SummerFest 2020

Spring is gone, and I don’t think many of us will miss it. It’s now summer, a time of warm weather, lounging around (socially distanced of course), and SummerFest savings!

SummerFest is a collection of independent software developers who are creating great tools for organizing, writing, and delivering your thoughts and ideas. These are tools created with care, and refined by experience. This is high quality software, on sale now for a limited time.

As part of SummerFest, you can save 25% on InfoClick and the newly updated Nisus Writer Express and Nisus Writer Pro by using the coupon SUMMERFEST2020 at checkout in our store. You can also save at least 25% on the other apps in this year’s SummerFest by using the same coupon. There is a great collection of software this year, and the official SummerFest page has all the details.

Nisus License Lookup Tool

There are times, for whatever reason, that you need to find the license for your Nisus app. For example, you would like to upgrade to the latest version of Nisus Writer Express or Nisus Writer Pro. Perhaps you’re moving to a new computer and you need to install a fresh copy of InfoClick. How do you find your license?

Our Nisus License Lookup Tool, located on our main support page, will allow you to find your license and have it emailed to you. You just need the email address you used when you purchased your Nisus application and you will receive an email containing your license.

Letter Case Conversions

Sometimes you need to fix text with the wrong letter case. Maybe you copied text that’s all uppercase letters, but you need lowercase letters (eg: change “EXAMPLE” to “example”). Nisus Writer has two ways to help you convert such text.

Character Conversions
Most often you will want to do a one-shot conversion of your text using the menu Edit > Transform Text. For example, using the To Lowercase command. That will convert the underlying characters to their lowercase counterparts (eg: “A” to “a”) at the single moment in time when you activate the command.

Text Display Conversions
Instead of converting the underlying letters, Nisus Writer can also display a converted version of your text. In this way your text remains unchanged; it’s just the display that changes on screen (and in PDFs and printouts).

You enforce such display conversions using the menu Format > Letter Case. Commands on that menu operate like other kinds of text formatting (eg: bold font) in that they are continual. If you retype the text to which that formatting is applied, what you see immediately undergoes the same transformation. The newly typed text will be converted for display automatically, without reapplying the command.

Typically these kinds of display conversions are employed via styles. It’s nice when (for example) your headings have consistent uppercasing, no matter what’s been typed in your document. This also makes it easy to change your mind– just edit your style and all your text will be updated as needed automatically.

Small Capitals
One very popular kind of text display conversion is small caps. That’s where all letters in your text are displayed using capitals, but lowercase letters appear smaller:

Nisus Writer supports small caps for all text and fonts. Proper typographic small caps will be used if a font provides them. If a font lacks typographic small caps Nisus Writer will synthesize their display by shrinking the font size like so:

The above screenshot shows a “faux” small cap for the Zapfino font. It’s somewhat surprising that Zapfino lacks typographic small caps considering all its other font features like crazy ligatures.

You might wonder, what are proper typographic small caps? Aren’t all small caps just shorter versions of uppercase letters? Typographic small caps may have been customized by the font designer, usually so the small caps are more distinctive. Here’s a screenshot showing Adobe Garamond Pro:

The small caps F (rightmost blue) may look like it’s simply a smaller version of the capital F (leftmost yellow), but it’s not. The middle image above shows a shrunken capital F overlaid on top of the small caps F. You can see the small caps F is actually quite a bit heavier.

Hopefully this shows you some of the many ways Nisus Writer can help you process your text and the intricacies involved. If you have any questions please let us know by commenting below, joining our forum discussion, or contacting us directly.

A Few Words About Catalina

A few weeks ago Catalina, or macOS 10.15 was released. Since then, it seems like mayhem has followed. Catalina breaks from the past in significant ways. Speaking of breaking, it also breaks some apps. Security has been tightened. There is quite a bit going on here that users should know. Since this is on a Nisus blog, we’ll start with Nisus apps.

Nisus Writer and Catalina

Nisus Writer Express 4 and Nisus Writer Pro 3.0.3 and above are compatible with Catalina. All previous versions of Nisus Writer are not compatible with Catalina and will not be updated. If you are planning on upgrading your Mac to Catalina, you will need to update and purchase a new license.

