Online writing tools are handy products for writers and help them coming up with effective and properly weaved write-ups so that they can establish themselves in freelance writing business.
On the basis of chronology of execution steps of freelance writing project, we have listed here some essential and popular tools using which you can easily manage your write-ups online.
Collection and Compilation of Research Data
A credible write-up calls for browsing through hundreds of websites and countless web pages and in this research process, the notes are likely to get lost. So to keep a track of all the data that you have collected while research process, you require a good monitoring system. The Research Tracker serves as an effective tool in organizing your research data.
Example: Keynote is a popular software developed by Tranglos and acts like a research data manager. This freeware note-taking and outlining text editor for Windows operating system helps you organize your research notes by including many separate notes within a single file. 
This open-source, flexible and multi-featured tabbed notebook also helps in personal information management and easy structuring of chapters and archiving for the same. In addition, it also helps in outlining of projects, project documentation, creating templates for preparing documents with a standard format, etc.
Price: Freeware
Review: “I have written you several times, always hailing the virtues of your fine KEYNOTE program. The more I work with it, the more I love it and know I could hardly do without it. This thing is what I’ve been looking for, as a writer, for YEARS.”-Loren, one of the users.
Similar Softwares available: Zotero, Scrivener 1.51
Checking the write-up for grammatical errors
Writing correct English is indispensable. It enhances the quality of a write-up and makes it more powerful. The Sentence Checker helps you have a fast analysis for correct grammar, punctuation and spelling in the digital writing content.
Analyzed by an algorithm, the tool offers ‘proper’ sentence variations that can help you compare your own sentence with them. The Sentence Checker, on a whole, helps you avoid common writing errors and better communicate your ideas and thoughts to your business associates and customers.
Example: WhiteSmoke is a famous sentence checker software available in the market. It is a patented and innovative English grammar and proofreading software that automatically works with MS Word, Outlook, and all other text-based applications, and helps improve your plain English sentences to look more professional and creative. 
The software also offers explanation for the errors made by you and includes Thesaurus dictionary along with varied letter templates. It is available in different versions (General Writing, Business Writing, Creative Writing, Hi-Tech Writing, Biotech Writing, Executive Package) as per your writing needs.
Price: The software is available at a retail price of $39.57–$72.88.
Review: “WhiteSmoke is Ranked #5 in the Top 31 Business Ideas in the World.”–CNN Business 2.0 magazine
Similar Softwares available: Graviax, SpellCheckPlusPro
Sharing and Collaboration of data online
While writing, you may wish to share some documents online. The Online Word Processor has online storage capacity that allows you to create documents and spreadsheets without the need to save to your local hard drive. These are accessibility through various file formats, file sharing and collaboration. Its enormous collaboration capability also makes it quite advantageous for writers.
Besides these advantages, online word processors offer other benefits too. They also correct spelling mistakes and better the quality of write-ups by rectifying the common errors one is likely to make in one’s daily assignments. Online word processors analyze the grammar construction, suggest apt corrections as well as correct spellings and punctuations.
Example: Google Docs is a free, online word processor that enables users to create and edit online documents quickly while still in touch with other users. It entails features of word processor, presentations, spreadsheets, form applications etc. It also accepts common file formats such as DOC, ODS, RTF, CSV, PPT, XLS, ODT etc. 
With Google Docs, you can easily incorporate bullet lists, columns, tables, images, formulas, comments, change fonts & font size. So the great advantage of this processor is that you can easily share documents with other people and even mass edit them.
Review: “Google Docs is a fantastic free online application that offers some exciting features. It delivers a clean and refreshing interface that is great for creating simple documents. A range of basic formatting features are included, such as superscript, subscript and block quotes.”– Alex Serpo, ZDNet.com.au
Similar Softwares available: Shutterborg, Zoho Writer
Formatting of write-ups
Your writing assignments need to be formatted once you’re done with writing part. Formatting your write-ups and other documents can really prove to be a big pain especially if you are not well versed with the tools available on Microsoft Word.
The Article & Newsletter Formatter helps in formatting line width and also supports rtf files, printing, open/Save, last used files list, undo and statistics about the file among other things. An article & newsletter formatter
Example: There is a widely used article & newsletter format software – Ziney Pro. It is a small program that has very low hardware needs and can even run on old computers, supported with small hard disks and old graphic cards. It improves the quality of your write-ups by 30—50% and saves your time in formatting your newsletters, articles etc. 
Price: The software is available at $9.97.
Review: “As someone who’s struggled with formatting a newsletter to the magical 60 characters, all I can say about Ziney Pro is Wow! Where have you been all my life? No more counting the characters in the first row, then squinting at the page, guessing the length and breaking words line by line.”– Jennifer Stewart, write101.com.
Similar Softwares available: Notetab, The Wizard of Words 3.0
Retouching of Images in different shapes and frames
Now that your writing assignment is done, you need to complement it with photos or images but you may wish to edit them in different style, shape, color etc. Since writers are not tech savvy so they require help for editing the images.
The Photo Editor offers easy-to-use and powerful editing application using which you can follow your creative instinct and crop the photos or images the way you feel like. There a number of photo editor software available in the market. However, only some of them are recommended.
Example: One of the extensively used photo editor is Picnik. This free software crops, resizes, rotates, fixes and fine tunes your images in a single click. It is a fast software program that enables users to add amazing special effects to the images and works well on Mac, Windows and Linux. 
Review: “The well-designed beta version of Picnik sets itself apart from the crowd. Compared to Picasa, my old favorite for basic editing, Picnik has more to offer–especially if you share most of your photos online and like the idea of editing them from the comfort of your Web browser.”—Dave Johnson, editor at PC World Magazine.
Similar Softwares available: Magic Photo Editor, DreamLight Photo Editor
Hope these writing tools will assist you in expressing your thoughts effectively. We welcome your feedback and insights on our post and shall try to update you with latest writing tools in the future.
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