home Questions Convenient text editor. Overview of text editors for the computer. Free editors for developers

Convenient text editor. Overview of text editors for the computer. Free editors for developers

At first I wanted to make a review separately for each category of editors - as an alternative to notepad, MS Office, for editing codes and online, but still decided to collect everything in one article. It contains free editors as an alternative to the already familiar and standard notepad and MS word. As always, you can download them from the official site there and install them for yourself and try. Why pay for paid products when there are such alternatives, sometimes even better than paid analogues. In total, it turned out in the review not a lot, not a little, but 29 editors.

Free alternative editors to replace MS office

1) openoffice.org

I think it would be wise to put it first on the list, because it is the most popular today.
OpenOffice.org (OOo) is a free office suite designed to replace the well-known office suite. Microsoft programs Office, both at the format level and at the user interface level. With OpenOffice.org, you can easily upload MS-Office documents (Word, Excel, Powerpoint), edit and store them both in their original format and in the OpenOffice.org format.
The OpenOffice.org package can be useful to anyone who needs powerful program with high requirements for security, functionality, flexibility and compatibility, for use in business, government agencies, education and the private sector. One of the useful features of the package is the ability to use it without installation, which allows you to run the program, for example, from a USB flash drive.

More detailed information is hidden under the spoiler. Expand.

OpenOffice.org includes the following programs:

OpenOffice.org Writer (a program for working with text documents and a visual HTML editor, similar to Microsoft Word).
- OpenOffice.org Calc (spreadsheet program similar to Microsoft Excel).
- OpenOffice.org Draw (a program for creating and editing vector graphics).
- OpenOffice.org Impress (software for preparing small presentations, similar to Microsoft PowerPoint).
- OpenOffice.org Base (database management system - DBMS).
- OpenOffice.org Math (math formula editor).
- System for recording macros (macros).
- Startup Accelerator (via preload).

You can download OpenOffice for free from

2) libreoffice

The second most popular is this product. Functionality is also top notch.
LibreOffice is a free, independent, open source office suite created as a fork of the OpenOffice.org suite. LibreOffice is free for both private and educational or commercial use. Can be used without any license fees by your family, friends, work colleagues, students, employees and so on.
All components of LibreOffice work well together and complement each other, providing the user with everything necessary for daily work with documents, data entry, systematization and analysis, marketing, presentations and training. LibreOffice is easy to use and can be used without special training by anyone who has ever worked with any office programs.

LibreOffice consists of the following parts:

LibreOffice Writer is a word processing program and a visual HTML editor.
- LibreOffice Calc is a spreadsheet program.
- LibreOffice Draw - a program for creating and editing vector graphics.
- LibreOffice Impress - presentation preparation program.
- LibreOffice Base - a mechanism for connecting to external DBMS and built-in HSQLDB DBMS.
- LibreOffice Math - editor of mathematical formulas.

You can download LibreOffice for free from

3) [R] Software Editor

R]Software Editor is a powerful free text editor that supports all basic text processing functions. The program uses a multi-document interface (several documents can be opened simultaneously in one window).
Supported text formats - RVF, RVP, RTF, XML, HTML, TXT, EXE. Insert images in the following formats: BMP, EMF, WMF, ICO, JPG, GIF (including animated), PNG, SWF.

Main features of [R]Software Editor:

Select font, size, text color, background color, style, set spacing, offset, text scale
- Paragraph alignment left, right, center and justified. Setting for a paragraph the interval before and after the line, line spacing, setting tab positions. Sets a custom border and fill color for the paragraph.
- Creation of bulleted and numbered lists (including multilevel).
- Visual work with tables: inserting and deleting rows, columns, merging, splitting cells, setting borders, frames, vertical alignment of text in cells. Convert text to table and tables to text.
- Formatting text and images with hypertext links.
- Spell checking using MS Office dictionaries (versions prior to 2000) or ISpell.
- Spell checking carried out in the background or on demand.
- Customizable autocorrect lists as you type (can be disabled).
- Customizable keyboard shortcuts.
- The function of counting the number of words and the proportion of all the words of the document.
- Ability to convert BMP images document to JPG, GIF, or PNG format.
- Search and replace functions.
- Text encoding conversion functions (from KOI, DOS, ISO).
- Print with preview.

Due to the fact that the official site "died" that way in 2008 and no new releases are expected, I suggest downloading latest version 1.3.12 from this site. Until that time, they managed to adapt the product to windows versions 98 and XP. I didn’t set myself on seven, you can check for yourself how it will go on new versions. The Russian language is still there.

4) AbiWord

AbiWord is a fast free text editor with rich functionality and a clear interface. It can be used as an alternative to Microsoft Office to create, edit and print simple text and "mixed" (with tables and pictures) documents, and save them in most popular formats.
The basis of AbiWord is quite compact and uses little system resources, so it can be used on almost all computers, regardless of their configuration.