Catalina and Other Applications

Another issue is that we are now living in a 64 bit world and much like bell bottoms, 32 bit applications are out of fashion. To be fair, Apple has been warning users for years that 32 bit apps weren’t long for this world. Now it is a reality and these older apps either need to be updated or you need to find others apps that work similarly. I can say that all of our apps are 64 bit and have been for quite a while. If you need help with this, there is a great utility called Go64 from St. Clair Software that scans your app folder to find these 32 bit applications.

If you are an Adobe user you may want to read this first and take the appropriate steps.

In any event, you may want to check with developers of apps you rely on and make sure they will work with Catalina before you upgrade. It will save you quite a bit of work.

Security

Lastly, there is a big focus on security in Catalina. It’s a different world now and the security changes are welcome. Here is an article that explains some of the new security features. Basically, Catalina is more secure by default. However, these new features are either helpful or annoying, depending on your point of view.

Look Before You Leap

These a just a few of the changes. You should also keep in mind that point zero releases of a new operating system can be buggy. Recently there was a supplemental update to Catalina that fixed a few issues. Since then there was a new release of the supplemental update. I’m not giving advice here, but I normally wait a release or two before I upgrade. By then most of the major bugs have been fixed. Let’s hope that is the case with Catalina.

All of this prose is to say that with Catalina you need to look before you leap. Make sure you know what you’re getting into before you upgrade. There are plenty of great Catalina reviews out there. Read a few and then decide.

Nisus Writer Express 4

We are very happy to announce the release and immediate availability of Nisus Writer Express 4. There are over 200 new features, fixes, and enhancements in this new version. Among the new features are:

  • A redesigned UI and palette system.
  • A significantly updated full screen view.
  • Focus mode for the active line or paragraph.
  • Typewriter scrolling.
  • Cloud sync for almost all settings.
  • Icons updated for Retina displays.
  • Plus much more…

There is a long list of all the changes available on the Nisus Writer Express release notes page.

If you are coming from a previous version of Nisus Writer Express, the new features and enhancements make this an even more flexible, powerful writing app.

Nisus Writer Express 4 is $26 USD. For those upgrading from any previous version of Express, the cost is $20. If you are upgrading, you will need your previous Express license. This can be found by using our license lookup tool, which is located on our main support page.

On a personal note, Express is my writing tool of choice. I’ve been using it for years. As someone who wrote quite a bit recently in Nisus Writer Express 4 in Full Screen Minimal view with Focus mode I can attest to its strengths. It is my writing tool of choice.

If you would like to learn more about Nisus Writer Express 4, please visit the Nisus Writer Express product page. You can download the demo and give it a 15 non-consecutive day trial. You’ll see why this is the writing app I use happily.

Nisus Writer Pro 3.0.4

Nisus Writer Pro 3.0.4 contains a few important fixes that were discovered after the release of the last update:

  • Editing in Page View with footnotes or endnotes no longer crashes in certain situations.
  • Replace all properly redraws text on the screen.
  • The Language palette no longer often fails to update automatically.

The complete list of fixes can be found on our Nisus Writer Pro release notes page.

Nisus Writer Pro 3.0.4 is available now and is a free update to all users of Nisus Writer Pro 3. You can update from within the app (Nisus Writer Pro > Check for Updates), or download from our Nisus Writer Pro download page. Mac App Store users can download the update directly from the Mac App Store app.

For those who have not purchased the upgrade to Nisus Writer Pro 3, you can do so from our store for only $45. Users of Nisus Writer Pro versions 1 and 2 are eligible for upgrade pricing. An academic version is available for $55, and the full version is $65.

At this point upgrade pricing is not supported on the Mac App Store. If you would like to upgrade a previous Mac App Store purchase you can do so using these instructions.

Nisus Writer Pro 3.0.4 requires macOS 10.11 and is Catalina compatible, pending the final release of Apple’s latest operating system.

Mojave Updates for Nisus Writer Pro and Nisus Writer Express

Hot on the heels of Nisus Writer Pro 2.1.9 and Nisus Writer Express 3.5.9 comes Nisus Writer Pro 2.1.10 and Nisus Writer Express 3.5.10.

