Mac Change Default Text Editor
One of the best things about TextMate is that it comes with extensive documentation and video library which should easily get users started. It is also simple text editor mac. It is stable and reliable. That ends our list of the 10 best text editors that you can get for your Mac. If you want a text editor which is as capable as Sublime Text but doesn’t cost a penny, then Atom is for you. You can change text font, size, color and other basic formatting using the toolbar buttons. If your Mac has a Touch Bar, you can use it to quickly format selected text. You can also do more advanced formatting in the Fonts window. In the TextEdit app on your Mac, choose Format Font Show Fonts. There should be a way to just Copy Plain Text without formatting. Then you paste it anywhere as plain text. Seems like all these workarounds (most don’t work) are clunky and based on having to remove formatting info before pasting.
We’ve all used TextEdit before and though it’s a nice text editor in its own right, almost every one of us prefers to use other software, including the ever-popular Microsoft Word, Apple’s own Pages, and NeoOffice. It’s under appreciated, which is why numerous Mac users are looking for ways to change their default text editors.
Although you can always choose to open your text documents by right-clicking and picking the Open With option, there are people who want to save up fingertip stamina by merely double-clicking the selected text files. Fortunately, there are several ways you can change the default text editor on a Mac.
Using Get Info
Let’s say you have a document you’re editing for the long-term and it will stay for days on one of your folders. Given that when you open it, the Mac’s default settings will always lead to it opening on TextEdit. To change this, one of the ways to do this is to resort to change the default text editor by accessing the Get Info menu. Here’s how to do it:
- First, right-click on the document and a drop down menu will appear.
- Select Get Info.
- After the menu appears there’s a drop down box labeled Open with. Select your preferred text editor from the list. Note that the drop down box may not hold certain word processing programs currently installed on your computer.
You can also use this method to set particular file extensions to open at a program of your choosing.
To do this, simply follow these steps:
- First, right click on the selected file.
- Open the Get Info option.
- Instead of choosing a program from the drop down box, click on Other.
- Pick a program from Finder and once you picked the appropriate one, select it.
- Below the drop down box, a Change All button will appear.
- Click on the said button and a dialogue box – as shown in the picture above – will appear. Click on Continue to open all files with a .docx extension.
You can repeat this for other file types as necessary, particularly on RTF, doc, and txt.
Using the Terminal
Although the above mentioned method is the easiest way you can change your default text editors, you can go take the long way out by using the Mac’s Terminal. Simply go over this Stack Exchange thread to get a clear idea on how to do it.
However, we really don’t recommend using the Terminal for this, given that it’s utterly complicated and you might make a mistake in editing your configuration files. It’s also pretty technical and anyone without proper programming experience would not understand how to do all of it.
Although TextEdit is undoubtedly useful (but only for limited functions), its not a go-to solution for all your word processing tasks. There are several other apps and programs, like MS Word, Open Office, and Sublime Text 2 that can cater to your work-related needs.
To save precious seconds, simply follow the above mentioned procedures and you will find yourself able to open your preferred word processors with a couple of clicks.
TextEdit User Guide
You can format text by selecting fonts, font colors, font sizes, and more. You can also format text by applying favorite styles, or styles used in a document.
Note: If you don’t see the toolbar, Choose Format > Make Rich Text.
Change fonts
You can change text font, size, color and other basic formatting using the toolbar buttons.
If your Mac has a Touch Bar, you can use it to quickly format selected text.
You can also do more advanced formatting in the Fonts window.
In the TextEdit app on your Mac, choose Format > Font > Show Fonts.
To preview options as you select them, click the Font Panel Actions menu , then choose Show Preview.
Select the text you want to format, then do any of the following:
Change the font: Select a collection, family, or typeface (such as Bold). To search for a font, select All Fonts in the Collection column, then type the font name in the search field. If you don’t see the search field in the Fonts window, make the window wider.
Change the font size: Drag the slider or select a size in the list. If you don’t see any sizes, click the Font Panel Actions menu , choose Edit Sizes, then select Fixed List, Adjustable Slider, or both.
Underline or strikethrough text: Click the Text Underline or Text Strikethrough button , then choose an option from the pop-up menu, such as Double. To change the line color, choose Color from the pop-up menu, then click a color.
Change the font color: Click the Text Color button , then select a color in the Colors window.
Add a shadow to text: Click the Text Shadow button . Drag the sliders to adjust the shadow opacity, blur, and offset. Drag the Angle wheel to change the direction of the light source.
Insert symbols and characters: Click the Font Panel Actions menu , choose Characters, then drag a symbol from the Character Viewer into your document.
Set typographic options: Click the Font Panel Actions menu , then choose Typography. If the selected font includes typography, select or deselect options.
Use Font Book to install and manage fonts on your Mac. To open it from the Fonts window, click the Font Panel Actions menu , then choose Manage Fonts. See Font Book User Guide.
Change styles
Open Text Editor Cmd
In the TextEdit app on your Mac, do any of the following:
Note: If you don’t see the Paragraph Styles button at the left end of the toolbar, make the window wider.
Apply a style: Select text, click the Paragraph Styles button in the toolbar, then choose a style. If your Mac has a Touch Bar, you can use it to apply bold, italic, or underline.
Reuse a style already in a document: Select the text, choose Format > Font > Copy Style, select the text to reformat, then choose Format > Font > Paste Style.
View all instances of a style in a document: Click the Paragraph Styles button in the toolbar, then choose Show Styles. Select Document Styles or Favorite Styles, locate the style you want to find using the controls, and click Select. Then click “Select within entire document” or “Select within existing selection” and click Select.
Make pasted text match the text around it: Select where to paste the text, then choose Edit > Paste and Match Style.
Save the style of selected text as a favorite: Click the Paragraph Styles button in the toolbar, then choose Show Styles. Click Add to Favorites, then type a name. If you want it to use the same font, spacing, and tabs as the selected text, select the checkboxes.
To format selected text in uppercase, lowercase, or mixed case, choose Edit > Transformations, then choose an option.
Change the background color of your document
Osx Change Default Text Editor
In the TextEdit app on your Mac, choose Format > Font > Show Fonts.
Alternatively, press Command-T to open the Fonts window.
In the Fonts window, click the Document Color button in the toolbar, then select a color in the Colors window.
If you don’t like the background color, click anywhere in the document, choose Edit > Undo Set Document Background Color, then try again.
Mac Text Editor Built In
If you’re using Dark Mode and choose View > Use Dark Background for Windows in TextEdit, some text and background colors may be displayed differently on the screen to ensure the contents of the document are legible.
Microsoft Text Editor