Key features of AbiWord:

Full integration into the Windows operating system.
- AbiWord supports all standard format types: OpenOffice.org, Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, Rich Text Format, HTML and many more...
- Wide functionality programs: text formatting, working with pictures, tables and styles, spell check...
- Multilingual interface. Ukrainian and Russian languages are also supported.
- Using the spell check function for Ukrainian and Russian is possible after downloading the corresponding dictionary (dictionaries).
- Support command line. AbiWord can be easily integrated with other programs, which can be useful, for example, when creating a large number of documents of the same type.
- To expand the capabilities of the text editor, add-ons (plugins) have been created with the help of which AbiWord can be "taught" to perform one or another function you need.

You can download AbiWord for free from

Note:

To install a Russian spell checking dictionary, download and extract it to the appropriate directory (by default C:/Program Files/AbiWord/dictionary/ispell). You can also select the required languages when installing the program (in this case, the installer will download and install them on its own.

The prog apparently was scored in 2010 and now it supports a maximum of windows XP.

5) Lotus Symphony

IBM Lotus Symphony is a free set of office applications for creating, editing and sharing texts, spreadsheets, presentations and other closed source documents. It uses OpenOffice.org technologies and Eclipse, a free integrated development environment for modular cross-platform applications, and supports ODF (OpenDocument) standards. Lotus Symphony includes programs such as Symphony Documents, Symphony Presentations, and Symphony Spreadsheet. Symphony can work with different document formats, including those used in MS Office. By default, documents are saved in the ODF format. Documents can also be saved from the program in PDF format.

Lotus Symphony features:
- support for VBA scripts
- support for ODF 1.2 standard
- OLE support for Office 2007
- the ability to insert OLE, audio and video files
- new clip-art gallery
- the ability to create new business cards and labels, new template files
- support for VML images in OOXML files
- support for multiple options to protect spreadsheet and sheet files in VBA API
- support for addons to download spell checking dictionary in 22 languages for Windows OS users
- better graphical rendering of the object by improving anti-aliasing
Document editor
- Support for native nested tables.
- support for multi-page layout.
- support for autotext function
Spreadsheet editor
New opportunities:
- equation solver
- sheet zoom
Presentation editor
- displaying images on multiple monitors
- more animation, graphic and text objects, text effects.
- more page layouts.
Graphs
- a new engine for plotting graphs.
- added chart types: cylinders, cones, pyramids...

You can download Lotus Symphony for free from

6) SoftMaker FreeOffice

SoftMaker FreeOffice is a relatively new and good editor that can open and edit not only text files, but also presentation and spreadsheet formats (.doc/docx, xls/xlsx, ppt/pptx).
This package includes TextMaker text editor, PlanMaker spreadsheet editor and SotMaker Presentations presentation software. The Smash utility is also supplied, which can launch all programs from the system tray.
The interface language is Russian.
Download free editor from . Registration is required to download.

Free alternative editors to replace notepad

1) AkelPad

Of course, one of the main competitors of the notebook.
AkelPad is a small free text editor that can work in both multi-window and normal (one document - one window) mode. It is a very powerful and fast text editor, it has the most necessary functionality that can be extended with plugins. In addition, it correctly displays pseudographics, and also allows you to customize the font and background.
Using AkelPad, you can even edit read-only files, as well as preview files before opening them. Other features of AkelPad include multilevel system undoing edits, having a list of the last files opened in the program, remembering the code page for the file, the position of the insertion mark and the last search/replace line.

Main features of AkelPad:

Single-window mode (SDI), multiple-window mode (MDI).
- Full support for Unicode strings on Unicode systems (NT/2000/XP/2003).
- Working with Unicode encodings (UTF-16 little endian, UTF-16 big endian, UTF-8).
- Work with any code page installed in the system.
- Work with DOS/Windows and Unix line feed formats (including saving).
- Preview of opening files.
- Correct display of pseudographics.
- Editing files with the "Read Only" attribute.
- Warning when trying to open a binary file.
- Multi-level rollback actions.
- Search/replace text strings, escape sequences.
- Remember file encoding.
- Storing the position of the carriage in the file.
- List of recently opened files.
- Support for plugins (syntax highlighting, auto-completion, running scripts, keyboard macros).
- Support for language modules.

You can download AkelPad for free from

2) EditPad Lite

EditPad Lite is a compact, user-friendly editor with all the features and advanced features you need for a text editor. Allows you to open several files at the same time, without limiting the size and length of the line. You can switch between open files using bookmarks, so there is no inconvenience from working with multiple windows.

Main features of EditPad Lite:

Can be installed on a USB drive or other portable device.
- Search and Replace function working in all open files.
- Unlimited undo and redo actions. Undo changes even after saving.
- Editing and converting ASCII, ANSI and Unicode files.
- Creation available text files not only in European, but also in Eastern languages.
- Editing structured text files, saving part of the text on disk and inserting the file into the current content.
- Preview function, print font setting, margins, headers and footers, etc.?
- Option "on top of windows".
- Warning when closing an unsaved file.
- Support for ISO-8859 code pages, as well as most DOS, KOI8 and EBCDIC.
- Choice of settings - word wrapping on new line, line numbering and auto-indent separately for each file type.
- Define your own file types.

