Notepad++ Code Editor Comes to Mac After 20-Year Wait [Updated]

[throAU]

I wonder how many people here don’t use BBEdit. Why?

They probably don't realise how awesome it is because it isn't flashy.

But it is extensible, auto saves your stuff, can plug into so much stuff...

From my experience, and not to App shame anyone, it feels like this is filling a need felt by people who switched from Windows to Mac and never really were aware of the app ecosystem we had going on here in parallel to Wintel since the 80s. They don't know BBEdit because it was never on their radar before.

I would tell (have told) anyone who yearns for NPP (which I've installed on Windows plenty of times myself) to give BBEdit a try. It is amazing and has been around since the olden days.

This too. I was one of them years ago.

If you like notepad++, seriously give bbedit a try and read some of the manual. It can be as simple or as complex as you need it to be. Its text processing capabilities are unmatched in mainstream editors.

 

[SuomiPoeka]

This is fantastic news. For many of us working in technical roles, Notepad++ has been deal-breaker preventing a full transition to macOS for work. While macOS has great tools, nothing has quite filled the specific gap that Notepad++ leaves behind.

I must clarify that Notepad++ is much more than just another code editor. While you can write code in it, it is first and foremost a high-performance text manipulation tool. For actual software development, most of us use dedicated IDEs or VS Code, but for handling raw data and text, Notepad++ is in a league of its own.
Here are a few reasons why this release is such a game-changer:

• Complex Batch Editing: It is indispensable for tasks like visually hunting down non-standard characters in EDIFACT or XML files and then instantly batch-correcting them across 20+ open files.
• Rapid Data Cleaning: When you copy-paste messy data from a website (like a list of 60+ cars from reseller website). writing a script to clean it up is often a waste of time. Notepad++ allows you to manually clean, reformat, and line-break that data into a usable format in minutes.
• The "Persistent Scratchpad": One of its best features is the ability to keep unsaved buffers. I often use it to store variations of complex command syntaxes or temporary notes. You don't have to worry about saving files; the data is just there when you need it and gone when you're done.
• Data Sifting: The bookmarking feature is a lifesaver when you need to filter and isolate specific lines of data from a massive single file.
• Quick JSON/Log Formatting: It’s my go-to for quickly cleaning up or modifying large JSON files for demos where I need to replace specific element values globally without the overhead of a heavy IDE.

In my view, Notepad++ isn't a competitor or a replacement for VS Code (which excels at coding) or even BBEdit. It occupies a unique niche as the most efficient text manipulation tool on the market. Until now, there simply hasn't been a true equivalent in the macOS ecosystem. Truly a great day for Mac productivity!

Edit: I'm not native english speaker so i wrote this down in my own language and used Gemini to translate it to english.

​

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[thawk9455]

Because in the 21st Century there is no need to pay for a text editor. Hell, in the 21st Century you don’t even need a text editor to refactor your text editor. Just AI. That’s why we’re even reading this article about Notepad ++ for MacOS.

You do realized there is also a free version of BBEdit right? The paid version just unlocks additional capabilities.

 

[4ppleJack]

It seems this is an AI slop MacOS "port" of the official Notepad++ app.
And given the majority of the article alludes to this app being an official MacOS release by Don Ho (and co), when in fact it isn't and Don Ho has responded by saying this MacOS release infringes the Notepad++ trademark (https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/npp-trademark-infringement/), it doesn't look particularly good for Macrumors publishing articles to arguably iffy apps.

Perhaps Tim and Macrumors need to rethink this one 🤔

 

[esccmmmp]

So now the only things that we are still missing are
a) Total Commander 🙂
b) mp3tag
c) calibre
d) freeac
e) winrar (full graphical interface, not only the command line 🙂)

 

[Isamilis]

So now the only things that we are still missing are
a) Total Commander 🙂
b) mp3tag
c) calibre
d) freeac
e) winrar (full graphical interface, not only the command line 🙂)

Calibre Mac has been around for years. I will pay for WinRar for Mac.

 

[MareLuce]

This is fantastic news. For many of us working in technical roles, Notepad++ has been deal-breaker preventing a full transition to macOS for work. While macOS has great tools, nothing has quite filled the specific gap that Notepad++ leaves behind.

I must clarify that Notepad++ is much more than just another code editor. While you can write code in it, it is first and foremost a high-performance text manipulation tool. For actual software development, most of us use dedicated IDEs or VS Code, but for handling raw data and text, Notepad++ is in a league of its own.
Here are a few reasons why this release is such a game-changer:

• Complex Batch Editing: It is indispensable for tasks like visually hunting down non-standard characters in EDIFACT or XML files and then instantly batch-correcting them across 20+ open files.
• Rapid Data Cleaning: When you copy-paste messy data from a website (like a list of 60+ cars from reseller website). writing a script to clean it up is often a waste of time. Notepad++ allows you to manually clean, reformat, and line-break that data into a usable format in minutes.
• The "Persistent Scratchpad": One of its best features is the ability to keep unsaved buffers. I often use it to store variations of complex command syntaxes or temporary notes. You don't have to worry about saving files; the data is just there when you need it and gone when you're done.
• Data Sifting: The bookmarking feature is a lifesaver when you need to filter and isolate specific lines of data from a massive single file.
• Quick JSON/Log Formatting: It’s my go-to for quickly cleaning up or modifying large JSON files for demos where I need to replace specific element values globally without the overhead of a heavy IDE.

