Simple Text Editor For Mac Like Notepad

Whether you’re a developer or a writer, a good text editor is a must-have on any computer, in any operating system. The humble text editor is great for managing code, writing down quick notes, or just as a distraction-free writing tool. This week, we’re looking at five of the best, based on your nominations.

Earlier this week we asked you for your favorite text editors, and while you suggested far more than we can highlight here, there were a few that earned more nominations than the others. Here are the tools you liked the best:

Sublime Text

Cross-platform and feature packed, Sublime Text was a crowd favorite in the call for contenders thread, partially because of its amazing feature-set. Plug-ins and add-ons are available for specific programming languages and uses in Sublime Text, the app features extremely powerful search and go-to features, tons of keyboard commands to help you never have to take your hands off the keyboard while you use it, a distraction-free mode that lets you focus right on your work—whatever that work may happen to be, and much much more. Sublime Text has a tabbed interface so you can have multiple documents open at the same time, and a 10,000ft view on the right so you can see where in your document you are at any time. You can select multiple rows to make simultaneous changes, customize shortcuts to suit your own needs, and even chain shortcuts together to perform complex—but fast—operations. It’s remarkably powerful.

Text

Sublime Text is available for Windows, OS X, and Linux. It’s distributed as evaluation software (meaning it’s free to try, but there’s no time limit on how long you can use it for free) and a full license will cost you $70. A full license is per user, so you can use it on as many computers as you like once you have one. In the call for contenders thread, those of you who nominated Sublime praised its impressive feature-set, developer-friendly plug-ins and API, side-by-side file comparisons, and much more. Read all about it in the nomination thread here and here.

Notepad++

Notepad++ has been around for a long time, and many users have only ever used Notepad++ when they’re ready to upgrade from Notepad or Wordpad. It’s stil under development though, and combines the simple interface of Notepad or Wordpad with advanced features that will make writers and developers happy. Some of them include a customizable interface that you can make as minimal or toolbar-rich as you choose, a document map so you can see where you are in your work at any time, a tabbed interface so you can work in multiple documents, auto-completion and text shortening, macro recording so you can customize shortcuts, and more. You also get customizable syntax highlighting, text folding and collapsable parts of the document (to make things easier to read,) and options you can use to launch the app under certain parameters, just to make your work easier.

Mac’s default text editor, TextEdit, combines features of a text editor with those of a word processor, such as rulers, margins, and multiple font selections — allowing it to be used as both a text editor AND a basic word processor — depending on the settings/preferences. Similarly to Notepad (mentioned above), it has almost none of the. A simple notepad-like text editor with many features. It is designed to be a small and fast. User interface in 20 languages. Alternatives to Notepad for Windows. Edit+ is a text editor, HTML editor, PHP editor, Java editor, and Hex veiwer for windows that can serve as a notepad replacement with features for web page authors and programmers. Edit+ Reviews Get a Quote.

Notepad++ is free (free as in free speech and free beer) and available for Windows only. You can grab it as an installable app, or a portable app to run from a flash drive or cloud storage service like Dropbox. If you’re not sure exactly what you’re looking for in a text editor, it’s a good place to start, especially because it’s free. You can donate to the project though, and if you enjoy it, you should. The code is available too, so if you’d rather contribute, you can do that as well. Those of you who nominated it praised its simplicity, wealth of plug-ins for just about every type of user, and of course, its price tag. Read all about it in the nomination thread here.

Vim (and Its Iterations)

Oh boy, Vim. Designed to bring the simplicity of Vi to every platform and person who needed a configurable but not-too-heavy text editor, Vim is one banner of the Holy Text Editor Grail Wars to march under. It’s not without good reason—Vim is cross-platform, free, and while it’s aimed squarely at programmers who want an interface they can tweak to their liking and really get some work done in, you don’t have to be a programmer to get the most use out of it. Instead, you just have to take the time to configure it so it works the way you prefer. It won’t hold your hand (although its extensive help is useful for beginners), but once you remember its keyboard shortcuts and commands, download tons of user scripts to apply to it to streamline your work, and learn your way around, it quickly becomes an essential tool. It supports dozens of languages, keeps a history of your actions so you can easily repeat or undo them, supports macro recording, automatically recognizes file types, and lives—once installed—at your command line.

