Text Editor Help

Text Editor opens text and code files straight from your computer. No upload and no sign-up - the file is read in your browser and never leaves your device.

How to open a file

• Open from your computer. On the start page, click Open and pick a file from your device - or use File > Open > From Computer (Ctrl+O). The file loads into the editor right away.
• Drag and drop. Drag a file from your desktop or a folder window onto the editor to open it.
• Recent files. The start page lists files you opened recently - click one to pick up where you left off.
• Start from scratch. Choose File > New (Ctrl+N) to begin a new, empty document.

What you can open

Text Editor opens plain-text and code files in many formats - TXT, Markdown, CSV/TSV, JSON, XML, HTML, CSS, SVG, LaTeX, RTF, JavaScript, Python, Java, C/C++, and many more. It detects the language from the file extension and turns on the matching syntax highlighting.

If a file looks garbled

Text Editor checks for binary files before opening them. Images, PDFs, executables, and other binary files are refused up front, so they can't be accidentally corrupted. If you choose "Open as text anyway", the file opens view-only - unusual characters are expected there, and saving is disabled. Text that opens normally but looks wrong is usually an encoding question instead - see Text encoding.

If a file will not open or reopen

• "Permission is needed to open this file." After a browser restart, the browser asks you to confirm access to files you opened before. Click the file again and approve the browser's permission prompt to re-grant access.
• "This file is no longer available on your computer." The file was moved, renamed, or deleted since you opened it here. Find it in its new location and open it again.
• A recent file says it is not reopenable. One-click reopening needs lasting file access, which only Chromium browsers such as Chrome, Edge, and Opera can grant. Where that access is missing - for example, for local files in Firefox and Safari - the recents row is a reminder rather than a button: open the file again with File > Open to keep working with it. In Chromium browsers, a recent that has lost its link to the file asks you to click and locate the file again.
• "That item could not be opened as a text file." Folders and some special items can't be read as text. Pick a regular text or code file.

You can open a text or code file that lives in Google Drive. Using Google Drive is the only part of Text Editor that needs a Google sign-in - local files and new documents work without an account.

How to open from Drive

• Open from Google Drive. Choose File > Open > From Google Drive (Ctrl+Shift+O), or click Open from Google Drive on the start page, and sign in if you haven't already.
• Pick a file. Select the file you want in the Google Drive picker. Text Editor loads it into the editor.
• Open with, from Drive itself. In Google Drive, right-click a supported file and choose Text Editor in the Open with menu.

What access Text Editor asks for

Text Editor uses the limited drive.file scope. That means it can only see the specific files you pick or create with it - never your whole Drive. Google's picker controls which file is shared, and Text Editor never has standing access to anything else.

If the file won't open

• Check your connection. Make sure you're online and your connection is stable. Try loading another website to confirm.
• Use the right Google account. If the file belongs to a different account than the one you signed in with, use Text Editor's Switch account prompt, or click the account image in the upper-right corner to switch.
• Confirm the file still exists. If the file was deleted or its sharing was revoked, it can no longer be opened. Ask the file owner to confirm it's still available.
• Disable interfering extensions. Ad blockers, privacy extensions, and VPNs can interfere with Google sign-in. Try disabling them temporarily, or open Text Editor in an Incognito/Private window.

Files opened from Google Drive can be saved right back to Drive with Save (Ctrl+S), and the File menu adds Drive extras like Share, Move, and Version history. See Save your file.

This section applies to Google Drive operations - opening a file, saving back to Drive, making a copy, and the Drive extras like Share, Move, and Version history. Some failures are temporary connection hiccups; others come from permissions, file status, or the selected Google account. Text Editor points at the cause when it can.

What to try first

• Check your connection. Make sure you're online and your connection is stable - try loading another website to confirm. If a download error screen offers Retry, click it once you're back online.
• Just try again. Momentary Drive hiccups are common. Retry the same action - your current text remains in the editor while you do.
• Disable interfering extensions. A VPN, ad blocker, or privacy extension can silently block requests to Google Drive. Try disabling them temporarily, or open Text Editor in an Incognito/Private window.

