What is the default text editor on macOS?

The default text editor on macOS is TextEdit. Apple includes it as a lightweight application for creating and editing plain-text and rich-text documents without requiring a full office suite.

TextEdit descends from NeXT’s text-editing software and became part of Mac OS X when Apple built its modern desktop operating system around technologies from NeXTSTEP. It can work with plain-text files, commonly saved with a .txt extension, as well as Rich Text Format documents that preserve features such as fonts, styles, alignment, and images.

TextEdit is often confused with Notes, Pages, or Microsoft Word. Notes is primarily for synchronized notes and snippets, Pages is Apple’s word processor, and Word is Microsoft’s office application. TextEdit can open some documents created by other programs, but it is intentionally simpler. Its preferences also allow users to choose whether new documents start as rich text or plain text, which can affect how pasted or formatted content is saved.