In my view, Notepad++ isn't a competitor or a replacement for VS Code (which excels at coding) or even BBEdit. It occupies a unique niche as the most efficient text manipulation tool on the market. Until now, there simply hasn't been a true equivalent in the macOS ecosystem. Truly a great day for Mac productivity!

Edit: I'm not native english speaker so i wrote this down in my own language and used Gemini to translate it to english.

​

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I was hoping to see a summary like that, Thank you!

 

[MacHeritage]

No way would I use that horrible UI over BBEdit. I can do everything in BBEdit with my second runner up being Nova from Panic.

I use BBEdit every day and it sits right up there with Default Folder X when it comes to vital app importance.

I can even have older versions running on Mac OS 9 and much older, plus, every version of Mac OS X through current macOS. I never realized how nice that really is until using an old Mac to do some text work/coding.

 

[d0od]

I fear people are overlooking the "this isn't official" part.

It's pretty shady behaviour to pass this off as a legit port. Even if this were to straighten out its actual relationship with its upstream (unlikely), the duplicitousness is enough to make me NOPE out in wanting to use it.

Besides which: Bbedit exists, innit. 🙂

It seems this is an AI slop MacOS "port" of the official Notepad++ app.
And given the majority of the article alludes to this app being an official MacOS release by Don Ho (and co), when in fact it isn't and Don Ho has responded by saying this MacOS release infringes the Notepad++ trademark (https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/npp-trademark-infringement/), it doesn't look particularly good for Macrumors publishing articles to arguably iffy apps.

Perhaps Tim and Macrumors need to rethink this one 🤔

 

[Janichsan]

So now the only things that we are still missing are
a) Total Commander
...

Total Commander isn't even the best dual-pane file manager on Windows. If you really want a close equivalent, there's Double Commander, which is multi-platform.

 

[DanShockley]

BBEdit has been the Notepad++ equivalent. I’ve had it installed since 2008

Yeah. I've been using BBEdit since 1993, and it goes back further than that. It's pretty incredible.

 

[hushblade]

As it’s been pointed out, it’s not an official port. But also, we have so many other good options:

• BBEdit
• Nova
• Sublime Text
• TextMate
• VS Code
• Zed

 

[user24380]

Pretty amazing that the author didn’t do any due diligence with this article...

Originally had written:

The app is available to download the Notepad++ website.

Here is the Notepad++ website: https://notepad-plus-plus.org/downloads/

I understand it’s now been changed, but still it was not correct by the author for one of the biggest Mac/Apple websites.

 

[Makosuke]

I poked my head back in this thread wondering if there had been any discussion resulting from the subsequent clarity that this is a port by a different person without the support of the original author and without legal permission to use the name, and noticed this reply:

I must clarify that Notepad++ is much more than just another code editor. While you can write code in it, it is first and foremost a high-performance text manipulation tool. For actual software development, most of us use dedicated IDEs or VS Code, but for handling raw data and text, Notepad++ is in a league of its own.
Here are a few reasons why this release is such a game-changer:

• Complex Batch Editing: It is indispensable for tasks like visually hunting down non-standard characters in EDIFACT or XML files and then instantly batch-correcting them across 20+ open files.
• Rapid Data Cleaning: When you copy-paste messy data from a website (like a list of 60+ cars from reseller website). writing a script to clean it up is often a waste of time. Notepad++ allows you to manually clean, reformat, and line-break that data into a usable format in minutes.
• The "Persistent Scratchpad": One of its best features is the ability to keep unsaved buffers. I often use it to store variations of complex command syntaxes or temporary notes. You don't have to worry about saving files; the data is just there when you need it and gone when you're done.
• Data Sifting: The bookmarking feature is a lifesaver when you need to filter and isolate specific lines of data from a massive single file.
• Quick JSON/Log Formatting: It’s my go-to for quickly cleaning up or modifying large JSON files for demos where I need to replace specific element values globally without the overhead of a heavy IDE.

In my view, Notepad++ isn't a competitor or a replacement for VS Code (which excels at coding) or even BBEdit. It occupies a unique niche as the most efficient text manipulation tool on the market. Until now, there simply hasn't been a true equivalent in the macOS ecosystem.

I'm assuming from the tone, admitted AI use, and being literally the person's only post, that it's either outright spam or shilling for this project, but even then (or if it is somehow an honest fan-post) that seems like a rather odd set of things to call out given that so far as I know BBEdit does everything on that list quite well, and I assume other popular Mac text editors do as well. For sure, the first three items are things I use BBEdit for regularly, and the fourth on occasion.

I'm sure Notepad++ on Windows can do all those things just fine too, but it's kinda on-brand to offer an AI generated bulleted list of features that makes a product unique when compared to another product, none of which are in reality unique.

 

[user24380]

I'm assuming from the tone, admitted AI use, and being literally the person's only post, that it's either outright spam or shilling for this project

You somehow omitted the edit that they wrote 10 minutes later – a previous quote from a different user already included it so it wasn’t a matter of you getting in before the edit… Their edit says:

Edit: I'm not native english speaker so i wrote this down in my own language and used Gemini to translate it to english.