Vim—and most of its iterations, which include editors that add a GUI to the app so you can launch it without resorting to the command line—are free (GPL licensed). It’s available for any operating system with a command line of just about any type, and it’s charityware, meaning instead of paying for the app, the team behind it suggests you donate to children in Uganda who could use the support via the ICCF. Those of you who praised Vim noted that it takes some commitment to learn, but once you’re familiar with it, the sky’s the limit. Read more in the nomination thread here.

Simple Text Editor For Mac Like Notepad

Atom

Calling itself a text editor “for the 21st century,” Atom earned a lot of praise in the nominations round for being a text editor designed for the needs of today’s developers. It’s built by the team at GitHub, and incorporates some of the lessons the team there learned by managing so much code on a regular basis. It’s flexible, customizable, themeable, and even though it’s relatively new, it already has a large following and tons of plugins, thanks to its open API. It operates like a native application, and even the application package is customizable so you only get the modules you need. It packs a tabbed interface, multi-paned layout, easy file browser, and easy learning curve so you can get up and running with it quickly. There’s also solid documentation to help you get started if you need it. Only downside though: Atom is currently in private beta, and you’ll have to sign up for an invite and cross your fingers if you want to give it a try.

Atom is currently OS X only (10.8+), although Windows and Linux versions are on the roadmap. It’s also free to use while it’s in beta, but when it’s finished and released, the team behind it says it’ll be “competitively priced.” Those of you who nominated it praised its customizability and available plugins, and pointed to the tool’s potential to become one of the best and most powerful text editors we’ve seen in many many years. You can read more about it in the nominations thread here.

Update 07/2015: Atom has released its first stable, 1.0 version, along with fully supported versions for Windows and Linux! You can check out the details here.

Emacs (and Its Iterations)

If you’ve used an operating system with a command line interface, you’ve had Emacs available to you. It’s been around for decades (since Richard Stallman and Guy Steele wrote it in 1976), and its the other major text editor to stand behind in the Holy Text Editor Grail Wars. It’s not the easiest tool, but it’s definitely one of the most powerful. It has a steep learning curve, but it’s always there, ready for use. It’s had a long and storied history, but the version that most people wind up using is GNU Emacs, linked above. It’s richly featured, too—Emacs can handle almost any type of text that you throw at it, handle simple documents or complex code, or be customized with startup scripts that add features or tweak the interface and shortcuts to match your project or preference. Similarly, Emacs supports macro recording, tons of shortcuts (that you’ll have to learn to get really familiar with it), and has a ton of modules created by third parties to leverage the app for completely non-programming purposes, like project planning, calendaring, news reading, and word processing. When we say it’s powerful, we’re not kidding. In large part, its power comes from the fact that anyone can play with it and mold it into something new and useful for everyone.

Emacs is completely cross platform, with versions and derivatives available for Windows, OS X, Linux, and just about every other operating system on the planet. It’s free, as in both free speech and free beer, and comes with detailed help, tutorials, and guides to help you get started using it if you’re new to using Emacs. Those of you who praised it in the call for contenders thread highlighted its flexibility and power, complete customizability, and the fact that you can play Tetris in it, which is admittedly a nice bonus. You can read all about it in its nominations thread here.

Now that you’ve seen the top five, it’s time to put them to an all-out vote to determine the Lifehacker community favorite.

Honorable mentions this week go out to TextWrangler (OS X) and UltraEdit (Windows/OS X/Linux). TextWrangler, as BBEdit’s lighter brother, works equally well as a writing tool as it does a development tool, although it’s designed to be the latter. It’s a great general-purpose text editor with an auto-saving cache that keeps all of your data and documents intact even if you don’t save them to disk between launching the application and closing it. UltraEdit on the other hand, is another crowd-favorite and sports a customizable layout, built-in FTP, find and replace that supports regular expressions, syntax highlighting, and more. Plus, it’s cross-platform. They’re both great options that just missed the top five if you want something more than the top five offers.

We really can’t say how many amazing nominees we got in the call for contenders thread this week. If you’re wondering where your favorite editor is, odds are it was nominated back in that thread, so make sure to go check it out. Remember, the top five are based on your most popular nominations from the call for contenders thread from earlier in the week. Don’t just complain about the top five, let us know what your preferred alternative is—and make your case for it—in the discussions below.

The Hive Five is based on reader nominations. As with most Hive Five posts, if your favorite was left out, it didn’t get the nominations required in the call for contenders post to make the top five. We understand it’s a bit of a popularity contest. Have a suggestion for the Hive Five? Send us an email at tips+hivefive@lifehacker.com!AdvertisementTitle photo by Darrell Nash.

