Sometimes you only need just enough to get the job done.
It seems to be a generally accepted misconception that Mac OS X is curiously lacking the most basic form of computer software - a word processor. Nothing could be further from the truth. TextEdit, that friendly little "notepad" in the Applications folder on every Mac is actually a rich and capable word processor. In fact, I'd say for most people, it's all you really need.
Exposing TextEdit's Hidden Potential
When you launch TextEdit for the first time, you are presented with a fairly plain and unimpressive document window, and nothing more. Before doing anything else, you should take a few steps to activate a variety of hidden features.
Go to the TextEdit menu and select Preferences. In the window that appears, make sure you're looking at the "New Document" tab, and enable the "Wrap to page" checkbox, which is toward the top. Under "Properties" fill in your name, and if applicable the company or organization you're writing for. Under "Options" enable all of the checkboxes, except for "Smart links." With "Smart links" enabled, TextEdit will automatically detect web URLs and email addresses and convert them to clickable hyperlinks. Don't enable this unless you want to.
Now, quit TextEdit and relaunch it. You should see a more familiar word processing-style document window, with outlines for page margins.
Advanced TextEditing
Now that you've enabled all of TextEdit's advanced features, you can begin using TextEdit as you would any other word processing application. Set fonts, sizes, colors, line spacing, tab stops. All the basics are there, plus some extras.
Drag image files or QuickTime movies directly into TextEdit to place them in your document. Choose "Tables" from the Format -> Text menu to add tables. Press Command + T to show the Fonts panel, which gives you a wide assortment of typographical functions, including shadows and strikethroughs. Press Command + Control + D while hovering over a word to get it's definition, synonyms and antonyms. You'll soon be impressed with the quality of the documents you can create in TextEdit.
TextEdit File Formats
TextEdit's native format is RTF, and when images or other media are embedded, RTFD - an extension to the good old Rich Text Format that includes the files embedded in the document. RTFD is a package, or folder of files, similar to Pages documents. To send them via email (or post them to Info-Mac) you first have to compress them as a ZIP file. Windows and Linux users will not be able to work with RTFD documents.
You can also export TextEdit documents to PDF by going to File -> Print and choosing "Save as PDF" from the bottom left hand corner. This is nice for sharing documents with people who do not have the same fonts installed, are using Microsoft Windows or some other operating system, or who you want to prevent from modifying your work. Additionally, TextEdit can also open and edit basic Microsoft Word documents (although support is limited).
Why Use TextEdit?
Most word processors can do all this and more. The really compelling feature of TextEdit is its incredibly small size and fast performance. This is especially useful on older Macs, where processing speed and memory are limited. On a 400 Mhz Power Macintosh G3, Microsoft Word 2008 takes ages to load, while TextEdit launches almost instantaneously. On a Mac Pro Quad Xeon, it's ready to go before your lift your finger from clicking your mouse.
As I type this article, Activity Monitor shows TextEdit to be occupying 15.42 MB of memory. I also have Microsoft Word running, for comparison. Only showing a single blank document, Word is occupying 189.46 MB of memory. Opening ten additional blank documents in TextEdit brings its memory size to 31.67 MB. Doing the same in Word, we get 330.76 MB. That is a stunning difference between the two applications that I'd use to perform essentially the same task.
Also deserving a mention is TextEdit's user interface. It's clean, light, and takes up very little screen space. You can have many TextEdit documents open at once and still have plenty of room to spare.
Conclusions
TextEdit is not the most feature-packed word processor, but it's free, light on its feet, and can do all the basics (plus a little more). Most important of all, you already have it installed in your Applications folder. So next time you want to process your words, give TextEdit a try!