The only drawback is that there is no Russian language.

You can download EditPad Lite for free from

3) EmEditor

Main features of EmEditor:

Working with large files (up to 500 GB)
- Ability to underline and highlight commands of various programming languages
- Create javascript or VBScript macros
- Pseudo-multi-window interface will make it easier to work with multiple files at the same time
- Fully implemented and support for drag "n" drop, Unicode and all popular text formats.
- Basically, even word document will open, albeit with the loss of formatting
- Automatic conversion of entered URLs and e-mail addresses into hyperlinks.

The overall impression is spoiled only by the shareware status of the program, which allocates only 30 days of free use of EmEditor...

You can download EmEditor for free from

4) ListEdit

I didn’t know where to take it, because. it may be suitable for developers as well. Please bear this in mind.
Maybe, best description EmEditor - "Refined to the smallest detail Notepad." After all, you see, a simple but compact text editor is needed quite often - for example, for personal notes or more serious things like programming and Web design. Another thing is that the standard Notepad, due to the limitation on the size of the edited file (no more than 64 KB) and poor functionality, does not suit this role in any way.

all the necessary functions for working with text are provided:
- vertical panels of bookmarks and numbering of lines of text;
- use of bookmarks in the text with the ability to save them even after closing the document;
- opening large files;
- unlimited undo/return of changes in the text;
- automatic indent when entering new lines of text;
- advanced search and replace options in text, using the search-replace panel instead of the search-replace dialog box;
- use of a list of substitutions for quick insertion of frequently used text;
- built-in file manager with features:
- opening files in the current folder, the history of openings and in Favorites;
- filtering and sorting the list of files to open;
- Slideshow mode of opened files;
- support for Unicode, UTF-8, UTF-7 encodings and all encodings available in your Windows (WIN, DOS, MAC, KOI8, ISO and others);
- customizable auto-detection of encodings;
- support and auto-detection of RTF files;
- conversion of both the entire text and selected fragments;
- checking spelling and grammar using Microsoft Word dictionaries;
- Spell check both in the entire text and in selected fragments;
- viewing and editing web pages ( HTML files);
- viewing web-images (files GIF, JPG, PNG);
- setting the font, color and background separately for editing mode and viewing mode;
- use of numerous configurations (additional ini-files) of the program, depending on the extensions of the files being opened;
- extended possibilities of using multi-replacements in the text (customizable list of multi-replacements, support for macro substitutions, implementation of character transliteration, etc.);
- operations of sorting selected lines of text and other operations on lines (paragraphs);
- management of open windows of the program, including:
- opening the current file in a new program window;
- opening a file in a new program window (any way + pressing the key);
- closing or minimizing all open windows of the program;
- support for Windows XP visual style;
- use as an external plug-in for Total Commander to view files by pressing the key or edit files by pressing the key;
- the ability to Drag & drop text editing and file opening;
- display of hyperlinks in the text;
- support for Microsoft IntelliMouse;
- the ability to display a standard context menu (Shell Context Menu) for a file opened in the program (as well as in Explorer);
- memorization of the history of search-replacement strings of occurrences in the text;
- fast file printing from the command line (key "/p");
- insert mode HTML text(Format HTML) from the clipboard;
- auto-insert text from the clipboard;
- support for end-to-end navigation tools (back and forth) on files opened in the current session (including hyperlinks), regardless of which built-in window of the program - editor or browser you are in this moment are. Editor-viewer of text and WEB files (web pages and web pictures). The program can be used as a plug-in for viewing or editing files in Total(Windows) Commander.

5) PolyEdit

A wonderful competitor to AbiWord from developers from the ex-USSR. Like its ideological inspirer (that is, WinWord), PolyEdit is primarily focused on high-quality design and text formatting. Integration with the system is also not forgotten: tables, pictures, cliparts, objects of various Windows applications - all this is inserted into a PolyEdit document in the blink of an eye. There are also automatic check spelling of Russian and English languages, and even a special "smart" module for monitoring the contents of the clipboard, auto-format text (in RTF or ASCII) and much, much more.
Oddly enough for an average editor, PolyEdit also knows how to work with binary files, immediately after editing it launches them for execution. Completing the picture is an intuitive and user-friendly Word-style interface. The toolbar contains all the most relevant functions - starting with the spacing between lines in a paragraph and ending with a quick drawing of tables. Well, the built-in mail client will allow you to immediately send your work to the addressee.
By and large, the only thing missing is a drawing panel for creating simple shapes and flowcharts, as well as a text correction module typed in the “wrong” layout

Main features of PolyEdit:

Allows you to encrypt and compress your documents for secure and fast transmission over the Internet
- Preview and split text into columns
- insert OLE objects, pictures, tables and special characters
- check spelling
- create your own document archives with a hierarchical structure
- edit program texts with syntax highlighting
- work with various formats and encodings: RTF, ETF, MS Word 6.0/95/97/2000/XP/2003/2007, MS Excel, MS Write, WordPerfect, OEM (DOS), ANSI (Windows), Unicode, UTF- 8, Mac, Unix.
In addition, the capabilities of the program can be significantly expanded with the help of additional modules (plug-ins)
OS - maximum Windows XP

For Russian users, the program is registered for free - you need to enter the word Gift for version v.5.4 in the key field - this key is not suitable for the 6th version (portable).

