Who uses TextEdit for day to day word processin?

[KingYaba]

I do I do! Am I the only one who uses TextEdit as their main processor for stupid day to day stuff. I have MS word but TextEdit is faster and easier to use when I'm typing stuff like recipes, directions, and whatever else with nothing to fancy. I also use it to edit guitar tabs simply because its easier and cleaner to import them from teh web. MS word seems to screw it up a lot.

Just me?

 

[devilot]

Nah, if my boyfriend's ever too lazy to look up walkthroughs for a game or something, I'll look them up and copy and paste the relevant areas in a text edit document. You're right, it is good for quick little simple things.

But for anything else, I still prefer MS Word.

 

[portent]

I use TextWrangler, actually, for most of my typing-stuff needs. No formatting at all--pure ASCII.

I use AppleWorks only when I type something I know I'm going to have to print out.

I use Word to view and print .doc files the way I use Preview for PDFs. Only much slower and clunkier.

I never use TextEdit. I'm not sure I've opened it all this year.

 

[bobert1985]

.

 

[mark!]

Just me?

I do. Word is too bulky. iWork is fine, but only for bigger projects I use it.

 

[iBookG4user]

I also use text edit for everything. I've gone through a whole year of school just using text edit, neo office J takes too long to load and is too windows like for my taste.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Yes, when I don't feel like taking 2 minutes to boot Word. If I'm doing heavy essay or other writing stuff for an hour or more at a time, I'll wait for Word. Other stuff, Text Edit works fine. Website coding is all in Textwrangler though.

 

[RacerX]

I've been using TextEdit as my primary word processor since around 1999 (when I got OPENSTEP 4.1). Pretty much everything I write is written in TextEdit. And for the times that I need more than what TextEdit offers, I don't need another word processor... I need a page layout app.

I've written extensively on TextEdit on my sites. I have a page on the Rhapsody version of TextEdit, the Mac OS X version of TextEdit and a history of TextEdit which looks at all the versions ever released.

And it isn't like I don't have other word processors... I have AppleWorks, NeoOffice and AbiWord on my systems (and Office v.X packed away in a box), but TextEdit does everything I need. At any one time I may have 3 to 8 documents open in TextEdit (I currently have 5 open TextEdit documents on this system, 2 on my other Mac OS X system and 3 on my Rhapsody system as I write this). It is one of the first apps I open after logging in and usually the last to be closed out of before logging out.

 

[killuminati]

I'll use that for something that I'm just going to print off and be done with. Or something i copied and pasted from the web. For me text edit opens in 2 bounces and word opens in 10 plus it has to do the little starting screen thing.

 

[ravenvii]

*raises hand*

I use TextEdit for almost everything - papers, typed homework, etc. For the things that I want to look good (term papers, longer documents, etc) I use Pages.

I've sold M$ Office v.X a long time ago. Never even used Office 2004 yet, and don't see a need to.

(For the rare cases where I had to work with a Excel spreadsheet, I just head down to the computer lab and use M$ Office on their computers. This is rare enough that it doesn't bother me. I'm still using iWork '06. Yeah, Rosetta and all that, but I'm waiting for '08 )

 

[zim]

I use TextEdit daily... from doing a quick spell check to defining a word, I know we have the dictionary now but type and apple + control + d is so much easier to do. I also do css editing in it when working on my laptop.. doesn't kill my battery like dreamweaver does. I also type in it.. then copy paste to word, the only format that my advisor will accept for papers

 

[bobert1985]

use TextEdit daily... from doing a quick spell check to defining a word, I know we have the dictionary now but type and apple + control + d is so much easier to do.

If you remap the keys to something like F7, the dictionary/thesaurus will stay open without having to hold down three keys awkwardly. Also, you can move it to other words without having to repress the button. When you're done, just press F7 again.

 

[icookbook]

yep, count me in too

textedit is so much quicker and easier for the smaller jobs

What I don't understand is why apple doesn't package a small paint program for drawing / doodling. I hate to open photoshop every time I need to make a simple drawing. This is a feature that could even be integrated into textedit. What does everyone else use for sketches and doodles?

 

[zim]

If you remap the keys to something like F7, the dictionary/thesaurus will stay open without having to hold down three keys awkwardly. Also, you can move it to other words without having to repress the button. When you're done, just press F7 again.

