Create a table within a table in TextEdit
02/01/2012
In TextEdit, to create a table within an existing table, select a cell in the existing table, then choose Format> Table and click "Nest Table".
Make text upper case in TextEdit
01/28/2012
In TextEdit, to make text upper case, select it and choose Edit> Transformations> Make Upper Case.
Avoid making accidental changes to a document in TextEdit
01/18/2012
In TextEdit, to avoid making accidental changes to a document, choose Format> Prevent Editing.
Save a TextEdit document in Microsoft Word format
01/01/2012
In TextEdit, to save a document in Microsoft Word format, choose File> Save, then choose a Word format from the File Format pop-up menu.
Move to the top or bottom of a document in TextEdit
11/05/2011
In TextEdit, press Fn-Left Arrow to move to the top of a document, or press Fn-Right Arrow to move to the bottom.
Specify default preferences for new documents in TextEdit
09/02/2011
In TextEdit, to specify the default format, font and window size preferences for all new documents, choose TextEdit> Preferences, then click New Document.
Use vertical text in TextEdit
08/02/2011
In TextEdit, to change a document's layout orientation for languages that use vertical text, do Format> Make Layout Vertical.
Set default properties for rich text documents in TextEdit
06/02/2011
In TextEdit, to set default properties (author, copyright, etc.) for new rich text documents, do TextEdit> Preferences> New Document> Properties.
Add keywords, comments or other info to a TextEdit document
03/08/2011
In TextEdit, to add keywords, comments or other information to a document which can be searched for later using Spotlight, do File> Show Properties.
Save customized text as a favorite text style in TextEdit
03/02/2011
In TextEdit, to save a customized text style, select some text then choose Other from the Styles pop-up menu and click "Add To Favorites".
Make text fit within the page margins in TextEdit
02/07/2011
In TextEdit, to make lines of text fit within the page margins in a document, instead of within the width of the window, do Format> Wrap to Page.
Automatically hyphenate long words in TextEdit
01/19/2011
In TextEdit, to automatically hyphenate long words at the ends of lines to make the right margin appear smoother, do Format> Allow Hyphenation.
Find and replace words within a selected block of text in TextEdit
12/16/2010
In the Find window of TextEdit, to replace all occurrences of a word in a block of selected text, press Option then click the "In Selection" button.
Open all URLs in a text file at once using TextEdit
10/06/2010
To open all URLs in a text file at once, open it in TextEdit, do Edit> Select All, then Control-click anywhere and do "Open URL" from the pop-up menu.
Add a hyperlink to a TextEdit document
08/23/2010
In TextEdit, to make any word or phrase an active HTML link, highlight the text then do Edit> Add Link and enter the URL in the "Link destination" field.
Enable autosave in TextEdit
07/29/2010
In TextEdit, to enable autosave to automatically save modified documents, do TextEdit> Preferences> Open and Save> Autosaving.
Make text lower case in TextEdit
06/10/2010
In TextEdit, to make text lower case, select it and choose Edit> Transformations> Make Lower Case.
Convert a styled text document to plain text
05/29/2010
To convert a styled text document to plain text, removing any formatting, colors, images, etc., open it with TextEdit and do Format> Make Plain Text.
Embed a file into a TextEdit document
05/16/2010
In TextEdit in Snow Leopard, embed a file (another text file, an image, a spreadsheet, an application, etc.) into a document via File > Attach Files.
Select a vertical block of text in TextEdit
04/29/2010
In TextEdit, to select a vertical block of text (such as a column of words or numbers), press and hold the Option key then select the text.
Select all occurrences of a word found in TextEdit
04/06/2010
In TextEdit, to select every occurrence of a word found in a document, do a Find (Command-F), type the word, press the Control key and click "Select All".
Open a Microsoft Word document with TextEdit
02/15/2010
In TextEdit, to open a Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) document, drag and drop it onto the TextEdit icon in your Dock.
