1. Free Text Editor For Mac
2. Free Text Editor For Mac
3. Free Text Editor For Mac Os X
4. Simple Text Editor For Mac
5. Best Text Editor For Mac
6. Live Text Editor For Mac Terminal

We all use text editors to take notes, save web addresses, write code, as well as other uses. Every operating system comes with a default, basic text editor, but most of us install our own enhanced text editors to get more features.

Some of the best HTML editors for Mac OS X are free or available as an evaluation version with no enforced time limit. Sublime Text (the latter) is extremely fast and can be customized without much fiddling. Text Edit is the built in text editor on the Mac. It is a very capable word processing application and for most people it will be the only word processor that you will need. It is a very capable word processing application and for most people it will be the only word processor that you will need.

In this article, we’ve gathered links to many different text editors used for different purposes. You can use text editors for basic text editing and taking notes, writing programming code, producing LaTeX documents, writing a book, among many other uses.

Notepad and WordPad Replacements

Are you looking for more capabilities than the default Notepad in Windows? Would you rather use a graphical text editor in Linux, rather than the built-in vi? There are many options for useful text editors out there.

Some employ a tabbed interface, such as Jarte (which is based on the WordPad word processing engine and integrates easily with WordWeb), EditPad Lite (which also has the automatic backup), and Notetab Light (which can also calculate the value of mathematical expressions entered in the program). Jarte, EditPad Lite, and Notetab Light are all only available for Windows. Jarte is also available as a portable program.

Typically, Vi is the default text editor in Linux operating systems and it’s a keyboard intensive program with no graphical user interface (GUI). A good text editor for Windows that has hotkeys available for its 312 text-processing functions, innovative features, and timesaving tools is TED Notepad, which is also available as a portable program. Emacs is also available for both Windows and Linux, and is customizable. It also includes a file compare utility and a file manager. You can also add Org-mode to Emacs, which is a personal information management and outlining tool. If you prefer text editors with GUIs, Vim and gEdit are both good options and are available. Vim is essentially the graphical version of Vi. For help editing text files in Vi or Vim, see our Beginner’s Guide.

GetDiz is a Notepad replacement for Windows that allows you to edit many text files quickly from within Windows Explorer and has enhanced functionality for dealing with DIZ and NFO files. It can also display ASCII art correctly. Another ASCII text formatter for Windows is TextMorph, which can also convert text to and from HTML and clean up emails (remove all the “>” symbols, etc.), and search and replace by words or multiple paragraphs.

Programmer’s Text Editors

There are many text editors that provide useful functionality for programmers. Most support syntax highlighting for many programming languages, multiple document editing, and are extendable with plugins. Some also allow editing of remote files through FTP.

PSPad not only supports syntax highlighting, but also matching bracket highlighting for most popular programming languages. It also has a hex editor, macro recorder, and a differencing tool. PSPad also easily integrates with the free version of the TopStyle CSS editor. Notepad++ also supports bracket highlighting and macro recording. It also supports syntax folding and is highly customizable through plugins using the included plugin manager. Both PSPad and Notepad++ are only available for Windows.

The cross-platform (Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X) editor, jEdit, supports syntax highlighting for over 200 programming languages and auto indent, as well as a differencing utility, an FTP browser, and block selecting. It is also extendable using plugins and macros, and there are hundreds of plugins and macros available through the built-in plugin manager feature.

Programmer’s Notepad for Windows supports syntax highlighting using schemes, both built-in and user-defined, code folding and outlining, a tabbed interface with multi-level split views, and the ability to export to HTML (using CSS) and RTF.

If you like the Vi editor in Linux, but prefer a graphical editor that also serves well as a programmer’s text editor, Editra and Komodo Edit are good options. They both provide Vi emulation, as well as support for syntax highlighting in many programming languages and code folding. Editra has a tabbed interface, allows block (un)commenting and (un)indenting, and is extendable using the built-in plugin downloader/installer. Komodo Edit supports background syntax checking and contains a toolbox with shell command integration, macros, and code snippets. Both Editra and Komodo Edit are available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.

