how to create a new text document on mac

So, while it might seem weird that MacOS doesn't have this particular option that Windows does, I could as easily say, with equal validity, that it's weird that Windows makes it so hard to create blank documents.

Creating the document in an app and saving it where I want is faster. But I pretty quickly got used to the idea that I almost never have a need to do that. I even made a note to do so, back on Ma(annoyances - Create new text document on the fly). In the TextEdit app on your Mac, choose File > New, then choose Format > Make Plain Text. Now, I now know MacOS and its related tools well enough that I could set that up if I wanted to. What seems weird is not having a context menu option by default to create a blank document with a generic name in a particular folder. I can instantly create hundreds of blank documents on MacOS. I was initially annoyed by this when I switched from Windows, but as I think about it, I do not believe that it's weird at all that you can't create a blank document instantly on MacOS. You can then open the new file in whatever application you’d like.This thread has had me thinking about it a bit. Consider it a reversal of the usual Mac workflow: Instead of creating a new file within an application and, when you save it, navigating to the folder where you want to store it, you’re creating the file where you want it first. Supply one then click Continue your new file should appear.Īt least one Hints reader wondered why, exactly, you’d want to do this in the first place. To customize text formatting, click the Text style tool at the end of the markup toolbar of the Preview app. To add text to a PDF document, simply click the button with the letter A surrounded by a box. Adding text to a PDF for free using Preview app. A dialog should appear requesting a filename. Use it to magnify a circular portion of the document. Control-click on an existing file within that folder and select Create New File from the Services submenu. To test it, in the Finder go to the folder where you want to create a new file. Save the service and give it a name (Create New File or whatever else you like). (This will allow you to specify the names of new files.) Click the New Text File’s Options button and select Show This Action When the Workflow Runs. Drag the variable you just created (CurrentFolder) from the Variable panel at the bottom of the Automator window to the Where section of the New Text File action. Follow that with the New Text File action (from the Text section of the Actions library).

How to create a new text document on mac