TextEdit - Notepad version for Mac, but more comprehensive

The answer is TextEdit, but the experience you get is even much better than Notepad. Find out below.

Mac's main text editor

It sounds strange, but TextEdit actually appeared before macOS. It originated as an application called Edit.app, first developed for the NeXTSTEP operating system in the 1980s, which later became the basis for Mac OS X. By 1995, Edit.app was written. back to the OpenStep platform (an 'intermediate' version between NeXTSTEP and OS X) as TextEdit. And when Mac OS X came out, TextEdit was officially released by Apple with the new operating system.

The element that makes TextEdit great experience lies in the diverse feature set but still extremely compact. Everything cumbersome like the pop-up dialog, welcome screen, or template selection window… is omitted. TextEdit also does not possess all the features of a full-fledged word processor like Microsoft Word, but in return it is much lighter and faster.

Rich in format

One of the main features of TextEdit is the ability to write and edit files in the RTF (Rich Text Format) format. Unlike Notepad, TextEdit can read and write files in RTF, RTFD, HTML, and even Word formats. This means that TextEdit documents can support many different font types, font styles (bold, italic), font colors, and more.

Of course, you can also edit plain text files (no special fonts or formatting) in TextEdit if needed. To create a plain text document in TextEdit, choose File > New. When the document opens, choose Format > Make Plain Text in the menu bar or press Shift + Command + T on your keyboard.

Ultra-compact word processing tool

With the features mentioned above, it's easy to use TextEdit as a simple word processor instead of apps like Pages or Microsoft Word. In addition to text formatting options, TextEdit also includes features like many other word processors that Notepad doesn't, such as creating bulleted lists, tables, headings, and customizing line spacing. . There are also spelling and grammar check options (under Edit > Spelling and Grammar).

You can also embed images in RTF documents, which is not possible in Notepad. Of course, you can use Word for this task, but Word is also slow and takes up more memory.

In short, if you're looking for an alternative to Notepad on Mac, look no further than TextEdit.

David Pac

Update 27 July 2022