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CotEditor
CotEditor
4.7
0.0

Plain text editor.

4.7
Based on 29 user ratesRead reviews & comments
Free
Absolutely Free

CotEditor overview

CotEditor is an open-sourced, Cocoa-based plain-text editor for macOS. It supports syntax highlighting, has a powerful find-and-replace with the regular expression, and other small goodies for coding. It can handle also CJK languages well.

What’s new in version 4.7.4

Updated on Feb 12 2024

New Features
  • Support the alpha channel in theme settings (Custom themes using alpha channel are not compatible with CotEditor prior to version 4.7.4).
  • Make sections in the document inspector collapsable.
  • Add “Hexadecimal with Alpha” format to the Color Code panel.
  • Add Czech localization (Thanks to Martin Růžička!).
Improvements
  • Tweak the background color of the “Anura (Dark)” theme.
  • [dev] Migrate all the inspector panes to SwiftUI.
Fixes
  • Fix an issue on macOS 13 that the stepper in the custom tab width view worked only once.
  • Fix an issue that the character code point displayed in the document inspector could be broken when the application is localized.
  • Fix an issue that the custom font size for the outline inspector was not fully applied.
  • Fix an issue that the menu of the Syntax toolbar item could also check the previous one.
  • Fix an issue that a part of the Portuguese localization was not applied.
  • Fix Italian localization (Thanks to Roccobot and DAnn2012!).
View older CotEditor updates

Information

License

Free

Size

14.5 MB

Developer’s website

https://coteditor.com

Downloads

45940

App requirements

  • Intel 64
  • Apple Silicon
  • macOS 13 or later
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0.0

