The Notepad++ is widely used in Windows operating systems, however, the programming software is not available to the Mac OS. There is no need to fret if you move from a Windows environment as the OS X has a native Unix environment that is compatible for html editors, and a simple text editor called TextEdit. There are other programming software for Mac that can best NotePad++ if you are in need of more functionality that is not present with TextEdit.
People who ask the question“What is the best source code editor for OS X?”, or continually look for the best notepad++ alternatives, either free or paid for Mac OS, look no further than to refer to this article. Here listed are the next best text editors and Notepad++ alternatives for Mac. In this article, we will certainly reveal you a few of the most effective code editors readily available for Mac and Windows customers.
1. Light Table (Free)
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An open-source text editor, it’s main feature is the real-time feedback allowing instant execution, access to documentation and debugging. This reduces the programming time by showing the results of the code as your write it. It has “watches” which can keep track of high priority values in your code, built-in plugin manager, and inline evaluation which does away with printing to the console to see the results of your code.
2. TextMate (Paid)
One of few exclusive code editors for Mac, it uses features both from Emacs and OS X into a single text editor, for designers and programmers alike that seek to replace the full IDE. With features such as auto-pairing of brackets, Regex and Grep support, visual bookmarks for jumping in between locations in a document make TextMate a viable alternative to Notepad++. It works well with the Xcode environment, you can take advantage of these features while still using the built-in OS X IDE.
Photo by ilco. Earlier this week we asked you to share your favorite WYSIWYG HTML editor; now we're back to showcase the five most popular responses.Many of these editors combine the best of both. 14 Best Free HTML Editors. Bluefish is an open source code editor that can run on Linux, Mac OS X, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and Solaris. One of the best online html. Like I mentioned before, Brackets is a perfect HTML Editor Mac machine can get, it is also a great choice for Linux users as well, it replaces HTML menus with native Linux menus to keep the user experience of Linux.
Best Code Editor For Mac
TextMate is offered for $58. It is additionally available as a cost-free download.
3. Sublime Text (Paid)
An elegant design welcomes you with this text editor, with features such as GoTo Anything, which can open any files with only a few keystrokes, full screen mode, split editing, a command palette to automatically switch between specific parts without navigation to menus. It has a Python console which you can experiment with in real-time, and a customizing function to just customize key bindings, menus, macros, completions, basically anything with JSON files.
Superb Text is available on test as well as a single permit will cost you $70.
4. Atom (Free)
A code editor made by the GitHub developers, it’s main selling point (although it’s free), is that it was made to be customized by developers. Featuring packages, these add-ons can be made by other developers to add more functionality to your Atom code editor. The program can be used in conjunction with HTML and Javascript, so you don’t have to learn complicated languages.
5. TextWrangler (Free)
If the fee of $49 isn’t justifiable for purchasing a text editor like BBEdit, then it’s little brother TextWrange will be enough for you. It includes features like syntax highlighting, Unix scripting integration. It functions like other similar simple text editors, with features such as multi-file search, unicode viewing and spellcheck.
6. BBEdit ($49)
The big brother of TextWrangler it offers many more features in addition to what was included in TextWrangler such as HTML tools, Clippings system, GitHub integration, and adapting Automator. You can also develop your own language module using the BBEdit SDK to add syntax coloring and navigation without writing any code.
7. Chocolat (Free)
Chocolat is a native text editor for Mac, that means it utilizes the advantages of the latest features of the OS and strictly is not a port from Windows, so you should be able to comfortable right away as it focuses on the Mac experience. It works with every programming language such as Ruby on Rails, PHP, C++, and Haskell. Boasting user friendliness and no steep learning curve, projects are easy to start, and you can even view two files at once with their split editing feature.
8. Komodo-Edit
A light version of Komodo IDE, it’s integrated development environment (IDE) is used by those who don’t need an entrie IDE, but just the essentials. Core features include multi-language support, autocomplete, tracking, and Markdown viewing. It’s also integrated with Kopy.io, an alternative pastebin to Github. You can add more functionality by integrating extensions you can download from Github repositories.
9. Brackets (Free)
Adobe’s answer to a Notepad++ alternative, it is deemed as one of the most viable alternatives for Mac. The best feature it has is called Extract, which extracts the color, gradient, font and measurements from a PSD file automatically which can dramatically reduce the time to turn a PSD file into a website. There are extensions being released every 3 weeks, so Brackets is always improving.
