Core Features
A complete overview of what Nebula Writer can do today, from local project folders to AI-assisted editing across document formats.
When to Use This Page
- You want a full tour of the current product
- You are comparing workflows across Markdown, LaTeX, DOCX, spreadsheets, and slides
- You want to understand how AI fits into serious knowledge work
At a Glance
- Local-first project folders using standard files on disk
- Markdown editing with live rendered preview
- LaTeX editing with Edit, Split, and Preview modes plus PDF compilation
- Native DOCX editing with paged layout and formatting preservation
- Spreadsheet support for XLSX, XLS, CSV, and data-heavy workflows
- Presentation support for PPTX review and slide editing
- PDF viewing and extraction for reference material
- AI assistant with project context, model selection, reviewable edits, research, and data support
- Python workflows for analysis, charts, Excel outputs, DOCX, and PPTX generation
- Collaboration through shared folders, invite links, member roles, and presence
- Version and action history so changes can be inspected and recovered
Workspace
Nebula Writer is built around a project folder. Open a folder, and the app discovers supported files while preserving the folder structure you already use.
You can keep research notes, paper drafts, reports, spreadsheets, slide decks, PDFs, images, and bibliography files in the same workspace.
AI Writing Assistant
Nebula Writer's assistant can read the active document, use files you mention, search your project, and propose edits you can review.
Common tasks:
- Summarize a draft or reference document
- Rewrite selected text for tone, clarity, or structure
- Create new notes, outlines, or follow-up documents
- Search web and academic sources for research
- Inspect DOCX, spreadsheet, presentation, and PDF context
- Explain changes before you accept them
AI edits are not blindly applied. Nebula Writer uses reviewable diffs and action history so you remain in control.
Markdown
Markdown is ideal for notes, briefs, documentation, and early drafts.
Features:
- Live rendered preview while writing
- File-aware project context
- Word and character counts
- AI edits with review
- Export workflows where available
LaTeX and Academic Writing
Nebula Writer includes Tectonic, so you can compile LaTeX without asking users to install a separate LaTeX distribution.
Features:
- LaTeX source editor
- Edit, Split, and Preview view modes
- Split editor and PDF preview workspace
- Built-in Tectonic compilation
- Bibliography and citation workflows
- Academic search through the AI assistant
- Multi-file project awareness
DOCX Editing
Nebula Writer opens Word documents in a native paged editor and preserves document structure and formatting.
Features:
- Paged document layout
- Font, size, spacing, alignment, and text styling controls
- Page size and zoom controls
- DOCX save and PDF export actions
- AI-aware document structure tools
- Version history support
Spreadsheets
Open spreadsheets alongside the documents that depend on them.
Features:
- XLSX, XLS, CSV, and related spreadsheet data workflows
- Workbook sheets and grid navigation
- Formula bar and cell formatting controls
- Save back to the project folder
- AI prompts for analysis, summaries, and figure planning
- Reviewable cell and range changes
- Python handoff for reproducible analysis
See Spreadsheets and Python Code.
Presentations
Nebula Writer can open and edit PPTX slide decks inside the same project workspace.
Features:
- Slide thumbnails and canvas editing
- Text, shape, image, table, and layout controls
- Accessibility and issue review panels
- Save and PDF export workflows where supported
- AI context for deck summaries and revision planning
See Presentations.
Models, Reasoning, and Settings
The assistant includes a model picker and reasoning controls so you can match the model to the task.
Use cases:
- Fast edits with lower reasoning
- Deep research with stronger models
- Sticky default model selection across assistant sessions
- File-specific context with attached documents and folders
See Models & Settings.
Python Analysis
Nebula Writer can use Python for repeatable data work inside the project folder.
Common outputs:
- Cleaned CSVs and Excel workbooks
- Charts for reports and papers
- Generated DOCX summaries
- Generated PPTX drafts
- Reproducible analysis scripts
See Python Code.
Diffs and Review
AI edits are designed to be inspected before you keep them.
Review surfaces include:
- Text diffs for Markdown and LaTeX
- Format-aware DOCX changes
- Spreadsheet cell and range summaries
- PPTX slide and object review
- Saved versions and action history
Collaboration
Shared folders let signed-in collaborators work together while local folders remain available for private drafting.
Collaboration features:
- Shared folders
- Invite links
- Member roles
- Presence
- Real-time text collaboration
- Operation-based collaboration for Office formats where supported
See Collaboration.
PDF and Assets
PDFs and assets can live next to your drafts and data.
PDF workflows:
- View PDFs in the workspace
- Extract text for AI context
- Reference PDFs while drafting
- Export supported formats to PDF
Asset workflows:
- Keep images, figures, and supporting materials in the project folder
- Reference assets from Markdown, LaTeX, DOCX, and slide workflows
- Let the AI inspect project structure before proposing changes
Version and Action History
Nebula Writer tracks important document activity so you can recover from mistakes and understand AI changes.
Tracked areas include:
- Saved versions
- AI action history
- Reviewable before/after changes
- Format-specific document updates
Privacy and Local-First
- Documents stay on your computer
- Standard formats keep you portable
- Writing and editing work offline
- AI requests send only the context needed for the task
- AI features require internet access
Next Steps
- Start with Quick Start
- Learn prompting in AI Assistant
- Configure model defaults in Models & Settings
- Review changes in Diffs & Version History
- Use Reference for formats and shortcuts