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.
TextEdit is a free word processor that has long been included as part of Macintosh operating systems (it was originally created for the NeXTSTEP operating system and came to Apple as part of the.
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.
- The Best Free Text Editors for Windows, Linux, and Mac Lori Kaufman April 28, 2012, 12:00pm EDT We all use text editors to take notes, save web addresses, write code, as well as other uses.
- Popular Alternatives to TextEdit for Mac. Explore 25+ Mac apps like TextEdit, all suggested and ranked by the AlternativeTo user community.
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.
Cobook can help organize and update your address book from your Mac’s menu bar—regardless of which service you use to sync your contacts.
Updating contact data in Cobook definitely takes fewer steps than using the Contacts app, and the changes you make sync quickly via whichever service you rely on. It can work either from the addresses stored in the Contacts app (which, in general, live in your iCloud account) or from your Google contacts.
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
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
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.
Textedit Application For Mac
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Underneath its slick interface, OS X has a number of hidden configuration files that contain the settings for default and standard behaviors. While in most cases these files being hidden is good for system stability and security, sometimes you may need to access one for troubleshooting purposes or to apply small customizations to the system.
Often these files can be accessed with simple one-line Terminal commands, as is commonly seen with the 'defaults' command for editing program or service property lists; however, at other times you might need to make more extensive edits to a settings file. When doing this you will run into two hurdles, the first of which is revealing the hidden files and the second of which is being able to edit them successfully without permissions errors.
Overcoming the first can be done by revealing hidden items in the Finder, or using the Finder's 'Go to Folder' option (in the 'Go' menu) to target a file in a hidden system directory; however, while these options can be used to show some hidden files, they do not show all of them and do not give you any permissions to edit them.
Managing the second hurdle can be done by getting information on a file and changing its permissions settings, but this is not recommended as small permissions oversights can result in the file not being properly accessible and resulting in more problems.
A more preferred method of accessing these files is to use a text editor that can support authentication to edit system files. Since Terminal commands can be promoted to run in administrative modes using the 'sudo' command, often terminal-based text editors like nano, emacs, and vi are used for editing system files; however, these can be frustrating to use, especially if you wish to edit multiple files and manage large amounts of content in them.
To tackle all of these options, the best option to use is a GUI-based text editor that supports authentication such as the free TextWrangler program from Barebones software; however, being a third-party utility means an OS X system may not have it installed and if Internet access is limited then it and others like it may be difficult to acquire.
Therefore, if you need to edit system files, an alternative to TextWrangler is to use Apple's included TextEdit program. While when launched by default within a user account the program will not be able to view or edit hidden system files, as with any OS X application you can launch it and give it administrator privileges from the OS X Terminal that should allow it to view and edit system files.
Each OS X application is actually a package that includes the program's executable binary file along with other resources the program uses to run and interface with various OS X services. Since the binary itself is an executable file, you can target and launch it from the Terminal as you would any Terminal-based utility, and use the 'sudo' command to give it root or administrative privileges. For TextEdit, entering the following command in the OS X Terminal will do this:
sudo /Applications/TextEdit.app/Contents/MacOS/TextEdit
When this command is executed, after supplying your password a new instance of the TextEdit program will launch and appear in your Dock (even next to an existing TextEdit program that you may have running). This new instance will be in administrative mode, and you can use it to browse hidden files and open them for editing. Press Command-O or choose 'Open' from the File menu, and you will be in the system's root user directory which you can use to access many hidden configuration files and folders, but you can also press Shift-Command-G to bring up the 'Go to Folder' field and access other hidden folders if needed.
Note that while you do this, you should not close the Terminal window that you used to run the command for launching TextEdit. This window contains an execution shell in which TextEdit is running, and closing the window will quit the shell and TextEdit along with it. The shell also serves as a console for the executed program's output, so you may see some errors and warnings be listed in it, but you can ignore these.
When you have finished editing your files, you can quit the new TextEdit instance and you should see the Terminal shell drop back to the command prompt, after which you can also quit the Terminal if it is no longer needed.
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