Bean for Mac is a free, fast, uncluttered, and minimalistic Text Editor for Mac. This is a good tool if you just want to write and leave all the complexity of an office suite behind. If you do not want an application that it too simple and stale like the inbuilt TextEditor, then this application is just right for you. This application is one of the most popular text editor for Mac.
If you like minimalism and functionality then you are going to love this application. This application is not made to replace word processors; the goal of this application is to improve upon the plain Text Editors. However, it does supports many common document formats, like: .docx, .odt, and .rtf.
Bean has limited functionality, it is best at what it does. It is designed in such a way that it makes writing convenient, comfortable, and efficient. This application offers the user a simple and beautiful writing environment.
How to install Bean:
To start with the installation click on this link to download Bean for Mac OS X. The downloaded file will be zipped; extract it, and open the folder. You will find two files: one the application itself and a readme file. Now just drag the Bean application file into the Application folder and you are done. Then you can just trash the install-bean folder, it has no further use. The application is small in size, around 3.5 MB and works on OS X 10.5 and above.
While there are versions of this application that will run the older version of Macs, it is not the same as the one which I am reviewing and the download links for those are on the homepage website of bean.
Feature of Bean for Mac OS X:
- The application displays a live word count in the bottom of the window, so that you can be updated as you keep typing. If you want to see more stats then navigate to File -> Get Statistics (⌥ + ⌘ +G). This will bring up a window with detailed statistics as shown in the screenshot below.
- The application offers tabs, so that you can navigate through multiple documents with ease and efficiency. It also remembers the cursor’s last positions, when you open up the file.
- This is a simple and minimalist application, so it does not support many formats. Bean supports: .odt, .docx, .rtfd, .rtf, .plain text, .webarchive, .bean, and .doc. And you can export all the above documents as PDF, HTML, and Plain Text.
- The application has two modes: split-window and full screen. I really love the full screen mode. It helps you concentrate on your writing and gives you a distraction free writing environment. In the screen shot below you can see how the full screen mode looks.
- The application offers the user the ability to automatically save the document after a set interval of time. By default it is set to one minute.
- Bean offers the ability to speak out the text that is written in the document.
- One thing that I really like about this application is the ability to customize the toolbar, according to ones needs, and taste. And doing this is also really simple, just drag your favorite items into the toolbar and click on Done button.
Verdict:
Bean is one of the simplest and beautiful word processor for Mac I have come across. Best thing about this lean, fast, and intuitive text editor for Mac is that it is totally free. This application is only good for providing you with a simple and beautiful environment for writing.
If you are looking for a full fledged word processor, well, this will not cut it. It is just simple tool for writing on your computer without distractions and with the ease and simplicity.
