5 Best Chromebook Apps for Writing and Editing

Figuring out which are the best 5 best Chromebook apps for writing and editing is particularly useful since Chromebook users can’t install much software due to the limited storage room, but mostly due to the fact that there are a few options that come with Chrome OS support.

Thankfully, however, there are plenty of options in the Chrome Webstore to pick from so you’re covered in all aspects that may concern you when trying to write and edit text. If you’re interested, you could also take a look at the 6 best Google apps for Chromebook and check those out as well.

So what do you need? Well, that’s pretty simple. First, you need a good word editor that also gives you some customization options. Then, having an app that can translate your voice into text might also be ideal for those times when you’d rather have someone else type for you. A dictionary and a translator would also be great additions since you should always check to make sure you’re using the right words. Last, but not least, you should have an advanced tool to check your grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

All these tools should make your writing task quite pleasant and they’ll make sure your document is empty of mistakes. In order to create our list of best Chromebook apps for writing and editing we checked for apps for all of the above categories and took into account which had the most and the best reviews. Everyone knows that when it comes to reviews it’s quite less common to see people who don’t like a product state their opinions online, rather than the other way around, so taking into account the ratings and the number of reviews seems to be the way to go. And now, let’s see the list of best Chromebook apps for writing and editing.

5. Text editor

Google Docs (4 stars, 21.8K reviews) and Microsoft Office Online (4 stars, 600+ reviews)

We picked two options for the text editor since these are both so popular as a general rule. Both Google and Microsoft offer a wide range of tools, including a text editor, spreadsheet, presentation tool and more. Since we’re focusing on the text editor this time, we’ve taken into account Google Docs instead of the whole package offered by Google.

Both tools that rank 5th in our list of best Chromebook apps for writing and editing act as a link to the cloud-based editors the two companies have. The added benefit is that you’ll have access to the files you create from any other device, including your phone, laptop, tablet and so on. All you need is to log in to your Google account, which you already have on Chromebook, or with your Microsoft Outlook account on the other.

Then, you get access to the full editor, which includes various font sizes, font types, the regular typographical emphasis (bold, underline, strikethrough, italic), page formation, spacing, bullet points options and more. You can include tables in both apps, pictures, links, and so on. They also come with built-in review tools, like spellcheckers.

4. Text editing

Grammarly (5 stars, 11.9K reviews)

I know, it sounds the same, but it’s not. Once you’ve written a file you can go over it with the built-in spell checkers and so on, but you might also want to have a look at other tools since they offer more.

For instance, the spell checker that comes with Google Docs and Microsoft Word will check to see whether you’ve written something correctly, and it may even notice if your phrasing is off, but it won’t always work.

What does Grammarly add to the table? Well, it takes into account contextual spelling, grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, and style. After analyzing your text, the number 4 in our list of best Chromebook apps for writing and editing offers several options for areas that look off, which you can accept or dismiss. The service is free, although if you choose to pay for the premium version you’ll get even more suggestions and options. At the time of writing, the Premium version of Grammarly costs between $29.95 for a single month and $11.66 per month for the yearly plan. For this money, the service finds structure and styling issues offers alternatives for word usage, provides relevant corrections for more writing situations and more. There’s also callback and email support around the clock and it even works with Microsoft Office, which it doesn’t otherwise.

If you don’t want to pay and the editor you use isn’t supported, you can copy-paste your text into Grammarly’s own editor and you’ll get results. Whether you’re willing to pay to have a top-notch analysis done or not, that’s up to you, but at least you have the option.

3. Voice to text

Speechnotes (5 stars, 450+ reviews)

We all dream that we don’t spend forever typing on the computer, right? Well, there are apps out there that help you out exactly with this issue, such as Speechnotes. What does this app do? Well, it’s pretty intuitive – you speak, it takes notes for you. It’s quite easy to use, and it works great. You’ll just have to keep in mind that if you want any punctuations in the text, you’ll have to tell them as you speak, say “comma,” “question mark” and so on. You can even tell the app to write a new paragraph for you or to open parentheses for you.

If you don’t want to bother about this, you can even type the punctuation marks as you dictate your speech or edit at a later time. You’ll have to simply tap on the microphone on the screen and speak into your microphone. As an advice, you’d best to use a separate microphone, or a headphone/ mic combination since the Chromebook microphone may or may not capture your words accurately.

2. Dictionary

Google Dictionary (4.5 stars, 11.3K+ reviews)

It was inevitable to have quite a few Google-made tools on the list since the company has its hands in everything you may want and then some. It’s easy to figure out why Google’s tools would be so popular. On top of the fact that they’re particularly useful and well-made, you don’t run the risk of it crashing and so on because if there’s one company that will make an app that works well with the Chrome OS, it’s the developer that also made the Chrome OS. Logical.

So, how does it work? Well, you can type the word in the search box and have it display the definition, complete with the way you should pronounce it, other definitions and a sound bite. Alternatively, while browsing for this or that, you can select a word you don’t know on the page and tap the dictionary button.

In the app’s settings, you can choose what’s your primary language, whether to display pop-up definitions when double-clicking a word or when you select a word or phrase. There’s also the option of storing the words you look up, including definitions so that you can revisit them at a later time.

This is a tool that ranks second in our list of best Chromebook apps for writing and editing and that’s extremely easy to use and it will always give you the best definitions of whatever you need. The reason why we included a dictionary in the first place is the fact that you might not always be 100 percent sure of what a certain word you heard means and you might want to make sure you have it right before actually including it in your paper. It’s also nice that you don’t have to open a separate page for it, and it’s all displayed in the corner of your screen.

1. Translator

Google Translate (4.5 stars, 23K+ reviews)

Yes, we have another Google tool on the list of best Chromebook apps for writing and editing and it’s really no surprise. Just take a look at the Chrome Web Store and you’ll notice a huge gap between this one and the next most popular, at least when it comes to the number of reviews.

So, why do you need a tool to translate languages? Because you never know what type of text you’ll be writing. If you work with texts in a foreign language, then you’ll definitely need this. If you don’t, you’ll still need it in case you don’t remember the best way to express a phrase you read somewhere.

Google Translate is a great tool and it works just as well. Not only can you type in words to have them translated for you, you can also have it translate the entire page with a simple click.

Next, you can select text on a page you’re reading, right-click on your mouse and send the entire text into Google Translate. Alternatively, when visiting a page in a language you’re not familiar with, you can just select a word there and the translation will appear in a floating bubble.

Google Translate has some settings you can play with. First, you’ll obviously tell it what’s your primary language so it doesn’t bother you with translating it for you. You may also decide how to handle the pop-up translations by choosing between displaying an icon that you can click to show the pop-up, immediately display the pop-up or just forgo the pop-ups altogether.

So, these are the 5 best Chromebook apps for writing and editing and we hope they’ll be quite useful for whatever you need to get done.