CNET Editors' review
Bean is a free, compact, easy-to-use text editor that occupies the middle ground between bare-bones apps like TextEdit and more full-featured (and more expensive) word processors.
Bean launches quickly and uses minimal resources, while giving you access to rich features such as live word count, tabbed documents, templates for boilerplate and automatic dates, page layout settings and in-line graphics, dictionary integration, word completion, plenty of import and export options, a search panel that can handle regular expressions, and an Inspector panel for making tweaks to text, format, and spacing.
Bean can't handle some specialized tasks, like footnotes and predefined styles, but this open-source editor gives you a lot of functionality at no cost--in a well-designed, pleasant-to-use interface, including optional split-screen editing and a two-up layout view.
Anyone looking to get a little more out of a free word processor with strong basic features and some extras should give Bean a try.
Publisher's Description
From Bean:
Bean is lean, fast, and uncluttered. If you get depressed at the thought of firing up MS Word or OpenOffice, try Bean. If you use TextEdit but have to jump through hoops just to get a word count or change the margins, try Bean. If you desire a simple, beautiful writing environment, try Bean.
What's new in this version: Replaced the toolbar icons with a more colorful set. Added Slovak localization. Special thanks to Rudolf Gavlas for helping to debug the localization process for Bean 3.
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All versions:
4.2 starsout of 81 votes
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Current version:
4.0 starsout of 2 votes
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My rating:
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Results 1-2 of 2
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"Could not save linked-text in a pdf file"
Version: Bean 3.0.4
Pros
Simple and clean interface
Cons
Tried over and over to save a linked bit of text as a live link in a pdf document. It would not let me do this. With three columns, it would not save format into a .doc or .rtf format. Frustrating...
Summary
Went back to using Word for a newsletter, since I could not save the live links into a useful format.
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"Great for 90% of word-processing needs"
Version: Bean 3.0.4
Pros
I make my living as a writer and I've used Bean for the past year. It feels very comfortable to work in. Not a lot of mess and clutter--it does not get in the way and it lets you focus on your actual writing. I especially like being about to hit "hide layout" and work with a dark background and light type. Much easier on the eyes when you spend hours each day working with text. Then, it's incredibly easy to get a regular page view by selecting "show layout."
Bean also seems to handle .doc and .docx files very well. I can't tell you how much more I like it than OpenOffice. I also prefer it to Text Edit. It fits very well in between--not too little, not too much. Just right.Cons
There are no cons unless you are working on a complex document. In that case, you should be using Word, Nisus, or InDesign, depending on the document and your purpose.
Summary
Very nice, simple word processor that's great for most of what you'll need a word processor for. It's been well supported by the author during the past year that I've been using it.
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