10. Aquamacs (Free)
A user-friendly version of the famous Emacs text editor, it combines the Mac functionality with the ergonomics and extensibility of the features of Emac into one single editor. It boasts a range of proportional and mono-spaced fonts, and basically a standard Mac interface with the functionality of a text editor.
When it comes to editing a PDF file on Mac, you have two choices — upload the PDF to an online conversion service, or use a Mac PDF editor app.
While online PDF conversion services have their own advantages and are usually free (though some may have certain restrictions), we assume you’ve already tried out. So, we are not going to talk much about them.
Instead, we want to show you the best PDF editor app for Macs. After all, you are a business person who handles PDF documents on a regular basis. Desktop software is more convenient to use, and more likely to improve your business productivity.
Here we round up some of the most powerful Mac PDF editors currently in the market. The recommendations below are for Mac users only, if you are on a PC, see our review of best PDF editor for Windows 10.
Online PDF Editor vs. Desktop PDF Editing App
There is no absolute answer as to which editor is better, but here’s our take:
If you are in a hurry, and you only have several non-confidential PDFs to edit, go for online PDF editing services like PDFescape. Simply open a web browser, upload your PDF file and start editing.
Note: we suggest you not to upload any private or confidential documents due to security concerns. Because your PDF files are going to be uploaded elsewhere in the cloud you can’t control or access.
If your documents are important, and you only have minor editing tasks such as: add signature, comment, merge/split pages, etc.; We recommend Preview — a free built-in app in macOS that allows you to edit images and PDF files. We’ll cover this app more below.
How about Adobe Acrobat for Mac? It’s great, but our main concern is its price — $300 direct purchase (or $15 per month if you go for subscription), it’s definitely on the pricer side. Plus, you can get almost all similar features from other Mac PDF editors we recommend below while paying much less.
Best PDF Editor for Mac: What to Look for?
The following factors are merely what we think you should consider in order to narrow down the list to come up with your favorite tools. They are, however, by no means the industry standards.
Security: all downloadable software must be free of virus and malware. Though Macs are widely considered to be more secure than Windows PCs, recent news reveals that macOS isn’t safe anymore due to crapware and malware threats. We make sure the PDF editor app we recommend are clean and safe.
PDF Editing Features: the Mac PDF editor you choose should be able to do basic editing tasks like annotation, add/delete pages, form filling, highlighting, and so on. Advanced editing features include: add a password, create links, export PDFs to other document formats, etc. Bottom line: the best Mac PDF editing software should offer more features than what Preview does.
OCR Support: this is important because if a PDF editor doesn’t support OCR (Optical Character Recognition), you can’t use it to handle scanned PDF files which are essentially images. OCR is able to extract all the content in a scanned PDF file and export objects into editable texts or graphs. The software that integrates OCR technology will save you lots of headaches when it comes to editing scanned PDF documents.
Ease of Use: this is the main factor that makes desktop software superior to most online PDF conversion tools. If you’ve used some online PDF editors, you probably feel the navigation and operation are not that smooth. You need a lot of back and forth to make the change to a desirable level. A great PDF editor app should make it hassle-free and enjoyable during the editing process.
macOS Compatibility: The software you choose should also be able to run on the latest macOS Catalina and be compatible with some older macOS versions that are widely used by Mac users. If it can’t, it would be a waste of your time to download and install it on your Mac on to find it doesn’t work. Besides a PDF editor app that keeps updating tends to be more trustworthy and reliable.
Help/Support: We value those developers that provide helpful tutorials and guides to facilitate the customer experience. Also, it’s ideal that users can reach out to them via email, phone, live chat, etc. for any inquiries or technical questions.
Best PDF Editor for Mac in 2019: Our Picks
1. Preview (Built-in App on Mac)
The Preview app built in your Mac lets you add text to PDFs, highlight it, sign documents, leave comments, and more. You can choose where in the document you’d like to post a note and move it later if you change your mind. Some of the more interesting features include novel ways to sign documents. If you have a trackpad, you can even sign documents with your finger. If you have a camera on your device, you can sign a piece of paper. Hold it up and snap a photo, thereby adding the signature to the document. Editing images with Preview is simple and intuitive, as is the ability to share and export your completed files.
2. Adobe Acrobat Pro for Mac
Adobe Acrobat Pro helps you create professional, polished documents that are easy to send and view. With features to protect your files, you’ll never have to worry about other people making modifications or copying sensitive information. With a built-in e-signature feature, you can send, track, manage, and store signed documents. Adobe Acrobat Pro is also known for its ability to convert different kinds of documents into PDFs including Word, Excel, and Paper materials. Calculations, checkboxes, signature fields, can all be converted. This software also includes tools to help you prepare for high-end print production.