Windows Notepad has been around for a long time. The simple text editor has been part of every single Windows versionA Quick Look at the History of Windows in Visual FormA Quick Look at the History of Windows in Visual FormRead More since 1.0.

However, just because it’s in its fourth decade doesn’t mean it’s the best text editor. In fact, in its 30+ years of life, you can almost count the number of new features on one hand.

Many apps have now surpassed it in ease-of-use and quality of features. But what are those apps? What do they do well? And when should you use them? Here’s where Notepad falls short, plus six leading alternatives.

Where Notepad Falls Short

I don’t want to criticize Notepad too heavily. It has a negligible draw on your system’s resources, it opens almost instantly, and it’s still the best way for making quick notesToo Lazy to Take Notes? Try These Faster Notetaking Tips InsteadToo Lazy to Take Notes? Try These Faster Notetaking Tips InsteadThere are several shortcuts you can take to capture everything from lectures to meeting minutes to to-do lists. Let's explore some of those shortcuts today with these tips for faster note-taking.Read More while you’re on a phone call or chatting with a colleague.

Nonetheless, when viewed alongside some of its modern competitors, you’ll quickly find some glaring weaknesses.

For example, it can’t handle newlines in Unix- or classic Mac OS-style text files, it lacks advanced formatting features, it doesn’t support multiple document interface (MDI), you can’t block-select, and there are no syntax coloring, code folding, or macros… The list goes on.

Some third-party alternatives remedy these omissions and introduce several additional features.

1. Notepad++

TL;DR: Best all-round alternative text editor.

The best known and most widely-used alternative is Notepad++. It was originally designed for coding and development, but it’s features have since made it popular among people who just want a more powerful text editor.

Out of the box, you’ll find several additions that instantly set it apart from the Microsoft product. There are line numbers, a more robust search tool, support for tabs, syntax highlighting, macro recording, and zoom.

Notepad++ really starts to shine when you delve into the plugins. You will find a spell checker, an FTP client, a script executor, hex editors, and more.

To use the plugins, either use Plugin Manager (which ships with the main app) or download your preferred plugin and install it manually. Navigate to the plugins subfolder of your Notepad++ installation, then put the DLL in plugins, the configuration file in pluginconfig, documentation in plugindoc. See our guide on Notepad++ plugins for help.

Download — Notepad++

2. Syncplify.me Notepad!

TL;DR: Download Syncplify.me Notepad! for a word processing-esque experience.

Syncplify.me Notepad! is more geared towards people who want to use their text editor to write rather than to code and program.

When you open the program for the first time, you’ll instantly feel at home when you see the familiar Microsoft Office ribbon across the top of the screen. Start using the app, and the similarities with Word continue: it supports drag-and-drop editing, you can customize print jobs with margins, indentations, headers, footers, and your find-and-replace history is saved for later use.

Syntax highlighting for 35 programming languages is included, but you won’t find code folding, auto-complete, macro recording, or session support.

Download — Syncplify.me Notepad!

3. QOwnNotes

TL;DR: Anyone who uses Notepad to stay organized should switch to QOwnNotes.

Despite the growth of specialist to-do appsEvernote vs. OneNote: Which Note-Taking App Is Right for You?Evernote vs. OneNote: Which Note-Taking App Is Right for You?Evernote and OneNote are amazing note-taking apps. It's hard to pick between the two. We compared everything from interface to note organization to help you choose. What works best for you?Read More like Evernote, OneNote, and the recently-released Microsoft To-DoMicrosoft To-Do vs. Wunderlist: Everything You Need to KnowMicrosoft To-Do vs. Wunderlist: Everything You Need to KnowMicrosoft To-Do will replace Wunderlist in the coming months. Learn about To-Do's best features, what's still missing, and how you can migrate from Wunderlist to To-Do.Read More, some people still use Notepad for making lists and staying organized7 Google Keep Features for Perfect Lists7 Google Keep Features for Perfect ListsGoogle Keep has a few features that make it perfect for list keeping. Not only can you create a checklist and sync the app across platforms, Google Keep also offers location-based reminders and more.Read More. Unfortunately, it’s not up to the task, especially if you want to do more than make a simple list of groceries.

However, if you like the simplicity of Notepad compared to OneNote, you should give QOwnNotes a try.

