Instead of switching each new document to plain text mode manually using the steps above, why not set TextEdit to open in plain text mode by default? If you’re a budding programmer or blogger and you want a plain text environment to write code or HTML, you’ll likely want to use TextEdit plain text mode almost exclusively. So, with this in mind, make sure you really want to convert from rich text to plain text, and make a backup copy of the document if you’re not completely sure. You can always convert a TextEdit plain text document back to a rich text document, but that only applies to new formatting you won’t get your original formatting back. The result will be clean, simple, plain text.Ĭonverting a document to plain text removes all formatting This includes custom fonts, font sizes and styles, colors, bold, italicized, and underlined formatting, embedded images, and hyperlinks. If you select OK, everything except for your document’s text will be removed. You’ll get a confirmation box warning you that making a document plain text will remove all formatting make sure you heed it carefully. Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcut Shift-Command-T.

To do so, make sure the document you wish to convert is open and selected, then go to Format > Make Plain Text in the TextEdit menu bar. TextEdit opens a new document in rich text mode by default, but you can easily convert a document to plain text at any time. Convert Rich Text to Plain Text in TextEdit This can be useful for removing the formatting from copied text, working with code, or reducing the complexity and file sizes of documents that don’t need the benefits of rich text formatting. But sometimes it’s best to use TextEdit Plain Text Mode, which eliminates all formatting and, you guessed it, produces only plain text.

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