How To Create A Text (TXT) File On A Mac

BySerhat Kurt Posted on Reading Time: 3 minutes

A text (TXT) file contains unformatted text with the file extension .txt (e.g., macreports.txt). By unformatted, it is meant that these type of text files are plain text files without any styling and formatting, for instance, these documents do not have bold texts, italic texts, images, colors, different font types, hyperlinks, tables, bulleted lists etc. These documents just have plain texts. A TXT file can be created, opened and edited on a Mac with a text editor. An example of a text editor is TextEdit, which is included with the macOS software. Here is how you can create a text file:

a text file

Open and use TextEdit and create a text file

  1. Open the TextEdit app on your Mac (Applications > TextEdit, or use Spotlight, press Command-Space bar, to search, find and open TextEdit). TextEdit is a text editing and word processing tool that comes with your Mac.
  2. In the TextEdit app, choose File > Open. TextEdit has two format modes: (a) plain text (.txt file) and (b) rich text (.rtf file). The difference is that .txt mode will not allow formatting, while .rtf mode will let you format like adding images, colors, tables etc.
  3. Default format is rich text format. You can change this by going to TextEdit > Preferences and select Plain Text.TextEdit preferences
  4. You can also change the mode while you editing your text by going to Format > Make Plain Text or Format > Make Rich Text. If you change a .rtf file (rich text) to .txt file (plain text), your document will lose all formatting options.TextEdit formats
  5. Create and edit your text file
  6.  And then go to File > Save to save your text file. text file save
  7. Name your file and save it. create and save a .txt file

You can also create more rich documents, you can use Pages, Pages for iCloud or similar apps. One other note is that text files are also known as flat files or ASCII files.

See also: Where Do Screenshots Go On Mac?

Dr. Serhat Kurt worked as a Senior Technology Director specializing in Apple solutions for small and medium-sized educational institutions. He holds a doctoral degree (or doctorate) from the University of Illinois at Urbana / Champaign and a master’s degree from Purdue University. He is a former faculty member. Here is his LinkedIn profile and Google Scholar profile. Email Serhat Kurt.

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5 Comments

  3. We tried to do this but it’s showing this “You cannot save this document with extension “.txt” at the end of the name. The required extension is “.rtf”.”

    Reply

    1. it is complicated first you do the thing they do and make sure you do it , and in format click make plaintext then it will work

      Reply

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