This will ensure that the next time you open TextEdit, youll open it in plain text mode.

It can be used to apply a variety of fonts, resize the text, change its color, and so on.

But despite the fact that it has extensive formatting options, TextEdit can be used for simple text too, meaning that its essentially like Notepad and Word combined into a single fantastic app.

This means that it can be comfortably used for things that are impossible or awkward in MS Word, such as working with code, removing the formatting from the copied text, as well as jotting down quick notes.

These are just some of the reasons why you might want to use TextEdit in its plain text mode.

Switch to Plain Text Mode When you open TextEdit, the new document is in rich text mode by default, with both the ruler and the formatting toolbar engaged.

While in rich text mode, you cant save a document as a plain text file.

However, you can easily convert any TextEdit rich text document to plain text, at any point during your work.

The Switch to Plain Switching to plain text mode is as simple.

Just open the rich text document in TextEdit, navigate to Format in the upper part of the screen, and select Make Plain Text, or press ShiftCommandT.

A dialog box will appear, prompting you to confirm that you want to convert your document.

If you confirm, all formatting, attachments, images, and other rich text document properties will be removed.

Now your text is in plain text mode, meaning that both the formatting toolbar and the ruler are removed, as well as the formatting, colors, and picturesimages.

The font and size, however, can still be changed from the Format menu.

The Switch to Rich You can always switch back to rich text mode by following the exact same pattern of commands.

Navigate to Format, select Make Rich Text, or press ShiftCommandT on your keyboard.

Of course, even if your plain text was in rich text mode before you switched to plain mode, you wont get your original text back this way.

This is why its important that you backup your file and think carefully before confirming that you want to switch to the plain text mode.

Saving as Plain Text Like when using Notepad on PC, you can save your documents with the.txt extension.

However, youre going to need to do some tweaking in order to do this.

Now, you need to check the Add.txt extension to plain text files box and then click the box next to Saving files.

This will allow you to save your document as a.txt or plain text file.

Using the Plain Text Mode for New TextEdit Documents This is very useful for converting rich to plain text documents and vice-versa, but, as you can see, it is a bit tedious.

The best way to use TextEdit as Notepad is to navigate to the Preferences dialog box and click the New Document tab.

Mac Textedit For Windows