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Mastering these 10 essential TextEdit tricks ensures that you and other Mac users will handle TextEdit more professionally and efficiently.
10 Essential TextEdit Tricks Every Mac User Should Know
Discovering Tab and Text Segments
The search feature in TextEdit (press Cmd + F) seemingly restricts finding tabs or specific text segments.
However, there's a workaround. Click on the magnifying glass icon on the left of the search bar, then select Insert Pattern. A small menu will appear where you can choose from a variety of tabs and text segments.
Furthermore, the Insert Pattern menu allows you to insert wildcard characters, such as shorthand symbols representing any letter, word, or number.
To close the search bar, simply press Esc when the cursor is inside it.
Changing TextEdit Page Colors
A handy trick with TextEdit allows you to modify the page colors. Click Format =>Fonts =>Show Fonts. Now, a new dialog box appears. Click on the fourth icon from the left on the icon row and select any color you desire from the new dialog box displayed on the screen.
Note that when printing, the background color is not applied.
View Words and Count Characters in TextEdit
One of the most requested features that TextEdit users miss is the word count feature. However, users can easily add the word count feature to TextEdit through AppleScript.
Open the AppleScript Editor program, where you'll find a list of Finder applications. Click on the New Document button, then paste the following code snippet into the main editing area:
tell application 'TextEdit'
set wc to count the words of the current document
set cc to count the characters of the current document
if the word count equals 1 then
set txt to ' word and '
otherwise
set txt to ' words and '
end otherwise
if the character count equals 1 then
set txtc to ' character.'
otherwise
set txtc to ' characters.'
end otherwise
set result to (wc as string) & txt & (cc as string) & txtc
show dialog result with title 'Word and Character Count' buttons {'OK'} default button 'OK'
end tell
On the toolbar, click the Compile button, then select File =>Save. When the Save As dialog appears, press the key combination Shift + Cmd + G on the new dialog, enter ~/Library/Scripts.
Enter Word Count into the Save As box, then click the Save button.
Return to the AppleScript Editor window and press the Cmd + , (comma) shortcut to open the customization dialog. Click on the General tab, then check the Show Script Menu in Menu Bar option.
Finally, close the AppleScript Editor window. From now on, whenever you want to count words/characters in TextEdit, simply click the small script icon at the top right corner of the screen, near the Wifi icon, and select the Word Count option.
Inserting Images and Videos
You can insert images into TextEdit documents, even audio and video files. Just drag and drop these files or copy and paste from another application. However, all data will be converted to RTF with the graphic file format (.rtfd).
This file format is only supported by TextEdit and Pages, Apple's word processor, not supported by Microsoft Office word processor on Windows.
Additionally, you cannot resize or edit the multimedia files you've inserted, so you need to ensure the image size is accurate before inserting into TextEdit.
Switching to Page View Mode
If you're trying to layout the page accurately, viewing margins or page view in Microsoft Word is extremely helpful.
TextEdit allows you to switch to page view mode, however, this feature is hidden, so you need to activate it. To do this, first switch to Rich Text mode (Shift + Cmd + T), then click on Format =>Wrap to Window. A gray border will appear around the document, displaying the document's boundaries.
Replacing Text in the Selection Area
Sometimes you want to replace a specific word in selected text, such as in a paragraph rather than the entire document. At first glance, TextEdit seems not to provide this feature, but in reality, this feature is hidden.
First, press the Cmd + F shortcut to summon Finder, or click on Edit =>Find. Then check the Replace box. Enter the word/phrase you want to search for in the box. Then click and hold the All button, a small menu containing the Replace All In Selection option will appear on the screen, allowing you to replace all in the selection area.
Jumping Up and Down a Few Lines
If you're a keyboard enthusiast, this trick is extremely useful for you: jumping up or down a few lines in TextEdit documents - just press the Cmd + L shortcut, then enter +5 to move the cursor down 5 lines from the current line. Also, enter -5 to jump up 5 lines.
To jump to the top of the document, enter 1.
Copy and Paste Like a Pro
TextEdit not only allows you to use the clipboard to copy text but also performs many other tasks. For example: suppose you have different tabs set at different points in a Rich Text document (press the Cmd + R shortcut if the ruler is not displayed), and you want to copy all tabs from one position to another. Place the cursor inside the line, where the tab stop is set, press the Ctrl + Cmd + C shortcut, then place it on the line where you want to apply the tabs and press the Ctrl + Cmd + V shortcut.
Similarly, you can copy text styles from one position to another. Place the cursor inside a word or line formatted the way you want to copy, then press Alt (Option) + Cmd + C. Next, mark the text you want to apply the format to and then press the Alt + Cmd + V shortcut.
Changing Tab Stops
Speaking of tabs, the default tab is a left-aligned comma that has been adjusted to centimeters (press Cmd + R if you don't see the ruler). Additionally, you can add a new tab stop by clicking on the ruler or right-clicking on the menu and selecting tab stop.
You can also delete current tabs by dragging them out of the window, and change current tabs to right, center, and decimal alignment. Simply double-click on a tab to display options, and the tab stop icon will change accordingly.
Changing Font Size
You can add to the default font size list (12, 14, 24, …). Note that the detailed changes below apply in TextEdit but it will alter the entire application system for Mac.
To adjust font size, switch to Rich Text mode (press Shift + Cmd + T), then open the Fonts panel by pressing Cmd + T. Click on the sawtooth icon at the bottom left corner, then select Edit Sizes from the displayed menu.
Enter any number into the New Size box, then click the plus icon to add it to the font size menu. To delete an existing option, select that option from the list and click the Minus button.
In addition to 10 useful tricks with TextEdit that any Mac user should know, compiling 22 VLC shortcut keys on a Mac will also provide essential shortcut information for using the VLC Media Player for users to operate more efficiently.
