Folio Writer

Write your paper or thesis in Folio Writer
— set up in 10 minutes

From empty app to a compiled, typeset PDF with citations. Everything below works in the free tier except the final compile step (part of the one-time Pro unlock, free to try for 7 days).

1 · Create the project

1. File ▸ New Project… (⇧⌘N) and pick a template — Journal Article (IMRaD) for a paper; a thesis works the same way with chapters as folders.
2. Write into the sections the template created. Each binder document is a plain .md file inside the project folder — readable anywhere, git-friendly, future-proof.
3. Reorder by dragging in the binder, corkboard, or outline. Folder and document titles can become your numbered headings at compile time, so the binder is the outline.

2 · Attach your bibliography

1. Export a .bib from Zotero, BibDesk, or your reference manager (or pull references straight from Zotero with Premium — see the Zotero guide).
2. Click the books icon at the bottom of the binder and select the file — or just keep .bib files in the project's Bibliography folder; they merge automatically.

3 · Cite as you write

Spin pairing occurs near 50 GPa [@lin2005; @badro2003].
@tsuchiya2006 predicted this with LDA+U.
[see @badro2003, p. 42] adds a locator.

Typing @ autocompletes by author, year, and title, and citations render inline as you write — e.g. (Lin 2005; Badro 2003). A formatted reference list appears automatically in the preview and in every compiled format. Math works the same way: $E = mc^2$ typesets live in the editor.

4 · Compile

1. Press ⇧⌘E, choose a format — PDF, Word (.docx), LaTeX, Typst, EPUB, or HTML.
2. For PDF, the lightest path is the Typst renderer: install one small binary (brew install typst) plus the free Folio Helper, and you get LaTeX-quality pages in about a second — no TeX distribution. Prefer the classic pipeline? Install pandoc and a TeX distribution and pick xelatex instead.
3. Pick a citation style: any CSL style from the Zotero style repository — set once per project.
4. Click Compile. Title page, numbering, cross-references, and the bibliography are handled for you.

That's the loop

Draft in small sections, cite with @keys, compile whenever you want to see typeset pages. Your manuscript stays a folder of plain files in your own iCloud or Dropbox — and the free iPhone/iPad app edits the same project on the go.

Download Folio Writer free →