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    Text editor for OS X SL

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by SP Forsythe, Sep 17, 2009.

  1. SP Forsythe

    SP Forsythe Notebook Evangelist

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    Does anyone know of a good text editor for SL? Preferably freeware.

    TextEdit is alright, unless you actually want to save-as a text file, then it's horrible.

    I'm looking for soemthing akin to Windows Notepad, super-simple and able to save files as an actual text file, instead of an RTF.
     
    SP Forsythe, Sep 17, 2009
    #1
  2. Khris

    Khris Yes I am better than you!

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    Maybe elaborate on why you consider it "horrible"? I've never had an issue saving files as .txt files.
     
    Khris, Sep 17, 2009
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  3. SP Forsythe

    SP Forsythe Notebook Evangelist

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    If one creates a new file using TextEdit, and then you choose to save the file, saving as an ASCII text is not a listed option.

    Your choices for File Format are: Rich text format (.rtf), Rich Text Format with Attachments (.rtfd), Web Page (.html),Web Archive, Open Document Text (.ODT), Word 2007 format (.docx), Word 2003 Format (.xml), and Word 97 Format (.doc)

    Plain Text (.txt) is not an option. I'm not looking for a cludgy fix either. Simply a text editor that will save as a native text file with no embedded formatting.

    I call any so called "text editor" that will not even create a new text file in the same manner as non-text file, and with a .txt extension, a reasonably horrible implementation of such.

    And yes, I do know it will open an existing .txt file and save it. I am speaking of creating a new file without having to use a "donor file" template every time.

    But, if you have found a way to "turn-on" full/simple plain-text handling, please do tell.
     
    SP Forsythe, Sep 17, 2009
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  4. Khris

    Khris Yes I am better than you!

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    Well honestly I'm not sure what you're doing, but if you look at the screenshot, it clearly says If no extension is provided, use ".txt".. Really doesn't get any easier than that.
     

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    Khris, Sep 17, 2009
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  5. Seshan

    Seshan Rawrrr!

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    .rtf is recognized by everything, it almost is .txt But Khris I don't see what you see. As I was also wondering why I couldn't save as .txt I thought I could before.
    *EDIT* I only get that option if I open a existing .txt file and try and save it. If I save a new file with no extension it sets it to .rtf


    ****EDIT NUMBER 2**** Problem solved!, Go to preferences on textedit and set format to plan text, restart textedit.


    [​IMG]
     
    Seshan, Sep 17, 2009
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  6. Budding

    Budding Notebook Virtuoso

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    TextEdit>Preferences and choose Plain Text under the Format heading.

    Restart TextEdit.
     
    Budding, Sep 17, 2009
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  7. timberwolf

    timberwolf Notebook Consultant

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    Does TextWrangler suit your needs?

    http://www.barebones.com/products/TextWrangler/
     
    timberwolf, Sep 17, 2009
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  8. Chris27

    Chris27 Notebook Deity

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    Textmate

    Vim (which already comes with OSX) is also decent if you steal someone's preference file
     
    Chris27, Sep 17, 2009
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  9. SP Forsythe

    SP Forsythe Notebook Evangelist

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    Thank you Seshan. Your response was extremely helpful. :)
    May your reputation grow.

    Thank you to the others who had suggested alternatives as well.
     
    SP Forsythe, Sep 17, 2009
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  10. Khris

    Khris Yes I am better than you!

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    Sorry, guess I forgot about changing that preference. :)
     
    Khris, Sep 17, 2009
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  11. doh123

    doh123 Without ME its just AWESO

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    if you are already in a document you want to convert to plain text, you just hit "Format" and select "make plain text" once you do that it'll save as a .txt, then you have to choose if you want UTF-8 or 16 or whatever...

    TextEdit.app is a great text editor
     
    doh123, Sep 17, 2009
    #11