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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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Atom

Open source text editor from GitHub is “hackable to the core.” Supports themes for customized look and feel, plus modules can be added for various types of development work. Designed to be easy to learn.

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Bean

An open source word processor that does more than TextEdit and is much speedier than Office-style software. (No longer being actively developed.)

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Brackets

Open source code editor for the web from Adobe still in the early stages, but with the promise of lots of development. Built with HTML, CSS and javascript. Easily extensible.

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CotEditor

Text editor features syntax colouring for 26 languages, powerful find and replace including regular expressions, outline menu, split views, macros and keybindings.

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Eddie

Ideal for C++/Obj-C development using makefiles and shell tools but can also be used with Xcode projects. Equally capable at editing HTML, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, Lua and many other languages.

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Growly Write

A simple — but not too simple — app for people who want a word processor with the features they actually use. Everything is easy to find in a format panel that includes a multitude of features.

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Left

Distraction-free editor allows you to place markers in your text, which show up in a side panel. Comes with an inline thesaurus.

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LibreOffice

Developers unhappy with the turn taken by OpenOffice.org when it was acquired by Oracle set off to create their own open source office suite — and the result is LibreOffice. The About Us section notes that it is based on the principle of developers “sharing their work with the world in a non-restrictive way.” A dig at Oracle? In any case, it’s worth checking and comparing if OpenOffice hasn’t been meeting your expectations.

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LittleIpsum

Latin text generator sits in the menu bar, ready for you to choose how many words, sentences or paragraphs you want, then paste them into your document. Can be wrapped in HTML tags.

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Loremify

This slick menu bar app provides lorem-ipsum dummy text for your writing and coding projects. Choose between plain, HTML and markdown text. Sliders allow you to choose the amount of text you need in the form of headers, paragraphs, lists and articles.

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MacDown

Open source markdown editor for OS X, released under the MIT license, heavily influenced by Chen Luo’s Mou. Features highly customisable markdown rendering, syntax highlighting in fenced code blocks, sophisticated auto-completion.

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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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Noto

General-purpose text editor supports extensive encoding, multi-selection indentation, invisible characters and iCloud Drive integration.

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OpenOffice

Now that a native Mac version is available, this open source alternative to Microsoft Office is a worthy option to consider along with LibreOffice.

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Rocket

Type a colon, followed by the name of the emoji you want, and voilà — the emoji appears. Anywhere on your Mac.

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SubEthaEdit

Collaborative coding for programmers has powerful editing tools, command line access and ability to create scripts. Now free and open source.

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Sublime Text

Sophisticated text editor for code, markup and prose has a slick user interface and features goto anything, multiple selections, a command palette, distraction-free mode, split editing and instant project switch. A licence is required for continued use, but there is no time limit for evaluation.

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TeXShop/MacTeX

An editor for writing TeX/LaTeX/XeTeX, that comes bundled with the MacTeX distribution. LaTeX is widely used by mathematicians, scientists, philosopers and scholars because of its ability to create complex typography and formulas.

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Text Tools

Gain handy access to text functions regardless of the application you’re using. Tools include tables, lists, links, ruler, strikethrough and copy-and-paste styles.

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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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Uno

Text editor has some unusual features that may give it a niche among Mac users. Examples: the ability to set a window to stay on top of others, appearance controls, live word and character counts in the top right, split view and notes.

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Visual Studio Code

Open source, cross-platfrm text editor from Microsoft has thousands of extensions, IntelliSense completions and built-in support for Git.

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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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