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?

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. When we think of text editors, we usually think about Notepad, Pages, and Text Edit. These are the basic types of text editors that help just about anyone using a computer. But 10 best text editors for Mac OS are must for high-end programming. If one wants to create software and apps that require complex coding, it becomes intermediate necessary to look for the best text editor for programming on Mac.

TextMate is an exclusively Mac text editor that combines features of OS X & Emacs into a single text editor made that could actually substitute a full IDE program for many programmers out there. Notepad TXT Editor is a basic text editor. You can use it for simple documents or notes - without any formatting, paragraph styles or tables. - All your text is displayed in a single font you can select from a menu.

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.

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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.

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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.

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.

Mac text editor for java. 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.

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Komodo Edit

What We Like

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

Best Text Editor For Mac

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 notif

Text Editor Or Notepad For Mac