You can organize all your notes and lists into projects and sub-folders (accessible in the right-hand panel), and the app supports rich text notes, images, hyperlinks, and tables. The presence of folders, sub-folders, and hyperlinks means you can make your own wiki.

It also includes a built-in calculator and an “Import from Evernote” tool. Oh, and did I mention the app can even sync via Calendar Plus using AES-256 encryption?

Download — QOwnNotes

4. PSPad

TL;DR: The best alternative for coders and programmers.

PSPad has been a favorite among coders and professionals for many years. It was first released in 2001.

Its myriad features are development orientated. There’s MDI, syntax highlighting, a HEX editor, an HTML code checker, a code explorer, a macro recorder, an external compiler, an FTP client, and even templates for HTML, PHP, Pascal, JScript, VBScript, MySQL and more.

Like Notepad++, there’s a thriving community who have built a variety of plugins for increased functionality. Some of the best are the JavaScript packer, the SQL code reformatting script, and the text-to-table adaptor.

It does have some useful features for casual users, including a spell check and search-and-replace, but you should use something else if you’re not planning to spend a lot of time coding.

PSPad is semi-portable100 Portable Apps for Your USB Stick for Windows and macOS100 Portable Apps for Your USB Stick for Windows and macOSPortable apps let you take your favorite software anywhere via a flash drive or cloud storage. Here are 100 of them to cover your every need, from games to image editors.Read More: you can download a ZIP folder that can be unpacked into any directory. There’s also an installer, but it’s ad-supported — make sure you don’t install any unnecessary software.

Download — PSPad

5. EditPad Lite

TL;DR: The purest Notepad replacement.

If you’re looking for a replacement for Notepad but don’t want an app with hundreds of extra bells and whistles, EditPad Lite is your best option.

Some features separate it from the Microsoft app, but they’re minor enhancements rather than complete overhauls.

Simple Text Editor For Linux

For example, EditPad offers a tabbed interface so you can work on several files at the same time and there is unlimited undo/redo (rather than the one step provided by Notepad). You’ll also find a more robust search-and-replace tool, and the app automatically backs up your work to prevent data loss.

Perhaps most interestingly, you can configure the app per file type. When you’re coding, you can turn off word wrapping, when you’re writing a personal memo you can turn off line numbering and turn on proportional fonts.

Simple Text Editor For Mac Like Notepad

Download — EditPad Lite

6. GetDiz

TL;DR: If you’re an ASCII artist who wants a fun and quirky twist, download GetDiz.

GetDiz isn’t for serious coders or people who need to operate in 50 different programming languages. It’s primarily for people who want to make art5 Free Apps to Turn Photos Into Art on Android, iPhone, or Web5 Free Apps to Turn Photos Into Art on Android, iPhone, or WebTurn your selfies into art with these free creative tools and join the new filter craze that is now taking over the internet.Read More with ASCII characters. Sure, it’s a niche group, but it’s also a fun group.

What makes it so good for artists? Well, it can read and create NFO and DIZ files, as well as ASCII art, then save the output as a GIF file. The only drawback is the app will create the GIF using what’s visible on the screen rather than the full window.

Free Simple Text Editor For Mac

Other benefits include automatic window resizing to fit the text width of files, built-in URL support, and custom word highlighting.

Download — GetDiz

Which Is Your Favorite Notepad Alternative?

The very notion of a “best” alternative is subjective: the right app is the one that works for you. You should spend time testing a few different ones before settling on your long-term preference.

The most important thing to take away from this article is that Notepad has been surpassed and you will be able to find a more compelling alternative, regardless of how you use the app.

Excel for Office 365 for Mac Excel 2019 for Mac Excel 2016 for Mac Excel for Mac 2011 More. Less Sometimes the label at the top of a column is wider than the data that is stored in the column. If you’re an experienced Excel user, the Text to Columns feature might also have come to mind.Text to Columns allows you to split cells like this, but only if they are separated by a consistent character or a fixed width. In this case, Text to Columns could be used to split the data using a space as the delimiter. This would result in 3 columns rather than the two you want, so you would. Text to columns in excel for mac. Jan 11, 2013 I am trying to use Text-to-Column function in Excel for Mac 2011 to split a column of times into separate columns. For instance, I need 13:45:00 to. In Excel, you can combine or merge text from two or more cells, as well as columns and rows,into one cell. If you have a lot of rows of data where you want to combine text, you can simply start typing the combined text in an adjacent column and Excel will fill in the rest for you. Feb 01, 2008 Excel can do this with 'Data>Text To Columns' and it's much more convenient. Another example is columns that have a preceding space. Text To Columns set to fixed width can just eliminate that first space (separate it to it's own column, but ignore it).

