Why Your Writing Tool Should Work on a Plane, in a Jungle, or During an Outage

The Conference WiFi Problem

Picture this: 500 researchers, one hotel WiFi network, and a paper deadline at midnight. The network crawls. Your cloud editor spins. You refresh. Nothing.

According to a 2023 survey of academic conference attendees, 73% reported significant productivity loss due to network issues at conferences. Yet we've built our entire writing infrastructure around the assumption of constant connectivity.

This assumption breaks constantly—and at the worst possible times:

• The conference hotel WiFi is overloaded
• Your research station has satellite internet (when it works)
• The library network goes down during finals week
• Your flight has no connectivity
• The power grid fails during a storm

When the internet goes away, so does your ability to work—if you depend on cloud tools.

The Hidden Dependency

More Than Just Writing

It's not just your document editor. Consider what else requires internet:

• Reference managers with cloud sync
• Citation databases
• Collaboration tools
• Cloud storage
• Authentication systems

A network outage can lock you out of your entire workflow.

The Deadline Problem

Network problems happen at the worst times:

• Submission deadlines, when everyone is online
• Conferences, when everyone shares one network
• Fieldwork, where infrastructure is limited
• Travel, where connectivity is unpredictable

Murphy's Law applies: the internet will fail when you need it most.

Who Needs Offline Capability

Field Researchers

If you work away from reliable infrastructure—remote biology stations, archaeological sites, rural communities, ocean vessels—offline capability isn't optional.

You might have:

• Satellite internet (expensive, unreliable)
• Cellular data (limited, expensive, often unavailable)
• No connectivity for days or weeks

Your tools must work without the network.

Travelers

Academic travel is common:

• Conference attendance
• Collaborator visits
• Sabbaticals abroad
• Fieldwork preparation

During transit, connectivity is spotty. In some countries, internet access is restricted, slow, or monitored. Offline tools give you productive work time regardless.

Anyone During Outages

Even in well-connected places, networks fail:

• University networks go down for maintenance
• ISPs have outages
• Power failures kill local infrastructure
• Extreme weather disrupts services

Having offline capability means these events are inconveniences, not emergencies.

What Offline-First Means

More Than "Works Offline"

Some cloud tools have limited offline modes:

• You can view recent files
• Some editing is possible
• Changes sync when you reconnect

True offline-first is different:

Offline-first design principles:

1. Local data is the source of truth
2. Full functionality without network
3. No features degrade offline
4. Network is optional, not required
5. Sync is additive, not essential

The Technical Approach

Offline-first tools:

• Store your data locally first
• Process everything on your device
• Sync with other devices when convenient
• Never require cloud servers to function

The network becomes a convenience, not a dependency.

The Productivity Argument

Consistent Experience

With offline-first tools, your work experience is the same whether you have internet or not:

• Same speed
• Same features
• Same workflow

No degraded mode. No feature limitations. No uncertainty about what will work.

Focused Work

The offline scenario has a hidden benefit: no distractions.

Without internet:

• No email notifications
• No social media temptation
• No "quick" web searches that become hour-long rabbit holes

Some researchers deliberately go offline to focus. Offline-first tools support this intentional disconnection.

Travel Productivity

Long flights become productive writing time when your tools work offline:

• 8-hour transatlantic flight? Work on your paper.
• 12-hour train journey? Draft that grant proposal.
• Conference downtime? Revise your presentation.

The hours previously lost to connectivity issues become productive.

Making the Transition

Audit Your Dependencies

List every tool in your writing workflow:

| Tool | Works Offline? | Alternative | |------|---------------|-------------| | Document editor | ? | ? | | Reference manager | ? | ? | | Citation database | ? | ? | | Figure editing | ? | ? | | Collaboration | ? | ? |

For each tool that requires internet, find an offline-capable alternative or develop a workaround.

Build Offline Habits

Before going offline:

• Ensure all files are synced locally
• Download any resources you might need
• Export references you'll cite
• Save any documentation you might reference

While offline:

• Work normally
• Trust that sync will happen later
• Don't waste energy worrying about connectivity

When reconnecting:

• Allow sync to complete
• Verify critical files synced properly
• Continue working normally

Test Your Setup

Before your next trip or deadline:

1. Turn off WiFi and cellular data
2. Try to complete your normal workflow
3. Note what breaks or becomes unavailable
4. Fix those gaps before you need offline access

The Collaboration Question

"But How Do I Collaborate?"

Collaboration doesn't require constant connectivity. Options include:

Asynchronous sync:

• Work offline
• Sync changes when connected
• Review co-author changes then

Batched communication:

• Compile feedback during connected periods
• Discuss in concentrated sessions
• Work independently between syncs

Local collaboration:

• Same physical network sync (no internet needed)
• Work together in person
• Sync directly between devices

CRDTs and Modern Sync

Modern collaborative tools use CRDTs (Conflict-free Replicated Data Types) to handle offline editing:

• Everyone can edit simultaneously
• Changes merge automatically
• No conflicts, no coordination needed
• Works perfectly offline

When you reconnect, all changes from all collaborators integrate seamlessly.

LaTeX and Offline Work

Perfect Fit

LaTeX is inherently offline-friendly:

• Plain text files (no special software needed)
• Local compilation
• Standard packages included
• No cloud dependency in the format itself

The question is whether your editing environment supports this potential.

What You Need

For full offline LaTeX capability:

1. Editor: Works without internet
2. Compiler: Runs locally
3. Packages: Cached locally
4. References: Available offline
5. Sync: Handles offline periods gracefully

Modern local-first LaTeX editors provide all of this in a web browser, using WebAssembly to run LaTeX entirely on your device.

Real-World Scenarios

The Conference Deadline

You're at a conference. The paper deadline is tonight. The hotel WiFi is unusable—500 researchers all uploading last-minute submissions.

With offline tools: You finish your paper, compile locally, generate your PDF. When the network clears at 3 AM, you submit.

With cloud tools: You fight for connectivity, can't compile, stress about the deadline, potentially miss it.

The Field Station

You're at a remote research station. Satellite internet provides 30 minutes of connectivity twice daily for essential communications.

With offline tools: You write all day, sync during connectivity windows, receive feedback overnight.

With cloud tools: You can only work during those 30-minute windows—90% of your writing time is lost.

The International Flight

14-hour flight to a conference. You have a talk to prepare and a paper to revise.

With offline tools: You work for most of the flight, arriving with polished materials.

With cloud tools: You stare out the window, unable to access your documents.

The Resilience Factor

Single Points of Failure

Cloud-dependent workflows have single points of failure:

• Internet connection
• Service uptime
• Authentication systems
• Company solvency

If any of these fail, you can't work.

Distributed Resilience

Offline-first workflows distribute the system:

• Your device has everything needed
• No network required
• No external service dependency
• Works as long as your device works

This resilience matters for long-term work like dissertations, books, or ongoing research programs.

Conclusion

The internet is wonderful. It's also unreliable.

Offline-first tools acknowledge this reality. They give you:

• Reliability in any environment
• Productivity during travel
• Independence from network conditions
• Resilience against outages

For researchers who work in the real world—with its unreliable WiFi, remote field sites, and long flights—offline capability isn't a nice-to-have. It's essential infrastructure.

The question isn't whether you'll face network problems. It's whether you'll be productive when you do.

Choose tools that work when the internet doesn't.