You might want to add photos you’ve taken to remind you of what the final dish should look like. Let’s say you’re creating a document with a recipe. That means you can add photos, videos, music files, and even applications. TextEdit’s default RTF format is a special file format called Rich Text Format Directory, which is a bundle, or a type of folder that can contain text and files. Choose File > Duplicate, and then File > Save and choose the format. If you’ve already saved an RTF document, you’ll need to duplicate it before changing the format. Save TextEdit documents in a format that Microsoft Word users-even on Windows-can read. If you’re not sure which to choose, Word 97-as old as it is-is probably the safest. Choose Save, then, from the Save dialog box, click the File Format menu and choose one of the Word formats. But you can also save a file in a specific Word format. If your document is in Rich Text Format, then it’s an RTF document, which Word, or just about any other word processor, can read. However, you can save your TextEdit documents so people using Word-for example, on a PC-can read them. You’ll be able to edit Word documents without any complex formatting, but conditional formatting, such as text boxes, columns or image wrapping will be lost. TextEdit can read and write Word documents sort of. But, if you paste a link in TextEdit, it won’t be active.Ĥ. If you’re writing a document that has links to webpages in it, it’s often best that these links be active when the reader clicks them, you want the webpage to open in a browser. Add active links Make an active link quickly in TextEdit. When you’ve finished brainstorming, select all your list items, then choose Format > List to choose another type of bullet or numbering.ģ. Press Option-Tab, either at the beginning of a line, or at any location in a paragraph, and that text will change to an indented list paragraph preceded by a hyphen. If you don’t see a toolbar with formatting buttons, choose Format > Make Rich Text, or press Command-T.)īut if you just want a simple list that uses hyphens, or if you want to do some quick brainstorming and then format your list later, here’s a tip that will save you a lot of time. (Note: You need to be in Rich Text mode to make lists. You can also choose list styles from the List bullets and numbering button in the toolbar.
If you need to make a list-a to-do list, or an outline-you can choose from a number of list styles from the Format > List menu. (Sorry, there’s no way to do this with a mouse.) With a bit of practice, you’ll find the right size, and it will be a lot easier to work with your TextEdit documents. Just pinch on a trackpad, either inward or outward, to zoom in smaller increments. There’s a top-secret gesture, however, that lets you fine-tune TextEdit’s zoom.