Focus modes and the split editor
13 May 2026
Of the three focus modes in Waxcap™, Typewriter Scrolling is the one that helps most over a long session. It holds the line you're typing at a fixed height near the middle of the window, so the page scrolls under the cursor instead of the cursor crawling toward the bottom of the screen. Your eyes can stay in the same place on the screen, which is easier on them over a long session.
Turn it on from the Focus menu or with ⌃⌘T. It stays on until you turn it off, so for most people it's something you set once.
Focus Mode and Distraction-Free Mode
The other two are there for when you need them.
Focus Mode dims everything except the paragraph you're writing, or the sentence if you pick Sentence in Focus ▸ Focus Mode. The rest of the chapter stays readable, in grey. It's useful when you're working on one paragraph and keep getting drawn into the ones around it.
Distraction-Free Mode (⌃⌘H) closes the sidebar and the Stats and Content Analysis panels, and hides the toolbar. In Settings ▸ Focus you can keep the toolbar or hide the word count as well. Combine it with Typewriter Scrolling and macOS full screen if you want nothing on screen but your writing.
All three can be on at the same time.
The split editor
Some work needs two documents on screen at once: a scene and the character notes for the person in it, say, or a chapter beside the outline that planned it.
The split editor (⌘⇧E) opens a second pane next to the first, in the same window. Either pane can hold any document from the sidebar, including your Reference Material, and Option-clicking a document in the sidebar opens it in the second pane. Both panes are fully editable. Close the split and you're back to one editor.