Discussing available computer software for prompting for the kinds of computers likely to be used in writing programs, this paper concentrates on categorizing software programs and exploring their "uniquely electronic" features. The paper deals with the following questions: (1) What kinds of planning software are available? (2) What happens when prompts are inserted in a word processing program? (3) How are outliners different from word processing templates? (4) What about branching, open-response, "true" prompting programs? and (5) Are there more "uniquely electronic" tools on the horizon? (Seven figures are included; an appendix containing a database of 15 programs that can be used for prompting is attached.) (SR)