If it still fails

• Use the right Google account. If the file belongs to a different account than the one you signed in with, use Text Editor's Switch account prompt, or click the account image in the upper-right corner to switch.
• Confirm the file still exists. If the file was deleted in Drive or its sharing was revoked, requests against it fail. Ask the file owner to confirm it's still available.
• Keep a local copy. If saving to Drive keeps failing, use File > Download a copy before closing the tab, so your changes are on your device while you sort things out.

Specific download errors

Some download failures have their own cause and fix: the file hit its download limit, the owner disabled downloads, or Google flagged the file.

Google Drive limits how often any single file can be downloaded in a short period. When a file hits that limit, Drive temporarily blocks further downloads of it - for everyone, from every app - and Text Editor shows: "Google Drive has temporarily limited downloads of this file."

Good to know

• It's the file, not you. The limit is on the file itself and is shared across everyone who accesses it - it is not about your account or anything Text Editor did. It usually happens to files that are shared widely.
• It resets on its own. Google doesn't publish an exact reset time, but the block usually lifts within a day. Retrying right away will not help - wait a while, then try again.
• Ask for a copy. If you need the contents sooner, ask the file owner to make you your own copy in Drive (a copy is a different file with its own, fresh limit).

Google Drive lets a file's owner turn off downloading, printing, and copying for people who only have view or comment access. When that setting is on, Drive refuses to hand the file's contents to any app - including Text Editor - and you'll see: "The owner of this file has disabled downloads."

What to do

• Ask the owner. The owner can either grant you Editor access (editors are not blocked by this setting) or turn off the restriction: in Drive, Share > Settings > uncheck "Viewers and commenters can see the option to download, print, and copy".
• Don't bother retrying. This is a deliberate permission setting, not a glitch - signing out and back in or retrying will not change the result.

Google Drive scans shared files and flags ones that look like malware, spam, or other abuse. Once a file is flagged, Drive blocks everyone except the file's owner from downloading it, and Text Editor shows: "Google Drive flagged this file as malware or spam. Only the file owner can download it."

What to do

• Be cautious. Treat a flagged file with suspicion - the flag exists to protect you. Only proceed if you know and trust the source.
• Contact the owner. The owner can still open the file (Drive asks them to acknowledge the warning) and, if the flag is a mistake, can request a review from Google or share the contents another way.
• Retrying won't help. The block stays until Google lifts the flag - it is not affected by signing out, retrying, or a different browser.

Text Editor is a full editor powered by Ace. Once a file is open, you can edit it the way you would in a desktop code editor. Commands live in a familiar menu bar - File, Edit, View, Format, Tools, and Help - with the most-used actions repeated on the toolbar.

Editor features

• Syntax highlighting. Code is color-coded for many programming and markup languages, detected from the file extension. To override the detected language, use Format > Language mode.
• Line numbers. Every line is numbered in the gutter so you can find your place quickly.
• Undo and redo. Step backward and forward through your edits at any time.
• Command palette. Press Ctrl+Shift+P to search every command by name and run it from the keyboard.
• Keyboard modes. Prefer Vim, Emacs, Sublime, or VS Code key bindings? Switch the whole keymap under Tools > Keyboard mode.
• Autocomplete and syntax checking. Toggle code completion and linting from the Tools menu.
• Follow links. Hold Ctrl (or Cmd on a Mac) and click a URL in the text to open it in a new tab.
• Keyboard shortcuts. Standard editing shortcuts for select, copy, paste, comment, indent, and more (see Keyboard shortcuts).

The sections below cover the most common tasks: finding and replacing text, jumping to a line, editing with multiple cursors, adjusting word wrap and font size, and choosing themes and dark mode.

Encoding is how a file's raw bytes are turned into readable characters. Most files today use UTF-8, and Text Editor reads files as UTF-8 by default. Files made by older tools or in some languages may use another encoding (for example Shift JIS, Windows-1252, or ISO-8859-1). When a file's encoding does not match how it is read, the text looks garbled - stray symbols, wrong accents, or question-mark boxes. This is called mojibake.

Fixing garbled text

• Pick an encoding. Use Encoding in the Tools menu to re-open the current file with a different encoding. Only how the bytes are read changes - your file on disk is left untouched.
• Autodetect. Text Editor can guess the encoding from the file's bytes. When it is confident a file is not UTF-8, it offers to switch for you.
• Undo. Right after you change the encoding, a message appears with an Undo button, so you can go straight back if the new encoding does not look right.