Other options include the following:

• Crimson Editor – A very small editor for Windows containing a directory tree view window
• Geany – A small and fast IDE for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X that supports code folding, code navigation, a build system, and a plugin interface
• Notepad2 – A fast, light-weight text editor like Notepad for Windows with syntax highlighting and runs as a portable program

Microsoft Word Replacements

There are also free programs that act as replacements for Microsoft Word. They can be used as text editors, but they have more formatting features than simple text editors. You can add images and tables, change fonts and color, and insert hyperlinks.

AbiWord runs on Windows and Linux and can read and write OpenOffice.org documents, Microsoft Word documents, WordPerfect documents, Rich Text Format documents, and HTML web pages. It has advanced document layout options such as tables, bullets, numbered lists, images, styles, footnotes, and endnotes. It even has a Mail Merge utility like Microsoft Word. You can extend AbiWord with a variety of plugins, which can be selected when you install AbiWord. A portable version is also available that you can run from a USB flash drive.

Angel Writer is a small rich text editor for Windows with a high performance rate that allows you to easily create impressive documents.

Minimalist Text Editors

If you get distracted when you write by the plethora of features in text editors and word processors, you might want to try one of the so-called “minimalist” text editors out there. They are “no-frills” editors that either don’t offer any formatting features or many of the other features of modern word processors, and even third-party text editors, or the features are hidden until you want them. Without all the fancy features staring you in the face, you can concentrate on the task of writing. Below is a list of some of the minimalist text editors we found.

• Dark Room– Available for Windows, requires .NET Framework 2.0, and is available as a portable program.
• JDarkRoom– Available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X
• Q10– Available for Windows and as a portable program
• CopyWriter– Available for Windows and as a portable program
• WriteMonkey– Available for Windows and as a portable program
• Bookwrite– Available for Windows and Linux
• Scribes– Available for Linux
• FocusWriter – Available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X, and as a portable program for Windows

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You can even download Word 5.5 from Microsoft for free and run it under DOSBox in Windows.

If you want a simple text editor with the ability to count down from a set word count, try yEdit2 for Windows. If you have to write a certain number of words, yEdit2 can make it easier.

Secure Text Editors

You can also use a text editor as secure place to store private information. There are several text editors that either include encryption as a feature or are specially designed for securely storing text. Notepad++, mentioned in the Programmer’s Text Editors section above, allows you to add encryption functionality using the SecurePad plugin, which is available through the Plugin Manager. SecurePad will encrypt selected text in the current document or the whole document.

Steganos LockNote is a small, simple method for securely storing chunks of information in files. For example, if you purchase a download-only program, you can use LockNote to store the product key or serial number that goes with that program in the same folder, so you always know where to find it.

• CryptNote – Available for Windows and as a portable program
• CryptoTE– Available for Windows and Linux, and as a portable program for Windows
• NotepadCrypt– Available for Windows as a portable program
• Xint– Available for Windows
• f0dder’s fSekrit – Available for Windows and as a portable program

LaTeX Editors

Do you write a lot of scientific papers, documents, or books? If so, there are several text editors that allow you to easily use TeX/LaTeX (document markup language and document preparation system) through a graphical interface to create mathematical content and structured documents like academic articles, theses, and books.

• LaTeX Editor (LEd)– Available for Windows and as a portable program
• LyX– Available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X
• WinEdt– Available for Windows
• TeXstudio– Available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X and as a portable program on Windows and Mac OS X
• Texmaker – Available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X

Novel Writing Editor

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There’s even an editor that’s meant for writing novels, called yWriter5, available for Windows and Linux. It breaks your novel into chapters and scenes, helping you to keep track of your work. However, yWriter5 does not suggest plot ideas, character names, or write any part of your novel for you. The creative task of writing is still up to you, yWriter5 just makes it easier.

One more text editor to mention is Nano in Linux, which is an easy-to-use text editor you run directly on the command line. Nano is installed by default in Ubuntu and many other Linux distros, and is easier to learn than Vi or emacs.

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Windows and macOS come pre-installed with a program that can open and edit text files. It's called TextEdit on Macs and Notepad on Windows, but neither are quite as advanced as some of the third-party applications that are available today.

