TextEdit
| Company type | Open-source software |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software |
| Headquarters | United States |
Area served | macOS, Unix-like operating systems |
| Products | Word processor, text editor |
| Owner | Apple Inc. |
TextEdit is an open-source word processor and text editor initially created for the NeXT platforms NeXTSTEP and OPENSTEP. Following Apple's acquisition of NeXT, it has been included with macOS and is also offered as a GNUstep application compatible with other Unix-based operating systems like Linux. The application leverages Apple Advanced Typography to enhance text display quality.
Implementation
Replacing the earlier Macintosh text editor, SimpleText, TextEdit is constructed upon the Cocoa text system. It can read and write documents in formats such as Rich Text Format (RTF), plain text, and HTML, while allowing opening (but not saving) of legacy SimpleText files. The program integrates seamlessly with macOS's built-in spell-checking capabilities. Over successive macOS versions, support for additional file formats was introduced: Mac OS X v10.3 enabled compatibility with Word documents; v10.4 added support for Word XML files; v10.5 incorporated both Office Open XML and OpenDocument Text formats; v10.6 brought features like automatic spelling correction, data detectors, and text transformations; and v10.7 introduced file versioning alongside Autosave functionality similar to that found in iOS.
TextEdit handles formatted content including justification, embedded graphics, multimedia elements, and supports multiple character encodings such as Unicode (UTF-8 and UTF-16). While it adjusts spacing between letters and words during justification, it does not provide multi-column layout capabilities.
The icon representing TextEdit has transformed over time, shifting from the inclusion of Apple's "Think different" campaign excerpt in Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) to a streamlined notebook paper graphic introduced in 10.10 (Yosemite).
Source code
Previously, Apple made the TextEdit source code available within its integrated development environment (IDE) Xcode documentation. This source can be accessed through Apple's Mac Developer Library. Licensed under the BSD-3-Clause terms, the software allows personal, non-exclusive use along with rights to reproduce, modify, and redistribute, provided that original notices are preserved and Apple's trademarks are not utilized for endorsement without explicit authorization.
See also
- List of word processors
- Comparison of word processors
- Office Open XML software
- OpenDocument software
- TextEdit (API)
External links
- TextEdit in Mac Developer Library (including source code)
- c2: TextEdit
- Enhanced TextEdit from WWDC 2005 presentation