In Any Text Editor. Countless productivity apps and sites store your tasks in their own proprietary database and file format. But you can work with your todo.txt file in every text editor ever made, regardless of operating system or vendor. The todo.txt format is a simple set of rules that make todo.txt both human and machine-readable. If you'd rather store plain text files, you have another option, but it's slightly more complex. Install the Atom text editor, then install the Atom Notes extension. This is based on Notational Velocity and supports many of the same features. If you use Atom already, this is a great option that also works on Windows and Mac.
Notepad and Wordpad that comes with default Windows OS is not good enough. It is very basic and lacks some serious functionality. However there are tons of free text editors available in the market, which has more functionality than some of the commercial text editors.
- Plain Text Editor - No installation needed. Installing a plain text editor is a big hassle as well. Before anything, you need to check the compatibility of the laptop, tablet or smartphone on which the installation has to be done. When you are sure that the editor would work on the selected machine, you can proceed with the installation.
- DayTasks — A plain text task manager for the Linux desktop (Linux) TaskPaper — A plain text to-do list that's surprisingly adept (MacOS) Blogging Platforms and Tools. Blot — A blogging platform with no interface. It turns a folder into a blog. It's just you and your text editor; Write.as — A minimalist blogging platform that's.
In this article, let us review the Top 5 Free Text Editors for Windows OS.
1. Notepad++
Notepad++ is an open source text editor that does excellent job — both as notepad replacement and as full blown source code editor. Following are some key highlights.
- Multi-Tab and Multi-View
- Drag and Drop support to open and move documents
- Syntax highlighting for several languages
- Auto completion of functions and code blocks
- Bookmark a location within the document
- Macro – Record and play repeated operations.
- Search and replace using regular expressions
- Lot more additional features using plugins
- Our Rating:
- Fast and stable with tons of features. Excellent for both notepad replacement and full source code editor
- OS: All flavors of Windows including Windows Vista 64-bit, Windows Vista 32-bit, Windows 2000, Windows XP
- Open Source. GPL License
2. NoteTab Lite
NoteTab lite is a good free text editor that offers all the standard features that you might expect in a text editor. Using NoteTab, you can create a paste board file which will save all your clipboard copy automatically. This helps in retrieving the clipboard copy other than the last one.
- Our Rating:
- Offers all standard text editor features for daily use
- single-level undo only
- OS: All flavors of Windows including Windows Vista 64-bit, Windows Vista 32-bit, Windows 2000, Windows XP
3. Notepad2
If you hate default windows Notepad, you'll love this Notepad2. This has all the features you wish Microsoft had in their default notepad. It is very light-weight with just a single executable.
- Our Rating:
- Light-weight with just one executable. Excellent replacement for default notepad
- No tabbed interface
- OS: Windows NT, XP, Vista, 2003
4. Editpad Lite
This is an excellent textpad editor, which would've easily taken our #2 spot. Since it is only for personal use and not for commercial purpose, this has come down to #4 spot. This has the tabbed interface and has multi-level undo facility.
- Our Rating:
- Multi-level undo feature
- Only for personal use. Not for professional use
- OS: Windows NT, XP, Vista, 2003
5. Jedit
Jedit offers a wide selection of features with it's plugins. This is an awesome source code editor that has tabbed interface, syntax highlighting, diff, macro recording and everything a programmer would ever need. If I consider only the features, this would've easily taken the #1 spot. However, this is heavy-weight and it takes some time to startup.
- Our Rating:
- The best editor for programmers with loads of features
- Heavy-weight and take a while to launch
- OS: Written in Java, so it runs on Mac OS X, OS/2, Unix, VMS and Windows
- Open Source
Vote for your favorite editor
If you use any of the editor from our top 5 list, vote for your favorite editor. If your favorite editor is not in the list, choose other from this poll and leave a comment and let us know what is your favorite editor.
[poll id='2″]
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You've already spent a lot to purchase your laptop that runs on Windows.
Don't waste any more purchasing commercial software for your Windows systems when there are several very good free alternatives available.
There are a total of 100 freeware programs listed in this eBook, each with a brief description, download link, and review link.
Text is the building block of the words people read in blogs, stories, and all other types of written content. However, the text visible on internet and digital platforms is not that simple in its origin. In fact, it undergoes intensive editing before final publication, and the editing is not simple either. It is technical in nature, but the good thing is that there are text editors to get things done. They are used by programmers, developers, and content creators, helping them provide a proper format to the written content. So here are the top five text editors for Windows that do an excellent job of modifying the text files.
1. Notepad++
A free source code editor for Windows, Notepad++ was developed by Don Ho in 2003, and even after 15 years, it continues to be the most credible text editor for developers and programmers. It has been rated as the 'most popular text editor' and 'most used text editor' by Lifehacker and Stack Overflow, respectively. It is simple and lightweight and thus a great editing tool for all those who want to keep things clutter-free and yet create commendable work. To edit the file, all one has to do is right-click the file and choose Edit with Notepad++ from the context menu.
The editor features syntax highlighting, code folding, and limited auto-completion for programming, scripting, and markup languages. A replacement for Notepad, it supports several programming languages and is based on Scintilla — the powerful editor component. It uses pure Win32 API and STL, which translates into faster execution speed and smaller program size, something programmers always look forward to in a text editor. Besides being user friendly and lightweight, it also offers several advantages to the user.
