atticus.ioReviews of atticus.io

I wanted to love it. I had used GoogleDocs and OpenOffice but didn't want Google Docs because it gets delayed in typing my words which really impedes me when I'm on a roll and I was looking for something a bit more writer oriented than OpenOffice. I liked Atticus's TOC/layout and although I had Vellum, I wanted more freedom with formatting. Lastly, I trusted Dave Chesson and after looking at reviews thought he'd built something that was headed to a good place. Atticus is not great in compatibility (your word docs may not import or if you edit it and try to reimport it won't work), limited as a word processor, and, now, has actually gotten worse. Lately when I'm trying to write and it's constantly syncing. My word target frequently wont appear (and that's the only way to see how much I've written). But the worst, for my writing style, is if I have 1 hour to write, I'll get a good 15-20 minutes out of it. The rest is retyping or correcting (like position will suddenly change or I try to put something in italics and it changes where I am in the chapter and it never gets the italics or I highlight something to delete and it deletes only one character) or waiting for it to finish syncing. This, is essence, is waaay slower than google docs. I haven't lost anything yet but it feels like it's just a matter of time tbh, especially after looking at more recent posts and reviews since I bought it. My faith is shaken. I also didn't realize how much I put little flags in my writing or notes to myself and this is just not easily done in Atticus the way it can be done in a word processor. I will probably migrate to Scrivener. It looks intimidating but it's tried and true. The most important thing for me as a writer (beyond not losing my work) is not impeding my flow and Atticus is the worst for that. I've tried using it offline and that might resolve the issue but I don't see how to do that without literally being offline and I need an online thesaurus tbh.

When it works, it is fantastic. It is everything one would want in book composition application. When it fails, it is miserable. Support is mediocre; I don't blame them as they are working with the paucity of information given to them. Connectivity issues are infrequent, but when they happen, they are serious and come with a "you have to understand" caveat. Looking up the problems that I have encountered, well they keep on repeating. I want to love it. I want to give it five stars.

Atticus is a great program. I've used it for over a year now and it just keeps getting better. They are constantly working on Atticus and upgrading it and adding new features. The awesome part is once you purchase Atticus, you have access to all future updates. There are no additional fees and no need to purchase a new version. And to make this even better, they have an excellent customer service team/support team! For most questions if sent during regular business hours they get back to you right away, usually within 4 hours, though of all the questions that I've asked and gotten prompt answers to, I've only had to wait that long once and that was because I was asking about how Dragon NaturallySpeaking software works with the program. It didn't used to work that great, but it works fine for me now. Constantly upgrading… I love it!

I've used Atticus for over two years and Scrivener before that. Have also evaluated Living Writer and Reedsy quite extensively. I am currently writing two novels in Atticus. One as of this moment is 109,825 words and estimate the other around 50,000. The reason I started with Atticus was for its formatting prowess, not the word Prosser. At the time Atticus was relatively new, with the promise of fast coming enhancements. The word processor is not only rudimentary but also very unstable. Also, the promised improvements were an empty promise to sell the software. There have been zero meaningful improvements. No one realistically expects the massive, author specific, features of Scrivener, of which I only used a fraction. Or even all the basic features of other mainline word processors like MS WORD and GOOGLE DOCS. For two years I've repeatedly suggested specific every day simple features with zero forthcoming. And reported the unstable word processor problems. Yet, they keep occurring.

Love this program. Write our first two books the traditional way. Atticus is going to make our third book look outstanding. Love the features and I don’t have to try and put in page numbers or headers and footers! What a relief!! Fantastic customer service- I will never use a regular word processor again!

I love Atticus. I’ve used it for two of my own books and to help layout several books for other authors. It is a fantastic program, easy to use and the customer service is excellent! I highly recommend this to any author! - Susan Stark Christianson, Author, “Flying With Wings: A True Story of an Alaska Aircraft Accident” and “The Ultimate Guide to Responsible Dying.”

I just love seeing my books come to life with Atticus. The variety and range of tools built into this software is amazing.

Formatting made easy. I am so glad I purchased Atticus--and I did a lot of research before I made my decision. The program is pretty intuitive and when you have questions their customer service team is amazing. On a Saturday night, a deadline looming and almost in tears, I sent off a message and had a reply when I woke! Worth every penny!