Zettlr
Zettlr is a desktop Markdown editor for note-taking, long-form writing, and academic publishing workflows on macOS and other platforms.
What is Zettlr?
Zettlr is a native desktop writing and note-management app built for people who work with Markdown, linked notes, and structured documents. It helps students, researchers, authors, and other heavy writers organize notes, draft papers or manuscripts, and prepare documents for export or publication from one workspace. The app combines plain-text editing with project organization, citation support, and tools that fit academic and long-form writing workflows. Zettlr is available for macOS, Windows, and Linux, and stores your work as local files rather than requiring a hosted cloud service. Published by Hendrik Erz, it is commonly used for research notes, Zettelkasten-style knowledge management, essays, reports, and book-length writing.
Key features
- Write and edit documents in Markdown with a desktop editor designed for long-form work
- Organize notes, projects, and manuscript files in one workspace
- Use citation and reference-management support for academic writing
- Export writing for publication and other document workflows
- Work with local files without requiring a built-in cloud service
- Manage interconnected notes for research and knowledge organization
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Safety overview
Status: Safe
Zettlr is legitimate writing software. It normally needs access only to the folders where you store your notes, drafts, and project files, and that access matches its purpose as a document editor. Because it can open and manage large collections of local text files, be careful when changing or deleting its data folders if you rely on them for active writing projects. Keep regular backups of important notes and manuscripts, especially before major cleanup or export changes.
Recommendation: Keep Zettlr if you use it for notes, research, or writing projects. Remove it only if you no longer need the app, and make sure any documents or note folders you created with it are backed up or moved first.
Common paths
/Applications/Zettlr.app
Cache paths
~/Library/Caches/com.zettlr.app
Support paths
~/Library/Application Support/Zettlr
Preference paths
~/Library/Preferences/com.zettlr.app.plist~/Library/Saved Application State/com.zettlr.app.savedState
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