These releases fix issues related to macOS Mojave: possible random crashes closing document windows, problems when customizing the toolbar, and an inability to send feedback reports when using a non-English localization on recent versions of macOS.

Nisus Writer Pro 2.1.10 and Nisus Writer Express 3.5.10 are available now and are free for users of Nisus Writer Pro 2.x and Nisus Writer Express 3.x.

If you do not currently own Pro or Express, they can be purchased from our store and the Mac App Store. Nisus Writer Pro is $79 USD. Upgrades from previous versions of Nisus Writer Pro are $49.

Nisus Writer Express can be purchased for $20 USD on our store and the Mac App Store.

Nisus Writer Pro 2.1.10 and Nisus Writer Express 3.5.10 require OS X 10.8.5 or above.

Nisus Writer Pro 2.1.9 and Nisus Writer Express 3.5.9

We are happy to announce the release of Nisus Writer Pro 2.1.9 and Nisus Writer Express 3.5.9, the latest releases of our powerful word processors for the Mac.

These releases fix a small number of important bugs including: crashes on macOS High Sierra when saving or loading files using certain fonts, potential crash after visiting the Language preference pane, and possibly garbled Japanese text when importing content from outside Nisus Writer.

The updates are free for users of Nisus Writer Pro 2.x and Nisus Writer Express 3.x. If you purchased directly from Nisus Software you can update now from inside the application, or download Nisus Writer Pro 2.1.9 and Nisus Writer Express 3.5.9 from our website. The updates are also available now from the Mac App Store.

Nisus Writer Pro 2.1.9 and Nisus Writer Express 3.5.9 require OS X 10.8.5 or above.

WinterFest 2017

Winter is coming here. It’s time to take a deep breath and roll up your sleeves. The time for new plans and fresh projects and great new ideas.

This is the time of the year when we join up with like minded software developers who create world class research and writing software. WinterFest 2017 is a collection of fantastic software created by artisans and refined by years of experience, study, and old fashioned hard work.

We are happy to participate in this wonderful promo with such tools as Aeon Timeline, Bookends, DEVONthink Pro, HoudahSpot, Panorama, Scapple, Take Control Books, Tinderbox, TextExpander, PDFPen, TaskPaper, and of course, Nisus Writer Pro.

Use these special links to save 25% on Nisus Writer Pro, Nisus Writer Express, and InfoClick, or go to our WinterFest page. You can also use the coupon “WINTERFEST2017” at checkout. To save at least 20% on other excellent WinterFest software, or for more information on the other apps on the promo, please visit the main WinterFest 2017 page.

These are wonderful tools offered at a terrific and sustainable price, for a very limited time. Don’t miss out!

Nisus Writer Pro 2.1.8 and Nisus Writer Express 3.5.8

We have just released Nisus Writer Pro 2.1.8 and Nisus Writer Express 3.5.8, the latest release of our powerful word processors for the Mac.

These releases fix a small number of important bugs including: crashes on macOS High Sierra when saving or loading files using certain fonts, potential crash after visiting the Language preference pane, and possibly garbled Japanese text when importing content from outside Nisus Writer.

The updates are free for users of Nisus Writer Pro 2.x and Nisus Writer Express 3.x. If you purchased directly from Nisus Software you can update now from inside the application, or download Nisus Writer Pro 2.1.8 and Nisus Writer Express 3.5.8 from our website. The updates are also available now from the Mac App Store.

Nisus Writer Pro 2.1.8 and Nisus Writer Express 3.5.8 require OS X 10.8.5 or above.

Nisus Writer Pro 2.1.7, Nisus Writer Express 3.5.7, and InfoClick 1.2.3

We have been very busy lately, and we are happy to show you some of what we have been working on. We have announced updated versions of Nisus Writer Express, Nisus Writer Pro, and InfoClick.

Nisus Writer Pro 2.1.7 adds support for the Touch Bar on the new MacBook Pro. There is also improved support for tabbed documents on macOS Sierra, along with other fixes and changes that can be found on the Pro release notes page.

Nisus Writer Express 3.5.7 also has support for the Touch Bar, and has many of the same fixes as Nisus Writer Pro 2.1.7. The list of changes and fixes can be found on the Express release notes page.

