Mac Text Editor Freeware
AbiWord
This alternative word processor has many of the features, but less of the bloat, found in Microsoft Word. It can read and write industry standard document types, and is able to put together quite a spiffy layout.
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Bean
An open source word processor that does more than TextEdit without the bloat of Office-style software.
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Celtx
Celtx specializes in story development and script writing for film, TV, theatre and new media. Features include a project schedule, media rich breakdowns, production reports, and collaboration. Amazing that you get all this free.
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DreamDiary
Keep track of your dreams — or any other notes — by date and subject.
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Eddie
Text editor features worksets you can save between sessions.
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iSnip
An easy way to manage and access your text snippets. Just grab them from the menu bar.
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Linotype FontExplorer X
Font management is taken to a whole new level with this widely praised program. If you’re not happy with the built-in solution provided by Apple, give FontExplorer X a try.
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NeoOffice
Tired of paying tribute to Microsoft Office? NeoOffice is coming along quite nicely, thank you very much. It includes word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, vector drawing, database, and macro functionality. We hesitate to recommend OpenOffice, because it requires fussing around with X11. But the NeoOffice port does away with all that, and is certainly worth a look.
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Nisus Thesaurus
Pump up the free TextEdit that comes with your Mac by adding the well-done Nisus Thesaurus. Just select a word, and look it up with your Services submenu.
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RapidoWrite
Define abbreviations and use them as shortcuts for longer, often-used chunks of text.
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Simple CSS
If you’re looking for a simple way to generate style sheets for web pages, Simple CSS will do the trick. It even shows previews.
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Smultron
Smultron has recently reached version one, and has been getting a lot of good reviews. It’s open source, so there should be no worries about the author updating and charging for it.
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SubEthaEdit
SubEthaEdit is an ingenious program that lets more than one person edit a document at the same time. Even if you don’t need this function, it’s still a great program. The latest version will cost you, but an older version is still free.
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Taco HTML Edit
Back when the Web was young, I learned HTML with a shareware program called PageSpinner, which I would still recommend for learners. It’s not free, though, so the next best thing would be Taco HTML Edit. It’s a bit lacking in professional polish, but a lot of people swear by it.
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TextForge
A fast and efficient text editor featuring advanced search capabilities and customizable browser previews.
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TextWrangler
Bare Bones has updated TextWrangler and is making it free. It’s got a lot more features than BBEdit Lite, so why not go for it. But watch out — you may find yourself wanting to upgrade to the wonderful BBEdit.
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Also try: BBEdit Lite
Tofu
It reorganizes text into narrow columns and let’s you side-scroll through it — making it easier to read. I was skeptical, but once I tried Tofu, I was impressed with how well it works.
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uEdit
uEdit was recently updated to version two, and looks to have a lot of good features. I was quickly able to do some basic HTML without much need for instructions. Definitely worth a try.
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WordService
Add a number of services to your free TextEdit, along with Nisus Thesaurus, and you’ve pretty much got a free, full-featured text editor. Find a bunch of other freeware you might like at the WordService website.
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WriteRoom
It’s just “you and your text”—a simple text editor that focuses on writing in a simple environment free of distractions.
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