Just Writing
Adds buttons and features to the Distraction Free Writing Mode for all kinds of extra functions.
Consider an alternative
Just Writing shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 200+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 2 years ago, and scores 41/100 on our health check.
- Small user base (200+ active installs)
- No update in over a year
- Only tested up to WordPress 6.7 (latest is 7.1)
Daily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where Just Writing stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| admin posts writing DFW | #1 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
Rating breakdown
★★★★★★★★★★ 5 from 14 reviews
About Just Writing
From the official readme · v4.0Description
Note: Just Writing now has beta support WordPress 4.1, please see further down this page for more details.
Distraction Free Writing (DFW) Mode is a great way to focus on writing text, but have you ever found yourself wanting to do a bit more with it? How about spell check, or change the paragraph style without dropping back to the standard post edit mode? Now you can get all the functionality of the standard mode tools in DFW!
But maybe you think there are too many buttons in DFW, no problem you can get rid of pretty much all of them!
Just Writing takes DFW from a great way to write to a great way of writing posts!
New Commands
This plugin adds the following optional commands to the toolbar in DFW:
* Address * Insert More Tag
* Align Full * Insert Custom Character
* Align Left * Outdent
* Align Right * Paragraph
* Background Color * Paste
* Block Quotes * Paste as Text
* Copy * Paste from Word
* Cut * Preformatted
* Font * Preview
* Font Color * Redo
* Font Size * Remove Formatting
* H1 * Spellcheck
* H2 * Strikethrough
* H3 * Subscript
* H4 * Superscript
* H5 * Underline
* H6 * Undo
* Indent
More Features
* Option to remove the fade effect and keep the toolbar visible
* Option to hide or lighten the border on the title/body areas
* Option to hide the word count
* Option to hide the editor mode bar
* Option to center the toolbar on screen
* Adds an optional Preview button to the right of the Save button
* Moves the exit link to the right of the new Preview
button as a real button
* Re-orders the button list to make more sense
* Per-user preferences for enabling Just Writing
* Per-user preferences for which buttons to display
* Option to start in DFW for new posts
* Option to start in DFW when editing posts
* Option to add a DFW link to the pages/posts list to go directly to DFW
* Adds spell check field to the post title so your browser will spell check it for you
* Browser full screen mode now support
WordPress 4.1+ Support
DFW in WP4.1 is a completely different than previous versions and Just Writing takes a completely different approach to it. Instead of adding buttons and features to WordPress’s built in DFW, Just Writing adds a new “Writing” mode to WordPress.
“Writing” mode closely matches the old DFW from previous version of WordPress but has all the features of Just Writing.
There are a few differences however:
* Switching between the edit page and writing mode, unlike the old DFW, requires a full page load.
* There are a few hard coded pieces around, so there may be some weird effects with non-english languages.
* Support for full meta data editing inside of Writing mode.
* Closing and re-arranging postboxes in the meta area are not saved between sessions.
License
This code is released under the GPL v2, see license.txt for details.
Roadmap
- add second row to toolbar, remove individual style buttons
Installation
- Extract the archive file into your plugins directory in the just-writing folder.
- Activate the plugin in the Plugin options.
- Login to WordPress and go to your profile page, update the options at the bottom.
Frequently asked questions
What browsers are supported?
Try it and find out, the JavaScript is pretty basic so it should work in just about any browser. I’ve successfully run it on: * IE 11 * Opera 12.16 * FireFox 24/25 * Chrome 31
I can’t find the Just Writing options, where are they?
For standard users (aka non-admin users), they can go to their WordPress settings page and select “Profile”, scroll down to the bottom and your see the Just Writing section. For admin users it can be found under “Users”->”Your Profile”.
I’ve disabled the fade effect and now the browser is running slowly, what’s wrong?