Lastly, InfoClick 1.2.3 is now available. Support for the Touch Bar has been added. InfoClick is now sandboxed, and that could mean you may be prompted to select your email folder the first time you use this new version. There are also a few fixes and changes, all of which can be read on the InfoClick release notes page.

Nisus Writer Pro 2.1.7, Nisus Writer Express 3.5.7, and InfoClick 1.2.3 are available now from the Mac App Store and from the Nisus Writer Pro, Express, and InfoClick update pages. They are free updates for our customers who own any version of Nisus Writer Pro 2, Nisus Writer Express 3, and InfoClick.

Nisus Writer Pro 2.1.7 and Nisus Writer Express 3.5.7 require OS X 10.8.5 or later. InfoClick 1.2.3 requires OS X 10.7 or later.

Nisus Writer Express 3.5.6 and Nisus Writer Pro 2.1.6

We are very happy to announce the release of Nisus Writer Express 3.5.6 and Nisus Writer Pro 2.1.6.

These new versions further ensure compatibility with macOS Sierra and adds fixes to the following issues:

  • Fixed a possible crash when using the document version browser (using the menu File > Revert To > Browse All Versions).
  • Fixed an issue where Soft Return characters could trigger incorrect spacing, indentation, and drawing.
  • Fixes an issue where using the system’s Markup feature on an image would incorrectly remove that image.
  • Fixed a warning about invalid bookmark data after relaunching, if the user quit with Untitled documents open.
  • Fixed a few issues with LinkBack. Restored LinkBack functionality for OmniGraffle (version 7.1 or later required).
  • Added code to remove any mention of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace until George Lucas apologizes.

Nisus Writer Express 3.5.6 and Nisus Writer Pro 2.1.6 are available now from the Mac App Store and from the Nisus Writer Express and Nisus Writer Pro update page. This is a free update for our customers who own Nisus Writer Express 3 and Nisus Writer Pro 2.

(If you try to automatically update from within Nisus Writer Pro or Express, it will always fail. Unfortunately you’ll need to manually download this version from our website.)

Nisus Writer Express 3.5.6 and Nisus Writer Pro 2.1.6 requires OS X 10.8.5 or later.

Nisus Writer Express, Pro, and InfoClick Updated

As I mentioned in a previous blog post we have updated Nisus Writer Express, Nisus Writer Pro, and InfoClick. These updates all contain the Sparkle security fix detailed here. As for the content of these updates, please read on.

Nisus Writer Pro

Along with the above mentioned Sparkle framework update, this new version fixes a bug where list items may not always update with the correct formatting, a localization issue with cross-references, and more. The complete list of changes and fixes can be found on the Nisus Writer Pro release notes page.

Nisus Writer Pro 2.1.4 is available now from the Mac App Store and from the Pro update page. It is a free update for our customers who already own Nisus Writer Pro 2.

Nisus Writer Pro 2.1.4 requires OS X 10.8.5 or higher.

Nisus Writer Express

Nisus Writer Express 3.5.4 also includes the updated Sparkle framework and includes a few fixes found since the release of Express 3.5.3. The complete list of changes and fixes can be found on the Express release notes page.

This new version is available now from the Mac App Store and from the Express update page. It is a free update for our customers who already own Nisus Writer Express 3.

Nisus Writer Express 3.5.4 requires OS X 10.8.5 or higher.

InfoClick

InfoClick 1.2.1 includes the updated Sparkle framework and a few fixes. The complete release notes for InfoClick can be found on its release notes page.

This new version is available now from our InfoClick update page. As of this writing, InfoClick is waiting to be reviewed in the Mac App Store. We will let you know when it becomes available there. This is a free update for our customers who own any version of InfoClick.

InfoClick 1.2.1 requires OS X 10.7.5 or higher.

Nisus App Updates

We have released updates to Nisus Writer Express, Nisus Writer Pro, and InfoClick. There are bug fixes and enhancements, but there is also a security update that should be explained.

We use an automatic update framework called Sparkle, which is used by many developers to keep your applications up to date. A few weeks ago a potential security risk was found in this framework. The details can be found in this iMore article, but to summarize the problem is applications using the Sparkle framework are potentially vulnerable to “man in the middle” attacks.

