hughhowey / neo

# NEO
**A distraction-free word processor for authors, by a wannabe author.**
NEO understands from the moment you install it that you are writing *books* and nothing else. No bloat, no distractions, with manuscripts that look like books as you write them.
NEO runs locally. WIPs are saved in plain files on your disk. No accounts or subscriptions. And it's free!
## Download
Get the latest installer from the **Releases page**:
- **macOS** — download the `.dmg` for older Intel machines or the arm64 file for Mac silicon. Open it and drag NEO to Applications.
- **Windows** — get `NEO-Setup` (the installer, which keeps itself up to date) and run it, or the `portable` `.exe`, which runs without installing.
 Your library lives in `Documents\NEO Library`. If OneDrive backs up your Documents folder, that puts your books in OneDrive too; File → Library Folder… moves the library anywhere you like. If Windows Security's *Controlled folder access* is on, Windows won't let NEO save in Documents: NEO says so when it starts, and you can allow NEO there or pick another folder.
- **Linux** — download the `.AppImage`, make it executable, and run it:
 [code] 
 If it complains about a sandbox (common on Ubuntu 24.04 and newer), run it as `./NEO-*.AppImage --no-sandbox`. Your library lives in `~/Documents/NEO Library`; File → Library Folder… moves it anywhere you like.
## Why NEO?
**The bookshelf** 
Your library looks like a bookshelf, not a file list. Labeled shelves you organize however you like — by series, by status, by pen name. Progress bars on the covers show how far you are from your word goals. You can drag-and-drop books anywhere. You can also drag shelves around and put cover art on your titles.
**Just a blank page** 
There's a white page by default or a dark mode (which I now prefer!). Controls fade until you mouse over them. Chapters number and renumber themselves automatically. Drop caps mark chapter openings, because I'm a sucker for drop-caps. Em dashes, true ellipses, and curly quotes sort themselves out as you type. Spellcheck exists only when you invoke it — no more red squiggles mid-sentence triggering your imposter syndrome.
**Enter, Enter, Enter** 
One Enter: new paragraph. Two: a `***` section break. Three: a new chapter. The goal is to KEEP WRITING.
Right-click the first chapter's heading to make it a prologue, or the last one's to make it an epilogue: they step out of the numbering, and everything renumbers.
**Darlings** 
The writing advice is "kill your darlings" — but I say: *keep the bodies*. Drag any beautiful-but-in-the-way passage onto the Darlings tab. It leaves your manuscript but isn't lost. Darlings restore to the exact spot it came from. More like zombies than darlings.
**Placeholders** 
Mid-flow and need a name, a fact, a date? ⌘⇧X drops a mark and a sticky note. The left panel shows a red dot on every chapter that you need to get back to. The right panel will list all these to-do items.
**Outlining with index cards** 
The Outline ta