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  • Comments

  • User Ratings

tomaszw9898
tomaszw9898
Feb 12 2024
4.7.4
5.0
Feb 12 2024
5.0
Version: 4.7.4
i was looking for an alternative to notepad++ for mac and i found coteditor. it’s simple and does its job very well
Loeribas
Loeribas
Feb 12 2024
4.7.4
0.0
Feb 12 2024
0.0
Version: 4.7.4
Would be nice if it could open folders.
Mcr
Mcr
Oct 28 2022
4.4.0
0.0
Oct 28 2022
0.0
Version: 4.4.0
MACUPDATE: starting with version 4.4.0 minimum requirement is macOS 12, Monterey. Please update the information on this page, still says macOS 11 or later as of this date.
itoldusoandso
itoldusoandso
May 29 2021
4.0.3
5.0
May 29 2021
5.0
Version: 4.0.3
Great editor if not the best simple plan text editor for mac with syntax highlighting for coding. The only editor I could find with highlighting of bracket pairs when hovering over one side bracket it glows the other bracket (Excel formula editor can do this but there it is hard to see.) Best of all the size is small. Recently I looked at Atom editor, while powerful free editor, it requires 700mb space and CotEditor does many of the things already at about 36mb. Five starts even if this was a paid app. This being a free app deserves a positive review from me.
Funjoy
Funjoy
Mar 20 2021
4.0.2
5.0
Mar 20 2021
5.0
Version: 4.0.2
Great free text editor, with tons of customizations for fonts and text and background colors
Funjoy
Funjoy
Sep 14 2020
3.9.6
5.0
Sep 14 2020
5.0
Version: 3.9.6
Extremely configurable (I was able to even change the color of the blinking cursor). But still some odd limitations, like being unable to auto soft-wrap text to a character length. A nice free alternative to TextEdit, although the free tier of BBEdit gives it a run for its (gratis) money.
LuxLogica
LuxLogica
Dec 13 2018
3.6.9
3.0
Dec 13 2018
3.0
Version: 3.6.9
Neat little text editor, but lack of support for modern web preprocessor languages - such as LESS, Sass, HAML, Pug and Typescript - couple with its inability to properly highlight embedded syntaxes (like PHP inside HTML and vice-versa) make it not-so-useful for Web Devs. If you're an app developer working on single-syntax files, this might be worth a look.
fiery12
fiery12
Dec 9 2018
3.6.8
5.0
Dec 9 2018
5.0
Version: 3.6.8
CotEditor is a fast and simple text editor. It's very light on system resources (takes 24 MB RAM with a blank document and 66 MB RAM with a 2.7 MB text file). It can't completely replace the deprecated TextWrangler, but developer is very active and I'm sure that he will add more features. For example, I still use TextWrangler to compare text files.
Sandra S.
Sandra S.
Feb 13 2018
3.3.2
4.0
Feb 13 2018
4.0
Version: 3.3.2
Nice thing!!!
Hal-Itosis
Hal-Itosis
Jan 8 2018
3.2.7
5.0
Jan 8 2018
5.0
Version: 3.2.7
I use this mostly for bash scripts. Amazingly wonderful freeware. Thanks to the authors! -HI-
Teksestro
Teksestro
Dec 30 2017
3.2.7
3.5
Dec 30 2017
3.5
Version: 3.2.7
Solid, free code editor, with some remarkable features that worthy of note: - Built-in Syntax Creator/Editor: CotEditor comes pre-configured with support for dozens of languages, but if the one you want is not there, it has a built-in syntax editor that you can use to define your own. It is easy to use, well-documented, and allows you to define the syntax within a GUI - something that even Sublime Text can't claim. - AppleScriptable, and Unix-Scriptable: you are not tied down to having to learn Javascript, Python or some other arbitrary language, in order to use CotEditor as part of your own programming workflow. Use the languages you already feel most comfortable using. - Nice GUI goodies: link URLs automatically, semi-transparent windows, and manually selecting which invisible characters you want displayed are some of the many unusual and highly-welcomed customisation features that are built-in. - can auto-convert between different character encodings, and handles vertical and right-to-left text incredibly well Although it does sport some attractive and compelling features, I need to mention that it currently still lacks many features that are common to most modern code editors - which is surprising, considering how long the CotEditor project has been around: - unable to do proper highlighting of nested syntaxes - i.e., unable to highlight HTML inside a PHP file - no auto-closing or auto-indenting of tags (only auto-closes brackets and parentheses) - no snippet manager (scheduled to come in a future release) - no project/folder view Browsing the project's GitHub repository, it is extremely encouraging to see a developer that is supportive, active and engaged with the user community. All in all, this looks like an editor with a promising future, that is certainly worthwhile keeping an eye on.
Drfrank
Drfrank
May 22 2017
3.1.8
5.0
May 22 2017
5.0
Version: 3.1.8
