Jarte

When I was working on my business plan documents late last year, I went in search of a software writing solution that would let me tab easily between documents, as I had multiple Word docs open  simultaneously and needed to go back and forth between them easily. I get annoyed at Word and how it autoformats much of what I type in a document, and having to use the Windows feature to go back and forth between documents annoys me. I really wanted a writing platform where I could concentrate on my writing, rather than having to pay attention to the software.

That’s when I stumbled upon a free software solution, Jarte.  Jarte is a free word processor based on the Microsoft WordPad word processing engine built into Windows that expands well beyond the WordPad feature set. Like WordPad, Jarte is fast, easy to use, reliable, requires little screen space, and creates documents perfectly compatible with Word. But Jarte reveals the WordPad engine’s true hidden power by adding many features Microsoft never made available in the WordPad program. Jarte can even be run directly from a USB flash drive. But what really makes Jarte special is the unique way it makes the features that are included easily accessible.

You expect a word processor to be able to handle Word documents, font and paragraph formatting, spell checking, print preview, and more.  While Jarte performs all the standard functions well, the most important aspect of Jarte is the numerous small details that make it an efficient and enjoyable tool for creating documents. Small details like:

• Tabbed document windows for easy access to your open documents
• Larger buttons for the most commonly used functions
• Instant dictionary and thesaurus word lookup (integrates with free  WordWeb)
• Spell check and text search tools that do not park themselves on top of the text you are trying to edit
• Single click bookmarking that make bookmarks both useful and usable
• Instant access to the documents and folders you designate as your  favorites
• Instant access to the fonts you designate as your favorites
• Use of the mouse scroll wheel button to copy and paste text

You can purchase an enhanced version of Jarte, called Jarte Plus, for $19.95 the the downloadable version. Or simply get the free version online here.