When you first visit the
Writebox site or launch the Chrome app, there's a button at the top to
sign in. I thought it would have me create a Writebox account, but,
instead, it's a Dropbox sign-in that authorizes the two services to
connect. Any time you use Writebox, you can just sign in with your
Dropbox credentials and not worry about creating another login. That's
simplicity and minimalism at their finest.
In the window is a small top-line menu bar with three
buttons on the left—New, Open, and a clock-face icon for "recently
opened" items—and three on the right—a trash bin, Account, and Options.
You'll also find a Sync button to force your document changes to
Dropbox, and an info button with some details about the app.
Other than that, you'll see a big, blank screen, where
you can type. At the very bottom of the screen are real-time counts for
lines, words, and characters, which you can turn off if you like. The
customization options are minimal, but some quite necessary, like being
able to change the colors of the text and background, increase or
decrease the point size and line spacing, and adjust the typeface.
From the Open button in Writebox, you can navigate
your entire Dropbox folder structure, but only .txt files will appear,
as it's the only file type supported by the simple app. My data
primarily include Word docs, images (JPGs, mostly), PDFs, and Excel
files, and I could see none of them.
While typing in the text editor within the Chrome
browser, the menu bar at the top disappeared, creating a wholly
distraction-free environment. You can boost the view even more hiding
your browser's address bar or otherwise maximizing the window. Mousing
back to the top of the page causes the Writebox menu to come back into
view.
The app claims that it automatically saves every
keystroke as you, but you do have to hit "sync" or the keyboard shortcut
Ctrl+s to push changes to Dropbox.
Although the Web and Chrome app are free, iOS users
have to pay $1.99 for an installed app on their devices, and an Android
app isn't on the menu at all. While some might be peeved to pay for an
app that's otherwise free, at least the price is reasonable and in line
with other apps of its ilk, such as PlainText iPad app ($1.99 for the ad-free version, 2.5 stars).
As far as distraction-free text
editors go, Writebox certainly holds its own, although it would be a
much more useful app if it supported the .doc format, as well as more
syncing and storage solutions, in addition to Dropbox.
Reviewed by