Although CotEditor has been around for over a decade, the current Japanese developer has accomplished a very impressive modernization. It's 100% written in Swift. I use Menlo with the Dendrobates theme. I hide the toolbar and I only show the character and word count in the status bar. The result is a minimal, plain text writing environment. It's quick to launch and speedy to operate. I like to use CotEditor in conjunction with TextSoap. The combination is quite powerful.
四点
四点
May 23 2016
2.5.4
5.0
May 23 2016
5.0
Version: 2.5.4
great app.
anonymous-thrush-1121
anonymous-thrush-1121
Sep 29 2015
2.1.6
0.0
Sep 29 2015
0.0
Version: 2.1.6
2.2.0RC http://coteditor.com/beta
Maxter
Maxter
Jul 14 2015
2.1.4
5.0
Jul 14 2015
5.0
Version: 2.1.4
It is perhaps not suited for "Pro Users", but my needs are simple and this is an excellent alternative to TextEdit. Thank you for the frequent updates and for keeping it free.
RogerMP
RogerMP
Feb 27 2015
2.1
5.0
Feb 27 2015
5.0
Version: 2.1
Excellent editor
anonymous-dingo-1034
anonymous-dingo-1034
Feb 19 2015
2.1
0.0
Feb 19 2015
0.0
Version: 2.1
Pretty cool editor. However, since I still didn't find perfect editor for Mac so far, I'd have couple suggestions to developer to improve this editor closer to ideal one (so far the closest one to ideal is Sublime Text): - When I select some word in text, other same words should be highlighted too (like find all functionality but in main editor) - When I set cursor at the beginning/end of open/close bracket it should be highlighted and it's closest pair should be highlighted too, same for (double)quotes etc... (at least it does not work on C# and C++ sources) - auto syntax highlighting according the file extension when the file ext. is UPPERCASE (or add ability to add extensions to syntax highlight) - documents in tabs (or at least possibility to allow them) - show/hide minimap - Also when I changed something in preferences I had to restart editor - changes are not applied immediately On the other hand I liked the easy access to encoding and syntax highlight.
Aaron-Elkins
Aaron-Elkins
Nov 19 2014
2.0
4.5
Nov 19 2014
4.5
Version: 2.0
Everything is cool in CotEditor, but lack of project management (i.e. to manage files in one a drawer or something like that).
anonymous-skink-4656
anonymous-skink-4656
Mar 19 2014
1.4
5.0
Mar 19 2014
5.0
Version: 1.4
Very good and fast editor. Best replacement for TextEdit. However, if you are a programmer, you may need something more advanced. If you need to work on the text, easily and quickly change the encoding, search and replace any phrase or just something to write - this program is great. In CotEditor also works text speaking - and this simple feature of Mac OS X does not work, eg in TextWrangler. Besides, it looks nice, like a native OS X program. No fancy tool palettes and terrible icons.
Canisbos
Canisbos
Jun 5 2012
1.3.1
4.0
Jun 5 2012
4.0
Version: 1.3.1
It's no TextMate, Sublime Text 2, or even TextWrangler, but it's a good, simple code-oriented editor. Recommended for those with light code- and plaintext-editing needs.
tomaszw9898
tomaszw9898
Feb 12 2024
4.7.4
5.0
Feb 12 2024
5.0
Version: 4.7.4
fallenflower
fallenflower
Sep 24 2023
4.5.9
5.0
Sep 24 2023
5.0
Version: 4.5.9
kom
kom
Jul 26 2023
4.5.7
5.0
Jul 26 2023
5.0
Version: 4.5.7
Aetnaria
Aetnaria
May 31 2023
4.5.6
5.0
May 31 2023
5.0
Version: 4.5.6
Ervins Strauhmanis
Ervins Strauhmanis
Mar 27 2023
4.5.1
5.0
Mar 27 2023
5.0
Version: 4.5.1
xouzouras
xouzouras
Jul 23 2022
4.3.1
5.0
Jul 23 2022
5.0
Version: 4.3.1
itoldusoandso
itoldusoandso
May 29 2021
4.0.3
5.0
May 29 2021
5.0
Version: 4.0.3
LuxLogica
LuxLogica
Dec 13 2018
3.0
Dec 13 2018
3.0
Version: null
fiery12
fiery12
Dec 9 2018
5.0
Dec 9 2018
5.0
Version: null
Edelheid
Edelheid
Nov 13 2018
5.0
Nov 13 2018
5.0
Version: null
Sigsgaard
Sigsgaard
Sep 7 2018
5.0
Sep 7 2018
5.0
Version: null
pavel-2
pavel-2
Aug 29 2018
5.0
Aug 29 2018
5.0
Version: null
Sandra S.
Sandra S.
Feb 13 2018
4.0
Feb 13 2018
4.0
Version: null
Hal-Itosis
Hal-Itosis
Jan 8 2018
5.0
Jan 8 2018
5.0
Version: null
Teksestro
Teksestro
Dec 30 2017
3.5
Dec 30 2017
3.5
Version: null
Drfrank
Drfrank
May 22 2017
5.0
May 22 2017
5.0
Version: null
Grug
Grug
Mar 23 2017
4.5
Mar 23 2017
4.5
Version: null
四点
四点
May 23 2016
5.0
May 23 2016
5.0
Version: null
UserUV
UserUV
May 17 2016
3.5
May 17 2016
3.5
Version: null
Maxter
Maxter
Jul 14 2015
5.0
Jul 14 2015
5.0
Version: null
RogerMP
RogerMP
Feb 27 2015
5.0
Feb 27 2015
5.0
Version: null
Sandro-Bilbeisi
Sandro-Bilbeisi
Feb 19 2015
5.0
Feb 19 2015
5.0
Version: null
Aaron-Elkins
Aaron-Elkins
Nov 19 2014
4.5
Nov 19 2014
4.5
Version: null
1024jp
1024jp
Nov 17 2014
5.0
Nov 17 2014
5.0
Version: null
anonymous-skink-4656
anonymous-skink-4656
Nov 16 2014
5.0
Nov 16 2014
5.0
Version: null
rcrooks1969
rcrooks1969
Jul 7 2014
5.0
Jul 7 2014
5.0
Version: null
Cahuet
Cahuet
May 12 2014
3.0
May 12 2014
3.0
Version: null
Canisbos
Canisbos
Jun 5 2012
4.0
Jun 5 2012
4.0
Version: null
Funjoy
Funjoy
Jan 11 2030
4.0.2
5.0
Jan 11 2030
5.0
Version: 4.0.2
Free
Absolutely Free
How would you rate CotEditor?
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