- 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 programs that come with Windows and Mac.
- Atom Text Editor has joined the list of best text editors for Mac and has already left its mark in being quite capable and powerful tool. Atom too is a free and open source text editing tool and is maintained through one of the well-known repository – GitHub.
One thing I do on my Mac more than anything else is write. On average I write about 10,000 words a week, and some weeks, I double that. And that isn’t even counting email and other kinds of communication. That’s why a great text editor app is imperative to my every day workflow. Without it, I couldn’t do my job.
5 of the Best Text Editors for the Mac in 2018 Posted by Jamie on March 19, 2018 However advanced computers and applications become, the humble text editor will still be one of the most powerful and useful programs on any device. Top 5 Powerful And Free Text Editor For Mac OS X. Apple devices are always known for their top notch performance, high computational speed and Mac is no exception to it. In case you are a Mac user, then there’s no point conveying you the programming capability your Mac carry with itself. Now that you know about this hidden gem for writing documents on Windows, Scott will tell you about the option found on the Mac. Text Edit On Mac. 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. With Text Edit you can open documents in Rich Text Format(RTF), Plain Text formatted documents and even the ever popular Microsoft Word format.
When considering text editor apps, the first thing I look for is cross-platform support. It is vital that I can start writing something on my Mac and then pick up where I left off on another Mac, or even an iPhone or iPad. While I don’t do much writing on my iPhone, I do like to jot down quick ideas, sentences, and thoughts whenever they pop into my head. As for iPad, I have been known to close down a coffee shop or two with nothing but my iPad Air 2 and a great keyboard case in hand.
And as you’d expect, I also look for things like Markdown support, flexible export options, and solid document organization.
That being said, these are currently my top picks for best Mac text editor apps:
Ulysses
All your thoughts, organized to perfection
I fell in love with the layout and interface of Ulysses about a year ago. However, it wasn’t my full time text editor until recent updates added vast improvement across all platforms, including iPhone (more on that below).
Speaking specifically of the Mac version, there are several beautiful themes and preview options to choose from. But my favorite part of all versions of Ulysses is the organizational structure. Everything is organized into sheets and groups. For example, I have a group of sheets for App Factor and groups of sheets for other projects. Inside those I can have as many sub-groupings as I’d like. How to use reminders in quickbooks for mac.
For really long documents, Ulysses lets me jump to subheadings in just two clicks. I can export a million different ways, set goals, view statistics on different groups and sheets, and so much more. I’ve found tagging articles and setting word count goals greatly helps me stay on track when it comes to deadlines and making sure I’m writing a good blend of content for App Factor. Ulysses also has an option for direct publishing to Medium.
It’s worth mentioning that Ulysses is currently only available for Mac and iPad, BUT the iPhone version is in public beta and should be available in the App Store fairly soon (it’ll be a universal binary, so if you already own the iPad version, you’ll just receive an update).
I’ve been using the iPhone beta for a few months now and find myself constantly launching it in order to scribble down article ideas. For some reason, if I start a sheet for a topic idea, I’m more likely to actually act on it. After I do that, I stick the idea in Trello too so it doesn’t slip through the cracks.
Ulysses has been my main text editing app for several months now and I couldn’t be happier. It offers the flexibility and customization I need without being overly complicated in ways other text editors are.
- $45 – Download
See also:
- Ulysses for iPad – $19.99 – Download
Byword
Simple text editing, instant publishing
Before I started using Ulysses on a regular basis, Byword was my go-to text editor app on all my devices. One of the reasons I love Byword so much is because it’s powerful yet doesn’t overly complicate things with features and options you won’t use.
Simply launch Byword and start typing — and of course Markdown is supported. You can also switch between themes and change the editor font to virtually any font you’d like. To my knowledge Byword is one of the only text editor apps for Mac that uses system fonts, which means you don’t only get a handful of options, but every option you have installed on your Mac.
Byword allows you to sync via both iCloud and Dropbox, whichever you prefer. I have always used iCloud and never ran into any issues. And when you’re ready to publish, Byword can instantly publish your stuff to Medium, WordPress, Tumblr, Blogger, and Evernote for only $4 (one time in-app purchase).
