Help:Plain text editors

Plain text editors are software programs that save text as a plain (ASCII) text data file. Plain text editors may be contrasted with word processing programs that insert markup codes to indicate special features such as font style, font size, boldface, italics, etc.

Some of the files that you may need to work with in connection with Proteopedia are required to be plain text. Examples include PDB files and Jmol script files. After editing their contents, they will not work unless they are saved as plain text.

Plain Text EditorsPlain Text Editors

The following programs always save text as plain text. Therefore, it is impossible to change font size, use boldface, etc. in these programs.

Microsoft® WindowsMicrosoft® Windows

• Notepad: included with all Windows systems, but can't always handle very large files. Windows XP: Start, Programs, Accessories, Notepad.

Saving Plain Text From Word ProcessorsSaving Plain Text From Word Processors

• WordPad is included in all Windows systems.
  • Windows XP: Start, Programs, Accessories, Wordpad.
  • File, Save As, change Save as type to text document. To prevent automatic addition of ".txt" to the end of the filename, enclose the file name in double quotes before clicking the Save button.