It automatically restores recently opened and unsaved files, which means one can edit without any worry because if one forgets to save, it will be done by Notepad++ every time, without fail. It also auto-completes words as one edits, saving time and effort as a result. The best part is the WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get), which means the edited text will appear the same in the editor as it will when printed or published.
Notepad++ is quite flexible and supports macros and multiple plugins, courtesy of the strong plugin architecture. As of now, more than 140 compatible plugins are available for the Windows text editor, including the 10, which are included by default in the program. The editor is widely used and has a huge user base spread in different parts of the world because it supports 84 languages. It offers internationalization through XML files in an application specific format, which contains all internationalized strings in a specific language. This file can be reloaded from application settings, and one can translate the text to new languages by just editing an existing file. It can save text documents in a huge variety of formats such as TXT, CSS, ASM, AU3, BASH, BAT, HPP, CC, DIFF, HTML, REG, HEX, JAVA, SQL, VBS, and more.
Notepad++ has kept pace with the evolving technical developments as well as the changing environment. The latest version 7.6.4 was launched only this month, and the developers are constantly trying to optimize as many routines as possible to reduce carbon footprints. Suited for beginners as well as pros, Notepad++ is really the best text editor for Windows environment that brings best results in editing.
2. Sublime Text
A sophisticated and lightweight text editor for Windows, Sublime Text was developed by Jon Skinner and Will Bond in 2008 and has been a top selling editor for eleven years. It is written in C++ and Python and comes packed with a host of editing tools that make editing super simple and fun. The cross-platform source code editor offers Goto Anything feature, which enables quick navigation to files, symbols, or lines.
The simultaneous editing allows execution of the same change at multiple places. The syntax highlighting and high-contrast display lower the eyestrain, while auto-complete completes entries as the user types, which speeds up editing.
The keyboard shortcuts further pace up the editing. Sublime Text provides 23 different visual themes and a number of screen modes where one can view maximum of four files or select the full screen mode as one wishes. Customizable to the core (through the JSON settings files), Sublime Text is compatible with plugins and lets the user import tools for better editing. With the latest version release dating a few days back, this editor is advanced from every angle. Fit for newbies as well as nerds, Sublime Text is the right editing tool for smooth and fast editing.
3. EmEditor
EmEditor was developed by Yutaka Emura (a member of Association of Software Professionals) at Emurasoft and comes forward as a fast and lightning-fast text editor that makes editing as easy as it can get.
Free Text Editor Windows 10
It can open and edit large files (up to 248 GB or 2.1 billion lines) in record time and also edit CSV files such as Excel with simple drag and drop. A pro at editing big data and files, it is also an expert at foreign languages. It is the pioneer editor for Japanese and Chinese languages.
It supports Unicode and many other international encodings. Its exclusive Filter feature allows one to view only those lines that match specific terms. The keyboard shortcuts edit things in no time, and the AutoFill and Flash Fill further reduce the time by filling the same value as the selected cell in other cells.
Fully flexible, it easily aligns with plugins, and the customizable interface lets one tweak the dashboard so that it tunes in with one's individual work requirements. It offers all the standard editing features such as split screen, tabbed design, portable version, and more to make text editing enjoyable and more efficient. Fast emerging as one of the sought-after editors, EmEditor is an excellent option for modern-day text editing needs. Although the Professional version of EmEditor is a best paid tool for many developers or data analysits, you can try the free version of EmEditor if you just want to edit files casually.
4. Brackets
Brackets is a simple yet robust cross-platform text editor that was launched in 2014 by Adobe Systems and has been gaining popularity at a super-fast pace. It has been written in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It comes with an army of features to edit in the most engaging atmosphere. Adaptable in every respect, it allows a developer to alter features and personalize it for one's own needs.
The quick edit lets one delete and add in seconds, and the live preview pushes edited codes, helping one go back and forth between the source code and browser to view the changes in real time. The strong extension framework makes it super easy to install extensions through the Extension Manager. It supports more than 38 types of files including but not limited to C++, C, VBScript to Java, JavaScript, HTML, Python, Perl and Ruby.
The split view, keyboard shortcuts, customizable interface, and the like make editing fast and fun. Tailor-made for web developers and front-end developers, Brackets is a modern text editor that will make one fall in love with editing and coding. Up-to-date, efficient, and easygoing, it is a performer par excellence and thus a must-have for text editors.
5. Atom
Developed by GitHub,Atom was launched in 2014. It is a free, open-source text and code editor whose USP is its ability to host additional features. It offers thousands of packages to the users, letting them decide and pick what works for them. The best part is that packages install easily by just typing the specific command. Moving on, the customizable interface gives ample scope for personalization where one can change looks, fonts and more.
Best Plain Text Editor For Windows Free
The editor works out of the box, and the shortcuts edit text faster. One can switch between tabs and the drag-and-drop file/folder support makes editing even quicker, irrespective of the user's expertise. The split panes, tree view, search and replace features that are in-built in the editor let one switch from one file to another in seconds.
The changes are executed simultaneously at selected places, and thus, one saves on time and effort. Atom is also compatible with scores of programming languages that include C C++, HTML, Java, JavaScript, JSON, PHP, and many more. The icing on the cake is the GitHub team that is always ready with 24/7 support. A hackable text editor for the 21st century by its own admission, Atom is perfect for first-timers as well as veteran programmers for text editors.