Most of the text editors below need to be downloaded to your computer before you can use them, but all of them provide their own unique set of features that set them apart from the default software programs that come with Windows and Mac.

Why Use a Text Editor?

A text editor lets you open a file as a text document, something that can be useful for a number of reasons:

• Create a file from scratch using a specific programming language, like an HTML or CSS file for use on a website
• Edit or build files that end with the TXT, REG, XML, CSV, ASP, BAT, AU3, PHP, AHK, SVG, or JS file extension, among many others
• View the text version of a file that you don't know the format for
• Quickly remove formatting like bold, custom font types, URL hyperlinks, etc.

If you just need a super quick way to strip the formatting from some text, try this online text editor. To make a .TXT file online without downloading a program, try Edit Pad.

Notepad++

What We Like

• Tabbed interface

• Automatically restores recently opened, unsaved files

• Auto-completes as you write

• Includes tons of really helpful features like macros, syntax highlighting, and plugins

• Opens basically any file as a text document

• There's a portable version available

Notepad++ is the best alternative notepad application for Windows computers. It’s really easy to use for basic users who just need a text file opener or editor but also includes some really advanced features for those interested.

This program uses tabbed browsing which means you can open multiple documents at once and they'll display at the top of Notepad++ as tabs. While each tab represents its own file, Notepad++ can interact with all of them at once to do things like compare files for differences and search for or replace text.

Probably the easiest way to edit files with Notepad++ is to right-click the file and choose Edit with Notepad++ from the context menu.

This program can open nearly any file as a text document and supports lots of helpful plugins. It also includes a really handy text search/replace function, highlights syntax automatically, auto-completes words, and is the best offline text file converter.

The Notepad++ Find option lets you search for words with criteria like backward direction, match whole word only, match case, and wrap around.

Also supported is bookmarking, macros, auto-backup, multi-page searching, resumed sessions, read-only mode, encoding conversions, and the ability to search for words on Wikipedia and quickly open the document in your web browser.

Notepad++ also supports plugins to do things like auto-save open documents, merge all the text from open documents into one main file, align programming code, monitor open documents to refresh them as they change, copy and paste more than one item from the clipboard at once, and lots more.

Notepad++ lets you save text documents to a huge variety of formats like TXT, CSS, ASM, AU3, BASH, BAT, HPP, CC, DIFF, HTML, REG, HEX, JAVA, SQL, VBS, and many others.

Notepad++ works with Windows only, both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. You can also grab a portable version of Notepad++ from the download page; one is in the ZIP format and the other is a 7Z file.

Brackets

What We Like

• Perfect for an uncluttered, minimal working space

• Supports split-screen editing

• Includes code-specific syntax highlighting

• Can view updates for some files live in your web browser

• Lets you use keyboard shortcuts

• Works on Windows, Linux, and macOS

• Plugins are supported to add extra features

What We Don't Like

• Built mainly for people with code development in mind, so most of the features are centered around project files, displaying code, etc.

Free Text Editor For Mac Os X

Brackets is a free text editor that's primarily meant for web designers, but can of course be used by anyone to view or edit a text document.

The interface is extremely clean and modern and feels really easy to use despite all of its advanced settings. In fact, nearly all of the options are hidden away from plain site so that it's easy for anyone to use, which also provides an extremely open UI for editing.

Code writers might like that Brackets highlights syntax, can split the screen to edit more than one document simultaneously, lets you click one No Distractions button for a really simple interface, and supports lots of keyboard shortcuts so that you can quickly indent, duplicate, move between lines, toggle line and block comments, show or hide code hints, and more.

You can quickly change the file type you're working with to instantly change syntax highlighting rules, as well as change the encoding of the file if you need to.

If you're editing a CSS or HTML file, you can enable the Live Preview option to watch the page update in real time in your web browser as you make changes to the file.

The Working Files area is where you can open all of the files that belong to a single project, and quickly move between them without leaving Brackets.

Some examples of plugins you can use in Brackets includes one to support W3C validation, Ungit to make it easier to use Git, an HTML tag menu, and Python tools.

Brackets comes installed with both a dark and a light theme that you can change at any time, but there are dozens of others that you can install through the Extensions Manager.

