Need some help finding writing tools

[Moka_Noctis]

hey guys , i need some ideas, do i go to LT language tools or Pro writing aid? I need some better tools on Libre office

[Sheila_Flanagan]

Hi, @Moka_Noctis

Have you checked out the ItsFOSS article: 12 Open Source Tools for Writers

Let us know what exactly you are looking for, what type of writing you hope to enhance and we’ll certainly try to assist.

Thanks,

Sheila Flanagan

[nevj (Neville Jackson)]

@Moka_Noctis,

There was a discussion in this topic

Looking For LanguageTool alternatives

Languagetool has moved processing it’s data outside of the EU and to California (I think, at least 100% certain about the move to USA). I’m not comfortable with this, because of privacy concerns. However, I do need something like such a tool which supports Dutch and has a browser plugin for Firefox. Does anyone have a suggestion of something which is at least as capable and hosted in the EU or Switzerland?

[Moka_Noctis]

Thanks. I may just go with LT Language tools. while i do not like it move . I am very uncomfortable with what going in the EU right now

[xahodo (Xander H)]

The privacy regulations of the EU would have meant that LearnEO (the owners of LT) cannot train AI on your data. As they have moved LT’s servers to the US, I don’t think they’re trustworthy, as the US’s privacy rules are very lax, as opposed to the EU’s. I think when you use LT, you’re allowing them to train AI on your text. For some people this matters, for others it does not. I’d check their license agreement and ask yourself whether you’re ok with AI being trained on your text. If you are, power to you. If not, I’d not use LT.

[abu (Alfred Bühler)]

@xahodo

For some people this matters, for others it does not.

I wouldn’t say it doesn’t matter for me, with my LT Premium subscription. The point is, they do a damn good job, even if I don’t really like that AI thing.

Once I tried a European installation (Page in German) of LT, but I couldn’t get warm with it.

[Lduvall]

I have never really used language tools/writing aids for English. I have used mind mapping as the starting point for many things that I write, plan, schedule etc. I started with FreeMind and then for some reason switched to FreePlane. I still regularly use FreePlane first for outlining, before starting any writing, or for any planning activity.

Now to bring out the criticisms! ;^)

I have done a lot of editing for a friend who does a lot of writing in English, which is her second or third language. One time I asked her to prepare a text, on any topic and send it to me, so I could test one of the AI engines, which she did.

I fed her text into DeepSeek and asked it to edit and improve the text. I then edited the document myself. I compared my edits to DeepSeek’s output, and the program did a fairly good job. It was probably on a par with what a high school student would write (I am just guessing on HS student writing skills these days). I then asked DeepSeek to “polish” the first version and make it a bit more formal, That output was an improvement on the initial edit.

I don’t use AI, I was just curious as to what it would produce. I did send my friend the results of the DeepSeek edits. I am pretty sure I recommended to my friend that she consider using AI to assist with her writing, keeping in mind not to expose sensitive information. I recommended using AI because at times her texts were really, really difficult to edit for various reasons, and she tended to request short returns on the edits.