Free Text Editors That Fit Your Writing Habits

There are a gazillion text editors available, which is amazing when you think about it. How much can you improve on a tool designed to enter text? Well, evidently a lot because I’ve seen one end of the spectrum that has the bare bones essentials and then the other end offering you all sorts of scratch-n-sniff options.

I’ve found some nice choices for you to consider that I’d like to share with you, which are all FREE!

Writer: A simple name with a simple interface. Pictured above, you can see that it’s distraction-free enabling you to just focus on your words. One of the things I look for in a text editor is word count and this one has it — and I don’t have to select the text first! I also like the choices of colors to make it easy on the eye. The toolbar lights up when you roll over it with your mouse, but then fades after a few seconds.

You can also save your files online (create a free account), send the files in a number of ways (even to your WordPress blog), download it or convert it to a PDF. This is one of my favorites.

Q10: This one is a software download and loads very fast. Plus it maximizes on your screen by default — another distraction-free interface. Once I discovered that F1 gives you a list of the shortcuts Q10 offers, that really opened the door for me to know how to tweak it. For example, you change change color combinations, search and replace, go through a list of recent files, spellcheck, and you can even toggle the tiny toolbar on and off if it’s just too much for you. Other features are included as well. So go check it out!

DarkCopy: a very slimmed down version of the previous two choices is DarkCopy. It, too, offers an easy-on-the-eye interface which is green text on black background. No other choices for colors though. No other bells and whistles, so if you’re in a hurry to find only a text editor, this is one to keep in mind. You can download your file and choose to do a full-screen.

Notepad++: this one here is my old standby. Actually, I do use it quite often; it depends on my mood. By far, this one has a plethora of options, including recording macros and all types of plugins. It’s great for coding. Among the basics are line numbers, word wrap at a width you determine, hiding lines, moving chunks of text by a simple keyboard command, and so much more.