Which Notepad alternatives would recommend to your fellow readers? What features make them unique? Let us know in the comments below.

Explore more about: Note-Taking Apps, Notepad.

Simple Text Editor For Windows

If only Notepad2 has tabs. Just need something that is fast and simple as notepad but with tabs.
It is really sad to see that there are practically no objective articles. Pseudo-journalists write articles for product placement. But hypocritically they do not say it.
The recipe is always the same.

We are talking about a software or other product, which is known by many people, and then we are talking about another product that is supposed to be wonderful.
And we quickly realize that this wonderful product costs money and is expensive.

We are not ashamed to mix everything. Free products (very rare), products supposedly free and which are not free but the one who writes the article does everything to sell them, or even a paid product and the article is still promoted.

The majority of articles on the internet are made by sellers but they hide it.
These pseudo-journalists are paid handsomely for promoting articles from companies, and they pretend to do so objectively.
But when we are paid to sell any product we are not at all objective. We are sellers. And sellers are paid to sell anything.

Honesty in humans is really rare and it is not surprising that the Capitalist is so popular. It is based on lies, greed, theft.
I'm a user of EmEditor. But free alternatives Notepad2 and Notepad++ have approached or exceeded its features by now.

Turn jpg to speech text 2018 for mac. Convert live audio voice to text of pre recorded sound in to text on any text editor. Using this software you can share post or send mail with a meaning full subject description in very short time. Also help for a find, open particular apps or close it by command as a speech. In macOS Sierra, you can ask Siri to “turn on Dictation” for you. Siri isn't the same as Dictation, but you can ask Siri to compose short messages, such as email and text messages. Click on the Speech Recognition tab. Click on the 'Speakable Items:' On button, then click on the 'Open Speakable Items Folder' button. Speakable items comes with many automatic actions but will need to be customized to insert text into a document. Also Read: How to Turn Off Autocorrect on iPhone or Mac. Make Mac Read on OS X Mavericks. Go to System Preferences by clicking on the Apple Menu. Next, click on Dictation & Speech and select Text to Speech tab. Finally, check the”Speak selected text when the key is pressed” box.

I often rely the ability to select the encoding for viewing foreign language text or DOS NFO art, and to preview text in mixed/binary files, which RichText-based editors fail to do reliably.

Some of these tools have lost focus, and have added formatting and modern GUI bloat, or increased system requirements too much (EmEditor). Commercial products have a problem, because a text editor can be reasonably 'complete', and they can no longer sell a new version. Notepad as a scratch box is only useful for 'notes' as long as it is light in memory and visually compact.
My go-to notepad is Metapad. It has options for Word Wrap, selection of primary font, keep on top, transparency, hyperlinks, primary and secondary font selection and has many more features.
You know what I hate about all the notepad replacements?

None of them are basic text editors like notepad.
NoteTab Pro. Been using it for years, and I love it!
NoteTab Pro - using in for years. I love it!
I've been using ConTEXT for awhile now instead of notepad.
If you don't want to pay the registration for Edit Plus, which is well worth it, in my opinion, then I recommend Geany and Kate.
I just leave OneNote open all the time. The impact on system resources is negligible.
Textpad.
Notepad2
NoteTab Light
- Notetab Light is also excellent with HTML
TextPad: the Notepad replacement for people who write.. or write HTML.. or write software.
Onenote
vim :P

just kidding
Microsoft has not changed anything with Notepad since Windows 95
DocPad is great! Scite text editor for mac.
I may be greedy here.. but I'd love to have a simple notepad like the EditPad mentioned in the article - with built-in password protection/encryption. Something like MS Word 'Lite'..
Worst thing about notepad is that its undo only has a depth of one. Very dangerous..

Mac Soft Download

Simple Text Editor For Mac Like Notepad

Sublime Text

Notepad++

Vim (and Its Iterations)

Simple Text Editor For Mac Like Notepad

Atom

Emacs (and Its Iterations)

Where Notepad Falls Short

1. Notepad++

2. Syncplify.me Notepad!

3. QOwnNotes

4. PSPad

5. EditPad Lite

Simple Text Editor For Linux

6. GetDiz

Free Simple Text Editor For Mac

Which Is Your Favorite Notepad Alternative?

Simple Text Editor For Windows

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