You can download PolyEdit for free from
The Russian language is in the same place, but lower. If you don't want to search

6) metapad

A small and fast text editor that can serve as a replacement for the standard Notepad. Supports two types of hot-switch fonts, link highlighting, bookmarks, two customizable external viewers, ten "hot" text snippets for insertion.
All in all, Metapad includes all the features of Notepad. For this reason, it is at least as good as a regular Windows tool. However, you will have to download the Russification of the interface separately, as well as work a little while mastering the new application.

7) MioPad

A simple text editor MioPad is focused primarily on working with plain text. The program is a single executable module that does not require installation in the system. Nothing is written in.
The MioPad toolbar cannot be customized in any way. Only one document is allowed. When you try to open the second file, the first one is prompted to save. It will be unloaded from memory. However, the text editor remembers the names of previously opened files and adds them to its history. It also stores the position of the cursor at the time the document was closed.

The program automatically recognizes all encodings that use Cyrillic. It is possible to save UTF-8 documents. Also, you can open DOC document, RTF or HTML and convert it to plain text. There is also the possibility of transliteration of texts, which allows you to use the document on computers where Cyrillic is not installed. For example, you can convert the text to Latin, send a letter to a friend who lives far abroad, and then return the document to its original form again. Sending emails is possible from a text editor. The message creation window is called for the mail client installed in the system by default. The text of the letter is the current document.
In case of a keyboard layout error, you can select a piece of text and perform the conversion. There is no point in typing again. There is an option to check spelling. This requires MS Word installed on the system. The check starts from the current cursor position to the end of the document.
For ease of navigation through documents, it is convenient to use bookmarks. Their number is not limited. In other programs, it is worth recalling that, most often, you can create no more than ten of them. MioPad doesn't just bookmark by remembering the cursor position. The entire line is also copied. By opening the bookmarks window, you can not only see all the marked positions, but also quickly navigate through them. The entire list of bookmarks can be saved to a file and then reused. The bookmarks window has two permanent buttons for quickly moving to the position where you started reading the document when you opened the file, as well as to the point where you were before you started navigating through the bookmarks. In addition, MioPad supports the creation of text titles.
The program supports text compaction by removing extra line breaks, spaces, tab characters. String sorting is also possible. It is usually used to process lists. Sorting is carried out either over the entire document, or only over its selected part.
MioPad has the ability to connect dictionaries to explain the meanings of specific words, to translate them from unfamiliar languages. By default, the word under the cursor is processed. A dictionary is an external text file, each line of which is a combination of the spelling of a word and its meaning, interpretation or translation.
The use of synonyms is allowed, that is, several descriptions can be assigned to one word.
The text editor contains a powerful scientific calculator. Either the selected text fragment or part of the current line up to the cursor is passed to it. It depends on the presence of an equal sign in this string.
The MioPad help system consists of two text files. One of them outlines general issues related to the operation of the application, and the other document is detailed description built-in calculator.

You can download MioPad for free from

8) Notepad X

Compact text editor Notepad X is positioned as a replacement for Notepad. We can agree with this, because the program, on the one hand, does not shine with an abundance of opportunities, and on the other, it has an attractive appearance, nice interface. In other words, the text editor is aimed at a simple user, in a good way.

The program installs without asking questions, but refuses to run on an unprepared Windows system. What should be her preparation? On the official page of the project, you can read that the application requires the .Net Framework 2.0 installed on the system. After ensuring such requirements, everything falls into place, the text editor starts up and starts working.
Notepad X allows you to work with several documents at the same time, switching between them using tabs. Toolbars have a popular design used in many Windows applications. Icons appear next to many items on the main menu. This is a rarity for text editors, they usually do without such generous beauties. Probably, this is done in order to save resources, in order to reduce the size of the distribution, because positioning as a replacement for Notepad makes you try not to swell much compared to the regular application of the system, a real baby, baby.
In addition to working with plain text, Notepad X has the ability to work with RTF. These tools are primitive, and it cannot be said that a text editor can even replace WordPad. However, to create fairly simple documents with font styling, with lists and images, Notepad X is fine.
Another of its features is the work with the BBCode format. It is used in forums and is also intended for complex text formatting. The features of Notepad X are the ability to quickly insert many BBCode tags.
A text editor can change the case of letters, number lines, rename documents. The list of the most frequently used files is made using favorites. In order to add a new document to it, you must first save it to your hard drive. Working window applications can smoothly change the transparency. After installing and running the application, a new icon appears in the Windows system tray, which allows the text editor to perform basic file operations without having to open the application's working window.
Notepad X is handy when preparing simple texts and documents that use not very complex styling. In addition, a text editor can be used to create posts on forums that use BBCode formatting.