3. PDF Expert
PDF Expert makes editing simple by automatically detecting the opacity, font, and size of the original text. You can modify the text, images, or links without difficulty. Some of the other notable features of this software include the ability to collaborate with clients and team members by adding notes and protecting information through passwords. Compatible with any Apple device, iPhone, iPad, and Mac, you can use PDF Expert to transfer files between devices seamlessly. Similar to other editors, you can also use PDF Expert to create applications, tax forms, and sign them with an electronic signature in a few clicks.
Free Html Editor For Mac
4. PDFpen
PDFpen allows you to draw, scribble, and highlight PDF text with underscoring and strikethrough. You can use editable text blocks to correct text, and move, copy, and resize images to your liking. The advanced version PDFpen Pro uses OCR technology to turn pictures of scanned text into words you can easily modify and proofread for errors. If your PDF requires more dramatic changes, you can use PDFpen to export to Word for easy sharing and editing. When it comes to signing your PDF with a secure and trusted signature, you have a few options. You can scribble your signature with a mouse or trackpad. You can also scan an image of your signed signature and drag and drop it into place. Lastly, this software gives you complete control over the way the pages of your PDF are formatted. You can delete pages, reorder them, or merge documents as you require.
5. PDFelement for Mac
Known for its intuitive interface, PDFelement offers simple navigation with professional-level results. Using bookmarks, you can quickly locate points of interest and link to them. The included OCR technology can turn paper documents into searchable, selectable, and editable PDFs in over 25 different languages. With paragraph and single-line editing tools, you can maintain the document style by reflowing text. PDFelement also supports form creation, password encryption, annotations, and permissions-based restrictions.
6. ABBYY FineReader for Mac
FineReader can read pages from a PDF on your hard disk or from a scanner, and with its OCR engine, it can then extract text, arrange tables, and preserve layout so you can make the necessary edits. FineReader’s text recognition accuracy is one of the highest in the industry, according to their internal testing, at a rate of 99.8%. Text sizes, font sizes, headers, footers, footnotes, tables of contents, and footnotes, all can be recreated through this software’s adaptive document recognition technology. You can create searchable PDFs, modify images with the image editor, and create ebooks for reading while on the go.
7. PhantomPDF Mac
PhantomPDF is ConnectedPDF Powered, meaning that it offers cloud-based services, such as the ability to grant and revoke document access, collaboration features, and tracking to see who has opened your document. With this editor, you can adjust text flow across multiple pages, columns, or paragraphs. Move text boxes, change their size, and toggle how the text is justified until it fits your requirements. You can create PDFs in virtually any file format, merge PDFs, or split them into different documents.
8. Able2Extract Professional (Mac)
As a cross-platform tool on Windows and Mac, Able2Extract Professional is a creator, converter, and editor, with multiple uses. You can convert data to and from editable Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, Publisher, PowerPoint, Open Office, Autocad, and all image formats. You can create secure PDFs, sign and edit PDFs. It comes with a wide range of formatting options, with prefixes and suffixes, numbering sequences, date-time stamps. Able2Extract also comes with a number of collaboration features that allow annotations and notes. You might consider this software if you want an editor that handles many different tasks in a simple, intuitive fashion.
9. Power PDF Standard for Mac
Power PDF Standard touts itself as a more efficient choice for Mac users than other standard “freemium” PDF editors available. This app has been designed to help maximize productivity when converting, editing, creating, or sharing documents across any platform. You can collaborate with powerful markup and commenting tools. You can send documents securely with features such as password security and text redaction. You can also compile and create PDF files from almost any file type. Power PDF Standard helps you control every aspect of your workflow.
10. PDF Studio for Mac
PDF Studio for Mac was built to be a reliable alternative to Adobe Acrobat with all of the expected features offered at a lower price. As the application only occupies a small amount of space on your hard drive (300MB), you get all the features you need with no bloatware. Some of the features in the standard edition include precision measuring tools, secure documents, and the ability to fill in and save PDF forms. Create watermarks, headers, and footers, all supporting PDF 2.0 standards. The Professional Edition includes OCR text recognition, an interactive form designer, the ability to compare and optimize PDFs, and a way to split and merge documents.
Andreas is an Apple and Microsoft fanboy who works with his Mac and lives with a PC at home. While he is not reading technology journals, you’ll probably find him playing online games with friends or hiking in the wild.