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Plain Text vs. Rich Text in TextEdit on macOS Tahoe

TextEdit is the default text editor on macOS. It can handle both plain text (.txt) and rich text (.rtf) formats. Understanding the difference between these formats and how to configure TextEdit is key to avoiding formatting issues.

Plain Text

Plain text files contain only characters, without any formatting information like fonts, sizes, or colors.

Benefits of Plain Text

  • Compatibility: Can be opened and edited in any text editor on any operating system.
  • Small File Size: Plain text files are very small.
  • Version Control: Works perfectly with Git and other version control systems.
  • Code: Ideal for writing code, configuration files, and Markdown documents.

Configuring TextEdit for Plain Text

  1. Open TextEdit.
  2. Go to TextEdit > Settings (or press Cmd + ,).
  3. In the "New Document" tab:
    • Set "Format" to Plain text.
    • Check the box for "Ignore rich text commands in HTML files".
  4. In the "Open and Save" tab:
    • Set "Saving files" to ".txt".
    • Set "Plain text file encoding" to "UTF-8".

Creating a New Plain Text Document

To ensure a new document is plain text, go to Format > Make Plain Text (or press Shift + Cmd + T).

Rich Text

Rich text files contain formatting information along with the text. This allows you to use different fonts, sizes, colors, and styles.

Benefits of Rich Text

  • Formatting: Visually appealing documents with styled text and images.
  • Templates: Create letters, reports, and other documents with pre-designed layouts.
  • WYSIWYG: What You See Is What You Get.

Configuring TextEdit for Rich Text

  1. Open TextEdit.
  2. Go to TextEdit > Settings (or press Cmd + ,).
  3. In the "New Document" tab:
    • Set "Format" to Rich text.
  4. In the "Open and Save" tab:
    • Set "Saving files" to ".rtf".

Creating a New Rich Text Document

To ensure a new document is rich text, go to Format > Make Rich Text (or press Shift + Cmd + T).

Converting Between Formats

  • To convert a rich text document to plain text: Format > Make Plain Text (or Shift + Cmd + T).
  • To convert a plain text document to rich text: Format > Make Rich Text (or Shift + Cmd + T).
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Created: March 17, 2026 • Last Modified: February 24, 2026