You can download Notepad X for free from

Free editors for developers

1) Notepad++

Notepad++ is a free text file editor with syntax support for a wide range of programming languages. The program has a wide range of options and is characterized by minimal consumption of processor resources.
Among the advanced features of Notepad++ are the option to highlight text and the ability to collapse blocks according to the syntax of the programming language. The user can independently define the syntax of the programming language. It is possible to set the backlight mode. Color highlighting of directives and programming language operators is available.
Notepad++ provides the ability to view and edit multiple documents at the same time. You can also view and edit the same document in two display windows in different places. A change to a document in one viewport will be automatically moved to the second viewport (i.e. you are editing one document that has a clone in the second viewport).

Other features of Notepad++:

Auto-completion of the typed word.
- Ability to create your own list of API functions (or download it from the download page).
- Support for Regular Expressions Find/Replace.
- Full support for dragging text fragments.
- Dynamic change of viewports.
- Automatic detection of the file state (notification about changing or deleting a file by another program - with the ability to reload the file or delete it from the program).
- Zoom in and out (scaling).
- Support for a large number of languages.
- Listing of programs can be printed in color - as you see on the screen in the editing window.
- Document notes.
- Highlight brackets when editing text.
- Macro recording and execution.

You can download Notepad++ for free from

2) PSPad

PSPad is a compact, easy-to-use tool with powerful code editor capabilities that is essential for working with multiple programming languages (including PHP, Perl, HTML, and Java) and working with text data at the same time.
PSPad has a powerful graphical user interface that allows you to work with projects, work on multiple documents at the same time in tabbed mode (MDI), search and replace in files, compare texts with multi-colored highlighting of differences. Among the others useful properties- saving screen sessions, and the ability to edit files directly from the web server.

Main features of PSPad:

Macro support: recording, saving and loading.
- Templates (HTML tags, scripts, code templates).
- Templates for HTML, PHP, Pascal, JScript, VBScript, MySQL, MS-DOS, Perl.
- User defined highlighting styles for exotic syntaxes.
- Auto-correction.
- Smart embedded HTML preview using IE and Mozilla.
- Full HEX editor.
- Calling external programs, separately for each development environment.
- An external compiler with output interception, a log window and a log parser for each environment creates an "IDE" effect.
- Color syntax highlighting for printing and print preview.
- Integrated TiDy-library for formatting and checking HTML-code, conversion to CSS, XML, XHTML.
- Built-in free version of TopStyle Lite CSS editor.
- Export code with highlighting in RTF, HTML, TeX formats. file or clipboard.
- Vertical selection, bookmarks, labels, line numbering.
- Reformatting and compressing HTML code, changing the case of words, tags and letters.
- Sorting rows with the ability to sort by a given column, with the option to remove duplicates.
- Table of ASCII characters with matching HTML mnemonics.
- Code navigator for Pascal, INI, HTML, XML, PHP.
- Spell check.
- Embedded web browser with Apache support.
- Highlighting paired brackets.

Attention: To install spell checking dictionaries, download the desired language. After downloading, unpack the file into a directory Spell(usually C:/Program Files/PSPad editor/Spell). Then, go to the Settings/Spelling Options menu and select one of the installed dictionaries. You may need to create a Spell directory in the program folder if it doesn't already exist.

You can download PSPad for free from

3) bluefish

Bluefish is a powerful free text editor aimed primarily at programmers and web developers. It has a lot of features to make it easier to write websites, scripts and code. Bluefish supports many programming and markup languages, has a simple and easy-to-learn interface, and can be integrated with external programs.
Like other modern text editors, Bluefish has customizable syntax highlighting, supports tabs, can automatically complete HTML tags, recognizes a large number of encodings, and has a huge number of other useful features.

Main properties of Bluefish:

Powerful search and replace tools that allow you to use regular expressions.
- Spell checking HTML pages.
- Built-in help information for various programming languages
- Folding code blocks.
- Unlimited number of undo and redo actions.
- Highlighting the beginning and end of tags for the corresponding blocks.
- Auto-complete and auto-close tags for many programming languages.
- Multilingual interface.
- Recursive opening of files.
- User-configurable toolbar for quick access to frequently used functions.

There are a lot of links on the site not for Windows, but I found the latest version, though x32, but it will even work on windows 8 download GNU Emacs for free

GNU Emacs (more commonly referred to simply as Emacs) is a cross-platform text editor aimed primarily at programmers. One of its notable features is the ability to expand functionality. For example, you can turn it into a scheduler or a debugger. Another interesting feature is line-by-line comparison of the contents of two files.

