At its core, a text editor does what it says on the tin: it allows you to edit text.

But wait, you say, I already have a way to edit text on my Mac.

Maybe its Pages or Microsoft Word, or perhaps you use an online option, like Google Docs or Dropbox Paper.

However, what separates these tools from a text editor, and what makes a text editor so compelling to a lot of people, is that a text editor removes almost every distraction between you and the text.

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There are no formatting toolbars, no adjusting the margins just you and your code or words.

For writing in HTML, CSS, or other programming languages, this is a necessity.

For someone who isnt writing code but still generates a large amount of copy, a text editor can be where you start your writing.

What makes a good text editor Few topics start such heated debates as what makes a good text editor.

You can tweak, bolt on, or remove any array of features until any of the following applications fit your workflow perfectly.

Additionally, once someone has spent more than a few months using a specific text editor, the muscle memory for certain actions or keyboard shortcuts becomes so second-nature that switching to any other editor can be as difficult and foreign as switching to a new operating system.

That said, a good text editor has to have enough features to be adaptable to your workflow, but not so many that it steers itself toward any one usage.

How do you design an app that will potentially be used by both programmer and screenwriter Good text editors will get out of your way, but they never hide functionality too far out of reach this means our top pick needs to be an editor thats well-designed and approachable by beginners without stifling professional users.

Finally, this review is about the best text editor for macOS, not the best macOS application thats also a text editor.

Atom is our top pick for most people, but its design follows a different set of principles than those laid out in Apples Human Interface Guidelines for macOS apps.

Every text editor we look at in this review has design tradeoffs, but at the end of the day, we feel Atom balances modern functionality and interface design in a way that makes it the best starting point for almost any type of user.

Why you should trust us My first real writing tool was my grandfathers heavy-as-sin Underwood typewriter on which I around eight at the time hammered out an endless amount of content.

I eventually graduated to a giant Dell desktop and later to my first MacBook, but the writing never stopped.

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During the day, I work for a software company where my role is a blend of design (writing for people) and programming (writing for computers).

Officially, Im the lead user experience designer for our team of eight, and Im also the sole developer for several internal web applications written primarily in Ruby on Rails.

I also spend time helping out our web design team, where we write custom HTML and CSS for a variety of clients.

At night, Im either writing for my small privacydesign web column or Im refactoring the Swift code of my current iOS project.

Today though, Im your guide through some of the best text editors for macOS.

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