A quiet place to write long things

Coffee keeps the page in front of you and the rest out of sight. Drafts stay plain Markdown files, and turn into a PDF, a Word file or an EPUB book when they're done.

Focus and typewriter modes

Press ⇧⌘F and everything but the sentence you're writing steps back. Press ⇧⌘T and the line you're on stays in the middle of the window, so your eyes don't drift to the bottom of the screen in a long document.

Word count and goals

⇧⌘C shows the word count. Note > Word Goal… sets a target for the note, and the line under the title shows how far you've come. The goal is kept as goal: in the note's front matter, so it travels with the file.

Style Check

Small dots appear under filler words, stock phrases and words typed twice, plus any words you add to your own list. In we walked up to the the castle, the second "the" gets a dot. Nothing goes into the file, and no AI is involved.

An outline in the margin

Headings become small marks in the margin. Click one to jump there. In the outline (⇧⌘O), drag a heading and everything under it moves too, so reordering chapters takes one drag.

Export when it's done

Press ⌘E for a PDF from one of three designed templates, in A4 or Letter, with a title page and page numbers. Word files come out with real headings, lists, tables, links and pictures. EPUB comes from one note, or as a book from a folder or a tag, with one chapter per note.

Novel/
  01 The station.md
  02 The letter.md
  03 The crossing.md

A folder like this can become one EPUB book.

Plain files, with history

Every draft is an ordinary .md file in a folder you choose. Version history keeps earlier versions of every note, and each says what changed. Name a version, like "sent to editor", and it's kept. A Word draft you already have can be imported: open a .docx and Coffee makes a Markdown note from it.

What Coffee doesn't do

• The PDF templates have nothing to customise, and there's no LaTeX export. Coffee doesn't use Pandoc.
• Importing Word leaves out comments and page layout, and tracked changes come in as accepted. Pages files can't be imported.
• Two people can't write in one note at once.
• Version history is on the Mac. Coffee for iPhone and iPad opens the same files, with fewer features.

Further reading

• How to export Markdown to a good-looking PDF on the Mac
• Turning Markdown into an EPUB e-book on the Mac
• Coffee vs iA Writer: which writing app for your Mac?
• Coffee vs Ulysses: which writing app for your Mac?

Questions

Can I set a word goal for a chapter?

Yes. Note > Word Goal… sets a target for the note, kept as goal: in its front matter, and the line under the title shows your progress.

Can Coffee export to Word and EPUB?

Yes. Word files have real headings, lists, tables, links and pictures. EPUB comes from one note, or as a book from a folder or a tag.

How much does Coffee cost?

14 days free, with no card or account. Then €3 a month, €29 a year, or €79 once with two years of updates. One purchase covers the Mac, iPhone and iPad.

14 days free, with no card and no account. Then €3 a month, €29 a year, or €79 once with two years of updates. One purchase covers your Mac, iPhone and iPad. macOS 15 or later, iOS 18 or later. See pricing.