6) Crimson Editor

It is a lightweight text editor for Windows with support for many languages. Using the macro function, it is possible to record the execution of the same type of actions. There is a built-in FTP client. Good solution for Windows users.

9) Komodo Edit

Komodo Edit is a free cross-platform text editor created by ActiveState. Based on the popular Komodo IDE development environment. It has a very convenient projector manager that will help you organize your work. Many developers use it as a layout editor.

24/07/2018

Many MS Windows users have long noticed that a standard notepad is a rather inconvenient program to use. This free text file editor can replace it, providing support for the syntax of a large number of programming languages. The program contains a fairly wide range of options and is characterized by minimal consumption of processor resources. The program makes it possible to simultaneously view several documents at once and edit them without closing unnecessary windows. An option has also become available, such as editing the same document in different places, which is very convenient...

25/06/2018

libreoffice- free package programs for working with text, tables, databases, etc. At its core, this free analogue the well-known Microsoft Office with the addition of new features that are not in a similar paid package. The interface of this package is similar to the old versions of the "office", so almost any user can figure out the application. Especially if he has ever worked with office applications. The package includes several applications that perform the same functions as their counterparts from Microsoft Office. For example, the Writer program is an almost complete copy of Word with support for all popular file formats, including ...

16/01/2018

EditPad Lite is a small but powerful text editor that replaces the standard notepad. This program has all the standard features, ie. copying text, highlighting, cutting, etc. In addition, EditPad Lite has a built-in dictionary and allows you to check spelling and punctuation in your texts. In addition, EditPad Lite recognizes regular expressions, and also supports various text encodings. In addition to all this, this program has a history of undoing actions. Thus, you can not only undo and redo actions, but also undo one of them if you go...

12/09/2016

There are a lot of programs on the Internet that allow you to edit the source code of another program, file, etc. However, most of these programs are just a text editor like notepad. They differ from the above editor only in that they have syntax highlighting. However, in some cases, this functionality of the program is not enough. A programmer may need to quickly find different parts of a document. And now, finally, a program has appeared that allows you to solve this problem. The program is called SynWrite. Its distinguishing feature is the presence of a navigation bar with a tree that...

06/07/2016

PSPad is a very useful code editor suitable for coding programmers who write in multiple languages. Suitable for those who need highlighting the program code. Can easily replace popular tools. PSPad will prove its worth when dealing with complex code syntax. It was created to help all types of users. The program comes with an impressive list of templates. There are features like syntax highlighting, macro recording or search and replace functions that are common to these applications. It comes with a HEX editor, an FTP client so that the user can edit the code directly...

16/06/2016

Markdown Edit is a program that allows you to create HTML documents in real time. The editor is focused on convenient document processing. The application supports hotkeys. The editor is designed specifically to work with the lightweight markup language Markdown. Text in this editor can be converted to other languages. Real-time editing allows you to immediately identify errors. Markdown Edit supports all the basic features of editors. In the application, you can wrap words, highlight syntax, check spelling, work with different fonts. The application interface does not require much study.

18/01/2016

WindowsOffice is a convenient and small analogue of the usual office suite. Includes the necessary programs for working with text documents, spreadsheets. Allows you to edit all documents, even early versions of MSWord. Suitable for daily use, does not require activation. Works much faster, save documents without freezes. Maintains a collection of templates. With WindowsOffice, the user will be able to perform the same operations as the counterpart application. Allows you to insert different images into the document. Has a version for tablet devices. Lightweight, fast...

11/01/2016

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We got acquainted with the basic computer terms and definitions. We practically studied the purpose of all (almost) keys on the keyboard specifically with examples. Only a number of function keys remained uncovered. F1, F2,..., F11, F12. And, although I already mentioned two keys, it is best to consider their purpose in specific programs. Since in different programs these keys are often “sewn up” with different functions.

Therefore, in the course of considering the purpose of various programs, we will also consider the purpose of the function keys in parallel.

One of the most used types of programs are text editors or, as they are sometimes called, word processing programs.

Other name text editors — word processors. This name is inherited from the 70s of the last century. At that time there were no "powerful" text editors and graphics.

But there were special machines that combined the possibilities of entering text from the keyboard, displaying the entered text on the display, a built-in computer for the simplest, and also a printing device. These devices are called word processors.

By the way, as I already wrote in the lesson "", the key "Print Screen" then performed the function of sending the contents of the screen to print. Now, in almost all editors, a key combination is used to send the contents of the screen to print. "Ctrl+P": + .

With the development of computer technology, there are computer programs- text editors that perform similar functions. These programs inherited the name "Word Processor".

With the names, I think it's clear. Now let's see what they are.

There are actually a lot of text editors and their varieties. To the extent that when you write someone an email or leave comments, you use the built-in text editor module in your email, blog or forum.