Interesting idea, honestly never thought about customizing my keyboard... I am a pretty good typist so the key command is easy enough but your suggest has got me thinking of other things that I do often such as screen shots. setting the selection capture to memory option would save me some work because that key command I do find awkward.. thanks

Off topic but there is only one time that the dictionary command got me in trouble and that was the time that I learned that shift + apple + d would send a mail message, me and my clumsy fingers.

One more thing that I use TextEdit for... styling my signatures for mail. why oh why does mail not let you stylize your signature in the signature settings I will never know but TextEdit is there to rescue me.. yes I know I can do the same in a new mail message.

I also use TextEdit for storing notes but it looks like 10.5's new mail options might alter that use.

 

[slooksterPSV]

I use TextEdit very minimally, I use Terminal and Pico mainly if its something quick. If it needs to be formatted and look nice I'll use iWork or NeoOffice.

 

[bobert1985]

What I don't understand is why apple doesn't package a small paint program for drawing / doodling. I hate to open photoshop every time I need to make a simple drawing. This is a feature that could even be integrated into textedit. What does everyone else use for sketches and doodles?

Seashore is a really good program, like a slightly more advanced Paint. There's also Pixen, if you need to make detailed changes right down to the individual pixel.

Interesting idea, honestly never thought about customizing my keyboard... I am a pretty good typist so the key command is easy enough but your suggest has got me thinking of other things that I do often such as screen shots. setting the selection capture to memory option would save me some work because that key command I do find awkward.. thanks

You're welcome. :-D

One more thing that I use TextEdit for... styling my signatures for mail. why oh why does mail not let you stylize your signature in the signature settings I will never know but TextEdit is there to rescue me.. yes I know I can do the same in a new mail message.

Never thought of that before....

 

[After G]

I used to use TextEdit as a word processor. I remember being surprised at how capable it was for a rough draft of a paper i had. Then I discovered LaTeX and now use that to finalize formatting my papers. LaTex makes my stuff look awesome. But I still use TextEdit to write the "code."

 

[ImNoSuperMan]

I too use text edit coz it`s simple enough for my needs, it`s very light on resources, it`free, comes pre installed. There mught be afew better freewares available but I m too lazy to find the best, install and use it. Nah. Text edit is more than what I could ever use.

 

[demallien]

Seashore is a really good program, like a slightly more advanced Paint. There's also Pixen, if you need to make detailed changes right down to the individual pixel.

I'll second the vote for Pixen when working on icons. I made a game in Java a while back where you were in orbit around the earth, and had to shoot down satellites that were busy bombing the major cities of the earth. Anyways, to cut a long story short, I found that Pixen was the best thing available for creating all those images.

I had actually forgotten about that game. I actually got it to the point where it was quite fun to play. I should stick it up on the Net somewhere - maybe OpenSource it, and get some help to add the much needed polish...

 

[whooleytoo]

I use it a lot now; now that I've figured out why it would never let me save as plaintext. (It took me a while to realise all new files you create are rich text, and you need to manually change the files to plaintext before saving).

 

[TennMacMan]

TextEdit for small things
MarinerWrite for big ones.
I hate Word -- its too slow on my ancient machine.

 

[gekko513]

I also use TextEdit a lot. It's very quick and handy. I've removed the toolbars and rulers, so it's just an empty field to type in. I love it.

 

[Makosuke]

Definitely my main word processor/basic layout app. I end up doing a lot of my writing in TextWrangler as well, but only when the target is the web. Otherwise, pretty much everything is in TextEdit.

On the rare occasions I need beefier layout (mainly footnotes for academic papers), then I break out Word, but frankly I haven't used it in over a year.

Word really isn't a word processor any more--it's a mix of a very awkward page layout app for novices and a collaboration system for businesses. How it ended up being the "standard" for the average user is totally beyond me.

 

[KingYaba]

It's so funny why I wasted money on M$ word two years ago and here I find myself using TextEdit of all things (sometimes appleworks). Combined with that dictionary app when I need to spell something complicated it beats the crap out of word.

 

[elppa]

I use TextEdit daily... from doing a quick spell check to defining a word, I know we have the dictionary now but type and apple + control + d is so much easier to do. I also do css editing in it when working on my laptop.. doesn't kill my battery like dreamweaver does. I also type in it.. then copy paste to word, the only format that my advisor will accept for papers

Don't you prefer something that colours the syntax when coding?

Just Curious.