
It comes with amazing minimalist design
The app has a very clean, light-grey interface that consists of an optional sidebar and the main text area.

Cons

It only supports a few select subset of Markdown commands, making it incomplete Markdown support.

Price

It is best free LightPaper alternative for macOS 12

Download it at https://download.cnet.com/Lenote/3000-2351_4-75932062.html

3. Macchiato

According to many experts, Macchiato should be grouped among the best alternatives to LightPaper as of 2023 for macOS 12 because it is a simple plain text editor that comes with an interesting twist. The editor is modelled after TextEdit’s plain text mode, making it a chrome-less blank canvas.

Since its developers built it from the ground up for writing Markdown prose you should expect it to format Markdown text as you write it. Macchiato gives you complete control, such that you can use widgets to keep track without opening it. So it is considered a great project management application that suits organization and collaboration on projects.

Therefore, Macchiato is an app that is easily adapted to fit your project requirements. Feel free to use it for a variety of projects, from basic home projects to complex sales pipelines

Pros

It does not distract the user
Macchiato does not get in the way, but rather provides a minimalist user interface that highlights Markdown syntax.
Macchiato works with macOS 12 features like full screen mode, auto-save and version history, among others.

Cons

Macchiato does not have a trial version and so does not offer a way of testing the software before buying.

Price

Macchiato goes for $19.99

Download it at https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/55971/macchiato

4. Byword

Byword is a great alternative to LightPaper for macOS 12 because it as simple as Markdown editors can get. It offers assistance to make it even easier with very little configuration required. The user interface is minimalistic, which makes writing notes and long-form texts easier on your Mac.

It is a friendly tool due to its comprehensive keyboard shortcuts that offer extra efficiency as well as the alternate dark theme that provides extra comfort as you write in low-light. Additionally, it makes your writing process interesting and mostly professional by providing spelling and grammar checking, and dictionary lookup.

It is the best tool for capturing ideas and notes, as well as undistracted writing.

Pros

It offers great Markdown support without being intrusive
Byword de-emphasizes the syntax itself while emphasizing its effects. It appropriately adds style, like italic and bold, to text that's designated by markdown and dims the syntax so it does not get in
Byword is available on multiple Apple platforms; Mac, an iPhone and iPad.
It is extremely simple to work with

Cons

It has limited customizability since it needs very little setup and option-tweaking
Publishing requires additional in-app purchase

Price

Byword costs $11.99 on Mac

Download it at https://apps.apple.com/us/app/byword/id420212497?mt=12

5. iA Writer

iA Writer is also a recommended LightPaper alternative and similar software for macOS 12 due to the fact that it is a simple, minimalist Markdown writer. iA Writer offers the best file exportation tools, whereby you can use custom templates and even export to Microsoft Word files. You can write texts on your Mac using this word-processing application since it supports basic editing features such as copying, pasting, importing and exporting content.

No additional settings are featured, and the interface is minimized for a greater impact on the writing process. iA Writer is a digital writing tool that that you have been seeking to make sure that all your thoughts go into the text instead of the program. iA Writer is different because it has Character and provides Focus mode that allows you to think, spell, and write one sentence at a time.

Pros

It provides users with a distraction-free style.
It supports Markdown.
It can export directly to Medium and WordPress.
Compared to other alternatives to LightPaper for macOS 12, it is relatively inexpensive.

Cons

Does not include templates.
It has few file organization and arrangement tools.

Price

iA Writer costs $29.99 on Mac

Download it at https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ia-writer/id775737590?mt=12

Best PDF Editor to Edit and Markup PDFs on macOS 12

The most disappointing aspect of these LightPaper alternatives and similar software for macOS 12 is that they cannot handle PDFs well. They don’t give you tools to manipulate and manage such documents. Luckily, there is PDFelement for Mac, which is actually the best alternative to LightPaper as of 2023 for macOS 12 when handling PDFs.

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PDFelement for Mac is a great PDF editor, converter and manager and thus caters to your businesses’ and personal needs. With its user-friendly interface, the program allows beginners to quickly learn its numerous and powerful tools, which are most efficient in managing PDFs. PDFelement for Mac ensures that you can change numerous aspects including texts, images, links, watermarks, backgrounds and page order.

The tools are well displayed in the tool and menu bar, which are easily accessible from the interface. Therefore, your only duty is to upload respective PDFs, find the tools you need at the moment and to click on them for further action.

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