So why are there so many of these editors, how do they differ and which one is best to use?

Let's look at a few editors to answer these questions.

Similarly, the menu item "Edit". 1st group - undo the last action. 2nd group - cut, copy, paste, delete text. 3rd group text search and text replacement (this will be a separate lesson). The 4th group is the selection of all text, and, an interesting menu item "Time and date".

As we can see from the drop-down menus, Notepad uses two function keys. More precisely, three.

Key F5 is used as a hot key and is used to insert the current time and date set on your computer into the text.

Key F3 is used to continue searching for text (as I said, this will be a separate lesson).

Well, the key F1, which is no longer even mentioned, brings up help for the program you are currently using. In our case, help for the Notepad program.

Also note that almost all items in the drop-down menus can be performed not with the mouse, but with hot keys.

The exception is least used menu items "Save as ...", "Page settings ...", "Exit" (successfully replaced by a red cross), "Word wrap", "Font ...", "Status bar", "Help call ” and “About the program”.

Usually menu items "File" and "Edit" enough to work in any text editor.

Another important point! Menu item "About the program" is in any program. Here you can see the manufacturer of this software and, very importantly, program version.

The Notepad editor is quite simple and "lightweight". “Light” means that it takes very little resources from the computer when working. Moreover, files in the format in which it default save files ( .txt) is very small.

Actually, this is where the advantages end. No pictures, tables, objects can be inserted here. Text only.

Whether or not to use this editor for your work is up to you.

For my part, I will say that I use this editor to save texts of jokes, recipes, wise thoughts of great people, my logins and passwords (which does not exclude). Saving is convenient, but editing ... not so much. An example is a lesson. In the Notepad editor, such tricks will not work.

There are similar simple editor programs on the Internet. So called text online editors. An example of one of these editors is shown in the screenshot. Internet address https://note-pad.net

Pretty handy if you don't have a notebook with a pen handy. At any time, you can download the information entered there, and then simply delete it.

You can work with or without registration. If there is no registration, then after closing the browser, the information will be lost.

Well, if there is registration, then the data is saved. Not only that, you can "attach" this little diary in the cloud to your email to always have it at hand. But this is also a separate issue.

word pad

Another text editor that is installed on your computer by default is the WordPad text editor. It is called by default in the same way as the Notepad program.

True, there is a noticeable difference in this program for users of Windows XP and Windows 7. In these operating systems, by default, different versions this editor, although the principle of work in them is absolutely the same.

WordPad (version 5.1) shipped with Windows XP

As you can see, the menu is about the same. Just added a menu item "View", which adds or removes toolbars with icons. Moreover, these panels can be removed or added by clicking on the corresponding item of the drop-down menu with the left mouse button.

The principle of work in this editor is the same as in Notepad. But the functionality is a little richer.

Here we can already compose a document similar to the statement from the Editing and Formatting lesson.

An interesting point. There is no hot key F5 to insert date and time. But on the other hand, there was a choice in which format you want to see the date and time in your text.

WordPad (version 6.1) included with Windows 7

In the redesigned interface, the developers (programmers and designers) tried to arrange all the elements more compactly and more conveniently for the user. Whether they succeeded or not, decide for yourself.

For me, it was difficult to adapt. For 20 years I got used to classic interfaces. But there is nowhere to go, you have to master. And, if everything is more and more simple with WordPad, then I “got used” to the programs from the professional office suite from Microsoft for about a month.

But, on the other hand, after working for a couple of weeks, I found many advantages and conveniences in the new interfaces.

What else can be said about this version of WordPad.

The classic menu item "File" was replaced with an icon, by clicking on which, a standard submenu for working with a file drops out. Here we can see the information about the manufacturer and the version of the program.

Well, in order to find out if there are corresponding hot keys for executing a menu item, you need to point the mouse pointer at this menu item. In this example, I hovered the mouse over the inscription "Save". I "appeared" a hint for matching hotkeys "Ctrl+S".

Another important point!

Default WordPad saves files in the format RTF (.rtf), which can be opened and edited in the Word text editor from the same Microsoft company. But it can no longer be opened and edited in Notepad.

But I want to draw your attention to another format in which you can save the contents of the file. it open office document format OpenDocument Format, ODF(open document format). What does open mean?

A bit of history

As I said, as soon as computers appeared, text editing programs immediately appeared.

Software manufacturers began to create text editors and come up with formats in which documents could be saved and stored.

These editors entered the market with different prices, functionality, and so on.

Each design firm jealously kept the secrets of their format specifications from the eyes of competitors. The market is the market.

The most interesting thing is that documents made in one editor could not be opened in another editor. Since the specifications were not published anywhere for general viewing, but were kept secret, they were closed.

Time flew. Editors and formats proliferated until problems began.

Imagine that you work for a large corporation. Your corporation has bought a professional text editor for its employees.

As time went. Millions of documents have been created. And suddenly the company from which the program was purchased went bankrupt. All. The purchased program is no longer supported.