If you don’t need the organizational structure and metrics that text editors like Ulysses offer but need your text editor on all your devices, Byword is hands down your best option.
- $11.99 – Download
See also:
- Byword for iOS – $5.99 – Download
Rough Draft
![Top Top](/uploads/1/2/6/2/126297464/176326678.jpg)
Focus on words, not structure
Rough Draft is the only app I’m including in this article that doesn’t currently have an entire eco-system between OS X and iOS. My main reason for this is because the concept of rough draft intrigues me.
The text editor itself isn’t anything out of the ordinary. If anything, it still needs some work. Photo editor for mac to write text. That being said, the way Rough Draft handles error correction and drafts is one of a kind. The idea is to get your thoughts out and then go back later to fine tune and revise. This way you can see all your edits as you make them, and if you need to, you can easily revert to a previous version of a sentence or word.
Rough Draft also allows you to insert placeholders where you think you want to later include images, videos, quotes, or anything else. This all goes back to the idea of worrying about the words first, not the structure.
If you need excellent Markdown support, and other powerful features all-in-one, Rough Draft may not be for you. But if you want a text editor to help you stay focused on the words first, Rough Draft may be just what you need. I’ve been using it on articles I’m having a particularly hard time with and it’s doing a good job of helping me stay focused.
Rough Draft is completely free to try and a one-time purchase of $15 will unlock export, which strips all your edits out of your final draft.
- Free w/ IAP – Download
Your favorite Mac text editor apps?
If you rely on your Mac to get some serious work done, what is your favorite text editor app and why? I’d love to hear in the comments!
This post was syndicated via The App Factor.
In this weeks edition of The Switching To A Mac Series Damshe and I will be talking about using the built in text editors on both the Windows and Mac platforms. It is true that there are other more feature rich options for word processing but there are also two very capable free solutions on both Windows and Macs. So get your writing hats on and lets talk some text editing.
WordPad On Windows
Whether you are writing a post for your blog or taking notes at a meeting, we all have a need to work on a document at our computer. https://referencepowerful.weebly.com/things-for-mac-format-text.html. One often overlooked yet powerful document editor for Windows is WordPad. Yes, I can here you all now “what about Microsoft Word?” Take my word for it, we will cover MS Word in the future. I want to introduce you to WordPad for a specific reason though. It is free and comes already installed on your Windows machine. WordPad also has some very nice features for the casual writer, who doesn’t need to track changes and perform some of the more advanced functions that come with MS Word.
WordPad can be found in the Start menu under All Programs, Accessories, WordPad; or just do as I do and type Word in the Search Field, select WordPad and press Enter. As expected, upon opening WordPad, you are presented with a blank document where you can begin typing. Pressing the Alt Key opens a ribbon, much like what you would see in many other Windows applications. The primary sections in this ribbon are:
The Home Tab, a View Tab, Help and an Application Menu.
The Home Tab, a View Tab, Help and an Application Menu.
We will start with the Home Tab. Here you have such functions as Cut, Copy, Select All, and a few more editing options. You also have some Insert options like Date, Time and so on. To navigate to the different functions in this tab, press the Down Arrow to enter the tab then use the Left or Right Arrows to move through the options. You will also find Formatting options which contain options for setting the Font size and style, line spacing and justification, and a host of other options.
Next is the View Tab which allows for controlling Page Zoom, Word Wrap options and whether or not to display the toolbar on screen. The Help button is a shortcut to the Windows Help documentation.
Then there is the Application menu. This is a menu, not a ribbon tab, so you must press Space to open it and reveal the options there. These options include, Open New Document, Open Existing Document, Save, Save As, and options for printing.
I will leave the typing up to you, but you will want to save your work. Pressing Control+S will open the Save dialogue where you can name your document, select where to save it and select the file type. The default file type for WordPad is “Rich Text Format” or imply RTF. You also have options for Plain Text, .TXT, MS DOS text, and Unicode text. If you have applied any formatting, like page justification, a different font style, or bold and highlighting, you may want to stick with the RTF format. RTF usually maintains all formatting applied during editing. Plain text however, may lose some of this formatting. WordPad prompts you with a helpful dialogue if you choose plain text, alerting you to this fact.
