FocusWriter 1.9 has been released with a small set of workflow improvements and maintenance updates.
If you haven’t heard about it, it’s an open-source distraction-free writing application for people who want a clean, immersive space to draft text. Instead of surrounding you with toolbars and panels, it hides the interface by default, letting your document take over the screen.
The main new feature in version 1.9 is keyboard shortcuts for headings, so you can structure documents faster without using menus. Also, headings now clear automatically when you press Enter, which makes editing formatted sections smoother.
Beyond user-facing changes, the update includes several internal improvements. The application has switched to KDSingleApplication, a small Qt-based library that ensures only one instance of an application runs at a time, replacing its previous single-instance handling mechanism.
Additionally, developers also replaced shadowed variable names in the codebase and updated the translation link. On the bug-fix side, version 1.9 restores sound effects for smart quotes, addressing an issue where they were not played as expected.
For more information, see the changelog. The app is cross-platform. For Linux users, packages are available for major distributions, including Debian, Fedora, openSUSE, and Ubuntu.
Finally, keep in mind that FocusWriter isn’t meant to be a full desktop publishing tool or a complex office suite. It’s designed for the basics: typing, organizing headings, tracking word counts, and setting daily writing goals.
