[MacPC]

One of the few things I don't like about the Mac is the text editor. The TextEdit doesn't save in .txt format. This is really annoying for me because a lot of the time I need to save somethimg in .txt format. What's wrong with Apple? Is there a free text editor can do that?

MacPC

[brettcamp]

Originally Posted by MacPC 

One of the few things I don't like about the Mac is the text editor. The TextEdit doesn't save in .txt format. This is really annoying for me because a lot of the time I need to save somethimg in .txt format. What's wrong with Apple? Is there a free text editor can do that?

MacPC

What's wrong with Apple is not making .txt an option in the Save As... dialogue if you have the rich text preference checked under format. If you want to save as .txt, you have two options
1. go to Preferences => New Document and change the format to plain text from rich text. Then when you try to save, you'll get a choice of plain text encoding formats rather than just rtf or Word or HTML (which is what you get if you try to Save As... when the rich text button is clicked in the preferences pane).

2. Another work around is just to leave rich text as the default preference, then, when needed, change the suffix from .rtf to .txt when you Save As...

But you're right that Apple should include plain text as an option for any save as in TextEdit so we wouldn't have to do that.

[SpaceMonkey]

Originally Posted by brettcamp 

2. Another work around is just to leave rich text as the default preference, then, when needed, change the suffix from .rtf to .txt when you Save As...

This doesn't work for me. I get a dialog box that says: "You cannot save this document with extension ".txt" at the end of the name. The required extension is ".rtf". You can choose to use both, so that your file name ends in ".txt.rtf"."

[Ganesha]

TextWrangler

or

1. Open up terminal.
2. Type nano
3. Copy and paste desired text.
4. Hit Ctrl-X.
5. Answer if you want to save changes.
6. Type in your desired file name.
7. There is no step 7.

[Catfish_Man]

UH, guys... format menu->make plaintext?

[JKT]

What Catfish_Man said. Command-shift-T will make the document plain text and when you save it, it will be saved as a .txt file.

FWIW, in freeware terms for more advanced text editing, as well as TextWrangler, there is also Smultron.

[OreoCookie]

First of all, this belongs in the Applications forum. Second of all, TextEdit is not a plain text text editor. Sure, you can use it to edit plain text files, but it's not meant to be a plaint text editor.

As Catfish_Man pointed out, you can convert text (Rich Text) into Plain Text at any given time.

But if you want to edit plain text files, a few suggestions have been made already. If you want to get editors for up to $35, I'd suggest you take a look at TextMate and SubEthaEdit as well.