I usually go with the plain text option which allows for more cross-platform compatibility. Although, RTF documents can usually be opened in most applications that are considered document editors on Windows and the Mac. There are even a few document editors on iOS that can handle RTF documents.
Now that you know about this hidden gem for writing documents on Windows, Scott will tell you about the option found on the Mac.
Text Edit On Mac
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.
With Text Edit you can open documents in Rich Text Format(RTF), Plain Text formatted documents and even the ever popular Microsoft Word format. You read that right. You can indeed open and read Word documents, but you cannot edit the document in the Word format. In order to create and edit Word documents on the Mac you must purchase either MS Office for Mac which is not accessible to the blind user, or Apple’s Pages which is accessible. There are other text editing applications on the Mac platform that can read and write in the Word format but those are beyond the scope of this article.
![Text Text](/uploads/1/2/6/2/126297464/118394042.jpg)
To work on a document in Text Edit you first need to open the program. You can do this by either locating the Text Edit icon in your Dock and then press VO+Spacebar, or you can go into your Applications Folder and locate the program and open it from there.
Free Text Editor For Mac
When you open Text Edit depending on your settings Text Edit may open with the last document that you were working with opened. You can change this behavior by going to System Preferences and choosing iCloud and unchecking Documents and Data. When you do this Text Edit will now open with a blank document. It is important to note that if you do this that you will no longer get document synching via iCloud, so if you like to have your documents appear on both your Mac and your iOS device then you will need to leave this setting enabled.
Once you have Text Edit opened you can begin typing out your document. As you type if you misspell a word your Mac will attempt to auto correct. You can identify an error because you will hear a bubble sound when your Mac offers some suggestions. To use one of the corrections just press the down arrow and you will hear VO read the first suggestion. VO will also spell out this suggestion. Once you hear the word that you wish to use press the Enter key to accept it.
There are several keyboard commands available in Text Edit and the best way to discover these is to review all of your menus in the program. To do this just press VO+M. This will take you to the Menu Bar. This is a horizontal menu that goes across
the top of your screen.
the top of your screen.
These are the menu items in Text Edit.
Apple Menu: This is always the first menu item on the Mac.
Apple Menu: This is always the first menu item on the Mac.
Text Edit: These are application specific settings such as Preferences and the About Text Edit information.
File Menu: These are options such as New, Open, Save, Duplicate Document along with some others.
Edit Menu: These are options such as Undo, Paste, Copy, Cut and the like.
Format Menu: In this option you have options like Text,Font, make Rich Text if the document that you are viewing is a different format and a few others.
View Menu: There are only 3 options in this one. They are Actual Size, Zoom In, and Zoom Out.
The last two items are Window, and Help. In the Windows item you have options like Minimize and Zoom, and in the Help Menu you have the Text edit Help documentation.
After you have finished writing your document you need to save it. To do this you will press Command+S. You will notice that this is almost the same keystroke as in Windows. On a Windows machine you press Control+S to save. This similarity will continue with other word processing commands on the Mac. To Copy on the Mac you press Command+c and on Windows you press Control+C. To Cut the text on a Mac you press Command+X, and on Windows you press Control+X. On the Mac to Paste you press Command+V, and on Windows you press Control+V, and final on the Mac to Select All you press Command+A, and on Windows you press Control+A
Free Text Editor For Mac
As you can see there are a lot of similarities between the two platforms in this regard. The only real difference is that in the Mac instead of using the Control key for these commands you use the Command key.
Text Editor For Mac Os X
I truely hope that this introduction to text editing on the Windows and Mac platforms has been enlightening for you. If you like reading these weekly posts that Damashe and I are doing then you may also enjoy reading our Thursday Tips and Tricks post that our team writes up each week. To make sure that you never miss a post subscribe to the Delivering Access blog by eamil.