To eliminate this potential security problem in our apps we have updated the Sparkle framework to the latest version. We have also added https to our website to ensure communication between our apps and our website is secure.

While the risk of this vulnerability actually affecting users is low, there is still risk. Updating the framework and adding https across our site eliminates this vulnerability.

Nisus Writer Pro 2.1.3 and Nisus Writer Express 3.5.3 Released

We are very happy to announce the release of Nisus Writer Pro 2.1.3 and Nisus Writer Express 3.5.3.

These new versions fix some bugs that were found since the release of Nisus Writer Pro 2.1.2 and Nisus Writer Express 3.5. The complete list of changes and fixes can be found on the Nisus Writer Pro and Nisus Writer Express release notes pages.

Both Pro and Express are available now at the Nisus store and the Mac App Store. Nisus Writer Pro 2.1.3 is $79. You can upgrade from Pro 1.x for $49. A three license Family Pack is $99. An academic version is also available.

Nisus Writer Express 3.5.3 is $20.

For owners of Nisus Writer Pro 2.x and Nisus Writer Express 3.x these updates are free.

El Capitan Compatibility

El Capitan, or OS X 10.11, has been released and we know many of you are already using it. So it is probably a good time to talk about compatibility with our apps.

The latest versions of Nisus Writer Express and Nisus Writer Pro are compatible, apart from one issue. Hopefully Apple will fix that bug shortly.

The current version of InfoClick (1.1) will not by default detect email in El Capitan. We currently have a workaround but a newer version of InfoClick (1.2) will fix this issue. We hope to have InfoClick 1.2 released very soon.

Nisus Thesaurus is compatible with no reported issues.

If you do find a problem please let us know by sending an email to support or through the feedback reporter (Help > Send Feedback) within our apps.

Nisus Writer Express 3.5 Now Available

We are very happy to announce the release of Nisus Writer Express 3.5.

This new version introduces a lower price: only $20! It has also been updated with iCloud support, OS X document Auto Save and Versions, and is now 64 bit and sandboxed. There are also bug fixes, improvements, and enhancements. The complete release notes for Nisus Writer Express 3.5 can be found on the Express release notes page.

Nisus Writer Express 3.5 is available now on our site and on the Mac App Store. It is a free update for our customers who already own any version of Express 3. For those of you who don’t own Nisus Writer Express, you can purchase from our store and the Mac App Store for the new lower price of $20.

Nisus Writer Express 3.5 requires Mac OS X 10.7.5 or later.

If you write professionally, or are a student, educator, or just someone who needs a great writing tool, Nisus Writer Express 3.5 has the features you need to do the job at an affordable price.

Nisus App Updates

Now that Pro 2.1.1 is out, I’d like to talk about other things we are working on here at Nisus.

First up is InfoClick. Version 1.2 is now in beta testing. The focus of this version was adding a few highly requested features along with fixes and enhancements. InfoClick 1.2 should be released in weeks, but that’s dependent on how long the beta period will last. You just never know with these things.

Nisus Writer Express 3.5 should also be out fairly soon. This new version gains OS X Auto Save and Versions like its big brother, plus the usual bug fixes and enhancements. This also should be released soon, so stay tuned.

Lastly, I’d like to write about the Mac App Store situation. At this point, we are still working with Apple to get Pro 2.1.1 into the store. There are a few technical hurdles to overcome, and I can’t even begin to guess when Pro will be approved by Apple. Hopefully it will be soon, but we have no idea at this time.

Stay tuned to this blog or subscribe to our newsletter for more updates.

Yosemite Compatibility

Now that OS X 10.10, or Yosemite, has been released it’s time we talk about compatibility with the new OS and our products.

We ran many tests with the release version of  Yosemite and our current release versions of Nisus Writer Express, Pro, Thesaurus, and InfoClick. We have not found any issues: they all seem to be working as they should.

So if you are one of the brave early adopters of a new OS, feel free to use the latest versions of our apps with confidence. They should work as expected. However, if you do run into an unexpected problem, please let us know by sending feedback from within our apps or write to our support team. Your fellow early adopters will thank you.