Brackets is available as a DEB, MSI, and DMG file for use in Linux, Windows, and macOS, respectively.

Komodo Edit

What We Like

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• Very attractive and modern interface

• You can make virtual projects to bring together files from various locations

• Supports unique features not found in similar text editors

• Changing the interface setup is easy with one click

• The tabbed interface is easy to work with

• Runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows

What We Don't Like

• It's a bit complex — even with its minimal UI — for people who want just a simple text editor

Komodo Edit is another free text editor with a super clear and minimal design that still manages to pack some awesome features.

Various view modes are included so that you can quickly open or close specific windows. One is “Focus Mode” to hide all of the open windows and just display the editor, and the others show/hide things like folders, the syntax checker results, and notifications.

This program makes it very easy to open text documents even while one is currently open. At the very top of the program is the path to the currently opened file, and you can select the arrow next to any folder to get a list of files, any of which will open as a new tab in Komodo Edit if you select it.

The folder views off to the side of Komodo Edit are also really useful since they let you browse through the file system as well as create virtual projects that link folders and files together to better organize what you need to work on.

A unique feature in Komodo Edit is the area at the upper-left side of the program that lets you not only undo and redo like most programs, but also go back to the previous cursor location, as well as go forward to return to where you just were.

Here are some other Komodo Edit features worth noting:

• Can connect to a remote FTP server to open and/or save files
• Supports bookmarking specific areas of the document
• Lets you switch to a huge number of file types to highlight syntax differently and to save under that format
• The 'Go to Anything' search box lets you search for files to open, install add-ons, run scripts and commands, open menus, install other languages, change the color scheme, and more
• Recently closed tabs and files are easy to re-open
• Lets you preview files in a web browser
• Templates can be built out of existing files
• A 'Watch File' option can open a document in a new window for reference withouting being added to the tabbed list of files you're editing
• Records macros that can be played back to repeat things

This text editor works with Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Visual Studio Code

What We Like

• Whole folders can be opened at once to open all of the text files

• A minimal interface is just one click away

• Supports tabs for easy file tracking

• Includes a debugger; perfect for source code editing

Best Text Editor For Mac

What We Don't Like

• Centered primarily around editing and debugging code, so it could be too much for the average user

• Settings are difficult to change

Visual Studio Code is a free text editor that's used primarily as a source code editor.

The program is extremely minimal and even has a 'Zen Mode' option one click away that immediately hides all the menus and windows, and maximizes the program to fill the whole screen.

The tabbed browsing interface seen with other text editors is supported in Visual Studio Code as well, which makes it really easy to work with multiple documents at once.

You can also open entire folders of files at once if you're working on a project, and even save the project for easy retrieval later.

However, this text editor probably isn't ideal unless you plan to use it for programming purposes. There are entire sections dedicated to debugging code, viewing command outputs, managing source control providers, and even using a built-in Command Prompt.

The settings are also not as intuitive to adjust since you have to modify them using the text editor; the settings are entirely text-based.

Here are some features you might find useful in this program:

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• You can open whole folders at once from the right-click context menu
• A 'Change All Occurrences' option makes it easy to select and edit text you want to change throughout the entire document in one sweep
• Similar is the 'Rename Refactoring' option to change the name of a symbol in every instance of it across all the documents in your project
• Opening recently closed documents is easy since they're listed in the same place
• The 'IntelliSense' feature helps to automatically fill in code based on surrounding text and the location of the cursor in the document
• Files can be auto-saved if you turn the option on
• A document can quickly be reverted back to the state it was in when you last saved it
• The editing space can be split into multiple windows for side-by-side reading and editing
• Dozens of keyboard shortcuts are allowed and fully editable, such as one to copy/paste an entire line of code directly above or below the current position
• You can change the color theme of the program as well as the theme of icons
• Extensions can be installed to add more features to Visual Studio Code, such as one to debug JavaScript code in the Chrome browser and another to run programming code directly from the text editor
• When searching for text strings, you can define whether to match the case and/or the whole word

Visual Studio Code can be installed on Windows, Mac, and Linux computers.