More time passes. Computers are progressing, new operating systems are being created. And, at one fine moment, the program suddenly does not install on a new computer under a new operating system.

And the new editors do not support the format in which the corporation has spawned documents. The situation, of course, is not a stalemate. But how much time, nerves and money will it take to translate documents into new formats.

But what if the format you are translating your documents into becomes unsupported in a year or two along with the newly purchased editor?

And what, so in a circle?

The world community looked at this nightmare, or rather felt it in its own skin, and came to the conclusion that this situation must be corrected. And as soon as possible.

The result of many years of work was a standard that was developed by the industrial community OASIS .

Then All software manufacturers, including text editors, were recommended that they include in their programs the ability to save documents in open formats.

Thus, support for open formats in the WordPad editor appeared with the release of the Windows 7 operating system. office programs, starting with the office suite Microsoft Office 2007.

Thus, if the file is saved in open format, then in the future it will be possible to open it with any editor under any .

Professional text editors

Professional text editors, as a rule, are included in special office packages. These packages include a set of programs needed in production.

The set of tools in the programs from these packages is simply huge. The features and amenities are simply amazing.

All of you have probably heard from such an office suite as Microsoft Office (Microsoft Office), which includes application programs: Word (Word - text editor), Excel (Excel - spreadsheets), Access (access - databases) , Outlook (Outlook client Email, which we already talked about in the lesson "Client and Web Interface"), etc.

We will briefly review all applications, but not within the scope of this lesson.

Software package (applications) Microsoft office is paid. I just looked up the prices online.

For example, the latest office suite from Microsoft "Office Professional 2013" for installation on one computer costs 19,559 rubles (as I looked at the price, my chewing gum fell out of my mouth).

In this article, I want to mention only one program from this package - a text editor. Microsoft office Word.

As in the case of the WordPad program, starting with the version of Microsoft Office 2007, the interface of the programs from this package has changed.

If Word from the Microsoft Office 2003 package still had the old standard interface,

then Word from the Microsoft Office 2007 package is already updated.

By the way, a classic example from our excursion into history. "Office Professional 2013" will only work on Windows 7 and Windows 8 operating systems. But on Windows XP and Windows Vista operating systems, the programs from the package can no longer be installed. So-called, incompatibility.

Plus, support for applications from the Microsoft Office 2003 suite, which is "ideal" for Windows XP, is ending.

But that's not all.

By default, Word from the Microsoft Office 2003 package saves files in the DOC (.doc) format, and Word from the Microsoft Office 2007 package in the DOCX (.docx) format, which are partially incompatible with each other.

And, although this problem can be solved, a bad trend can still be traced.

But not everything is so bad and sad. And it is not at all necessary to install a broken or stolen Microsoft Office on your computer.

An alternative to a paid office suite of programs are free (free) office packages openoffice.org(open office org) and libreoffice(Libre office).

In terms of functionality, free office suites are almost in no way inferior to the package from Microsoft Office.

The application interfaces in OpenOffice.org and LibreOffice are almost the same.

Default programs from packages save files directly to open formats.

Text editor interface Writer(raite):

As can be seen from the figure, the program interface is closer to the classic look, in contrast to the updated interfaces from Microsoft.

There are quite a lot of tools in the programs of these packages, as I already said. Here is an example for the Word editor from Microsoft Office 2003

Is it possible to learn the purpose of all available tools? I dont know. Didn't even try. Two toolbars “Standard” and “Formatting” were enough for me to work, which are enabled by default.

I really studied the purpose of editing tools in these panels. Where by typing, where by calling help on the program with a key F1. Well, I partly watched the lessons on the Internet, since they are now “like dirt”.

Disclaimer

I am young enough and inexperienced in the field of IT to give some super-arguments, so everything listed below will be my personal subjective thoughts and reasoning. If someone does not agree with me - I will only be happy to support the discussion and discuss all this in the comments.

Now I work under Windows, in the future I may switch to Mac OS, so when choosing a text editor / IDE, I immediately highlighted cross-platform. I considered a little more options than I will list here, because I decided to highlight only the most accustomed ones. I will try to briefly describe the view on different aspects of the listed software products.

Standard Tasks

By standard tasks, I mean banal layout tasks, i.e. HTML, CSS, maybe JavaScript. I won't emphasize things that are everywhere, like changing color themes, a project folder control system, etc.

Great editor for ASP.NET and node.js applications. The famous IntelliSense, the ability to work with classes and objects by reference. All Microsoft style. There is a built-in debugger. I also want emphasize which in my opinion is great replacement MonoDevelop for .NET developers outside of Windows (here that is Visual Studio).

The editor is still under development, but work is progressing quite quickly, given that this is Microsoft.

Outcome

Summarizing the above, I have made my choice. You don't have to settle for the same criteria as me. I will be glad to discuss everything in the comments to the article.

Thank you for your attention!