The fade effect is triggered by WordPress when no mouse movement is executed for 2 seconds, the only (without changing some of the WordPress sources files at least) way to disable it is to execute a mousemove event every 1.5 seconds. This shouldn’t be an issue in any modern browser, but if your having performance issues, simply re-enable the fade effect.
I’ve disabled the fade effect but there is a ‘flicker’ when DFW comes up, what’s wrong?
If you start DFW without moving the mouse you might hit right between when WordPress starts fading but before Just Writing fires off a mousemove event, this shouldn’t be an issue after the first start of DFW.
I’ve added the spellcheck button to my toolbar but it doesn’t do anything when I click it
As of WordPress 3.6, the spellchecker is no longer part of the core WordPress install, you need to add a plugin to get the functionality back. I’d suggest TinyMCE SpellChecker as a good option.
The “Paste as Word” button doesn’t show up in WordPress 3.9, why not?
WordPress 3.9 removed the “Paste as Word” button as the functionality is built in to TinyMCE now. Just paste your word content in to the visual editor and the formatting will be maintained.
Browser full screen mode isn’t working…
Browser full screen mode is highly dependent on the browser, it may not work for you. For example Safari blocks keyboard input during full screen mode. If it’s not working for you try another browser.
Why can’t the browser full screen mode be auto loaded like DFW
Two words for you: Browser Security. Modern browsers support full screen mode but they only activate it when a user clicks on a button, there’s no way to fake it through JavaScript. Thats so that a malicous web site doesn’t try and impersonate your OS and get you to enter a password that it steal. The other issue is that full screen mode is de-activated as soon as you leave the current page, so for example Just Writing could link full screen mode to the DFW “click” in the post list, but as soon as the browser leaves the post list to load the editor page full screen mode will be deactivated.
I’m using the “Avia Layout Builder” and when I use Just Writing my chnages don’t get published, what’s wrong?
Unfortunately the “Avia Layout Builder” is incompatible with Just Writing.
Changelog
None.
4.0
- Release date: January 18, 2025
- Fixed warnings with language text domain loading.
- Added support for WordPress 5.7+.
3.9.1
- Release date: August 17, 2020
- Fixed warnings with PHP 7.4.
3.9
- Release date: July 4, 2016
- Added text domain for translation support.
- Added support for WordPress 4.5.
- Fixed broken link button, thanks barbosalm!
3.8
- Release date: September 18, 2015
- Added Writing button to the text mode post/page editor.
- Update utility class.
- Updated the settings page, adding tabs and better about format.
- Fixed some WP_DEBUG warnings.
3.7
- Release date: August 11, 2015
- Update to support WordPress 4.3.
3.6.2
- Release date: January 28, 2015
- Update utility class to avoid re-declaration errors.
Screenshots
For developers
Is this your plugin? Show off the numbers.
Add a live badge to your site, docs or GitHub README. It updates on its own — no account needed.
FAQ
Just Writing: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 3, 2026
Is Just Writing free?
Yes. Just Writing is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Just Writing safe to use in 2026?
Just Writing shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 200+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 2 years ago, and scores 41/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Just Writing?
Just Writing is active on 200+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 25,733 times since it launched in October 2013. It was downloaded 135 times in the last 30 days.
Does Just Writing work with WordPress 7.1?
Just Writing is officially tested up to WordPress 6.7.9, while the latest release is 7.1.2. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
When was Just Writing last updated?
The latest version, 4.0, was released on January 18, 2025 (2 years ago).
Who makes Just Writing?
Just Writing is developed and maintained by Greg Ross.
Powered by PageForge
Want thousands of pages that rank like these? Build them in an afternoon.
This directory runs on the same engine as PageForge. Turn any spreadsheet, CSV or API into thousands of fast, SEO-ready WordPress pages — with schema, internal links and AI-written copy baked in.
- CSV, Google Sheets & API data sources
- AI content, schema & internal links per page
- Works with Elementor, Gutenberg, Yoast & Rank Math
- Free on WordPress.org — no credit card
