TextWrangler App Reviews

TextWrangler is great, but just know that there is a slight difference between this version on the app store, and the one you can download directly from the barebones website. In the developer’s words: “Authenticated saves are not possible in versions of TextWrangler obtained from the Mac App Store. If you desire this capability, please download TextWrangler directly from us.” So basically, if you download this app store version of TextWrangler and when you try to save something you get a message that reads something like "application error code 20004”, and it won’t let you save… that’s why.

I love this app! The instant FTP update is an incredible feature. Never have I been able to edit and deploy changes so quickly. The layout is fully customizeable too. Thank you so much developers!

I needed an app to create a .txt file, and this one worked perfectly. Thanks!

Been using this for years, absolutely the best text editor available for the mac. Keep up the great work!

This is an excellent text editor and as such, has many uses. One thing I use it for is Markdown. I’m not sure that it was intended to be used for that, but add on the markdown syntax highlighting pack, and it works perfectly for writing in markdown. If you’re a markdown purist and don’t want and/or need any of the extra features cluttering your writing experience, this is the way to go. It’s especially useful if you’re first learning how to write markdown as it will show you how the sytax works without any additional scripts. Oh… and it’s free!!! Note: You’ll need to download a exporter/previewer like “Marked” or “Marked 2” to preview the styles.

The title says it all

It is amazing free text editor for developers and advanced users. I use it a lot and I happy with it. Thank you so much for this wonderful app!

64bit build is a must

I have used this whenever I need an editor that can handle plain, barebones text. It’s fast and full-featured.

This app has been a resource on the Mac platform for years (BBEdit Lite the Textwrangle) and always a free app. For a quick text editing task, this app is my goto application It can get pretty hairy and detailed, if you want it to be, or as simple as you want it to be. I’ve always found that this app put you in the driver’s seat rather that the reverse. I use it daily and have no problems with it. I’d recommend to everyone to give it a try; you may end up liking it as well as I do. YMMV. Thank You, Bare Bones Software, for this gift to the Mac community!

I had previously reviewed this product with one concern being that of future support. Barebones pulled BBedit due to app store restrictions (as others that make developer tools have) and I was concerned they would no longer keep updating TextWrangler. I think this new version shows that they are still commited to keeping this product a great app store text editor. A tip my hat to Barebones and give this editor a full 5 stars. It handles huge files, is simple and powerful and the developer is continuing to offer it for no charge. I’ve also thought some more about the topic of software pulled from the app store and I think with a text editor, you won’t really be left hanging. Text files are probably one of the most portable, robust formats for information we have. Unlike apps that keep their data in a proprietary format, plain text files will always be readable. I still work a lot in vim, but for those that want a easy, graphical editor, you can’t go wrong with TextWrangler. PREVIOUS REVIEW BELOW I’ve used BareBones products since OS 7 (classic) and they have had consistently solid, well supported products. TextWrangler is no exception despite being free. My only concern is they recently pulled BBedit from the store and I wonder when they might do the same with TextWrangler. I understand Apple’s App store restrictions are not always ideal for developers but as a user, I love the App store. When I recently did a machine upgrade, I only backed up my home area. I was able to do a completely clean install and get my apps from the app store. In many ways, this is even better than restoring apps from a backup because you have an option to start clean. TextWrangler is free so there is no financial loss but I don’t want to have apps I have to go hunting for the latest installers when I get a new machine and want to start clean. The application is, however, solid and can handle massive text files better than anything other than vim. If you’re not concerned about the app being pulled,it will handle just about any text job you can throw at it.

full screen API is broken and separate screen is broken but its so easy! why?

My favourite text editor, what an amazing program! Please put BB Edit in the store so I can buy it and help support you guys!

I have been using TextWrangler for years, this has been a great software for coding. But the latest update seems have bugs in it. The full screen view doesn’t behave as the rest of OS X El Capitan software, and the split screen view doesn’t even work. As a free software these bugs don’t effect the core function, but if the developer can fix it which will make this sfotware a perfect one for my needs.

Overall, this is a 4-star or above program but is hampered by Apple’s DRM. There’s no feeling as much as being stabbed like a knife as when you go to run Textwrangler to perform critical work on a tight timeframe and you discover that you can’t because of Apple blocking the program saying I’m not authorized and need to login to use the program. Maybe this is a little inconvenient when you CANNOT login because of location and circumstances? I will still use Textwrangler but I cannot risk being without a core tool when it most needed. I’m probably taking off 0.5 star for this issue. So I will increase from current 3 star to a 4 star review (3.5).

Good program used on several languages works great. ftp works great. Good product Thanks

Ive been using this app for years. The only biggest inconvenience it has is that the context menu for selected text in the editor does not offer OS text services so you have to go to the app menu - Services to access text services. In case you dont know what OS servies are, go to Apple - System Preferences - Keyboard - Shortcuts - Services - Text. Most apps like OS X Mail let you invoke these upon text selections via the context menu but TextWrangler does not.

There isnt a single free app in my arsenal thats higher quality than TextWrangler. Its my go-to for file diffs. Regex find and replace across an entire project. Its not an IDE by any measure, but for pure text editing and manipulation, this rivals anything.

This is a very elegant, very powerful program. I highly recommend it. Just be aware that downloading via the app store may not be reliable (which is probably due to Apple, not to Bare Bones); a recent update that I performed through the app store resulted in TextWrangler becoming unusable, with error message: "TextWrangler.app is damaged and cant be opened. Delete TextWrangler.app and download it again from the App Store." The lesson here is to save all your files before you updated via the app store, and consider purchasing the software direct from Bare Bones website.