Good to know

• Saving always writes UTF-8. Whenever you save, Text Editor writes the text as UTF-8 - the modern, universal encoding - whatever encoding the file was read with. Before the first save that would convert a legacy-encoded file, Text Editor warns you that the original encoding cannot be preserved and asks you to confirm.
• Change encoding before you edit. Re-reading a file with a different encoding replaces what is on screen, so it clears the text undo history. Choose the right encoding first, then start editing.

When you open a file, Text Editor keeps a reference to the file's original bytes so it can re-read them later - that is what powers the encoding menu and encoding autodetect. For safety, your browser cancels that reference the moment the file changes on disk. If you then pick an encoding, Text Editor can no longer re-read the original bytes and shows: "Couldn't re-read the file - it changed on disk since it was opened."

Why this happens

• Another program changed the file. The same file was saved by a different editor, a build step, a sync tool (Dropbox, Google Drive for desktop), or a script while it was open here.
• The file was moved, renamed, or deleted. The reference points at the original file, so any of these breaks it too.

What to do

• Re-open the file. Open it again (Open, or reopen it from your recent files) to load the file's current bytes. The encoding menu works again on the freshly opened file.
• Keep your edits first. If the editor holds unsaved changes you want, save a copy before re-opening - re-opening loads what is on disk now, which may differ from what you see on screen.

Good to know

After you save a file with Text Editor, the file on disk is UTF-8 - the editor wrote those bytes itself. There are no other original bytes left to re-interpret, so the encoding menu is disabled until you open another file. See Text encoding for how saving and encodings interact.

Search the file for any text, and optionally replace what you find.

How to use it

• Find. Press Ctrl+F (or Cmd+F on a Mac) to open the search bar, then type what you're looking for - matches highlight as you type. Press Enter to jump to the next match.
• Replace. Press Ctrl+H (or Cmd+Shift+H on a Mac) to open find and replace. Enter the text to find and the text to replace it with, then replace matches one at a time or all at once. Both are also in the Edit menu.

Search options

The Find and replace card lets you match case, match whole words, and use regular expressions, so you can narrow results to exactly what you mean.

Jump straight to a specific line number instead of scrolling.

How to use it

• Open Go to line. Press Ctrl+L (or Cmd+L on a Mac), or choose Edit > Go to line.
• Enter a line number. Type the line you want and press Enter. The editor scrolls there and places your cursor on that line.

This is handy when a compiler, linter, or stack trace points you at a specific line.

Edit in several places at once by adding more than one cursor. Whatever you type appears at every cursor, which is great for renaming variables or editing repeated lines.

How to add cursors

• Add a cursor by click. Hold Ctrl+Alt (or Cmd+Option on a Mac) and click wherever you want another cursor. (A plain Ctrl/Cmd+click on a URL opens the link instead.)
• Add a cursor above or below. Press Ctrl+Alt+Up or Ctrl+Alt+Down to stack cursors on the lines above or below.
• Select the next match. Select some text, then press Ctrl+Alt+Right to also select the next occurrence of that text. Repeat to select more.

Press Esc to collapse back to a single cursor.

Adjust how the text is displayed to suit the file you're working on and your screen.

Word wrap

Turn View > Options > Wrap text on to make long lines fold to the width of the editor instead of running off the right edge. This is useful for prose, Markdown, and log files. Turn it off to keep each line on a single row, which is often clearer for code.

Font size and font

Make the editor font larger or smaller with View > Increase font size / Decrease font size (Ctrl+Shift++ / Ctrl+Shift+-). A larger size improves readability; a smaller size fits more lines on screen at once. You can also pick a different monospace font under View > Font.

Text Editor has two appearance settings. The app theme can be System, Light, or Dark - System follows your operating system. The editor theme controls the colors of the document itself, with nine light and nine dark choices.

How to switch

Choose View > Theme to open the theme chooser. Editor themes preview live as you move through the list - choose OK to keep one, or Cancel to go back to what you had. The App theme control in the same chooser switches between System, Light, and Dark. Your choices are remembered the next time you visit, so the editor opens the way you left it.

These help and info pages have their own light/dark control: the circular button in the page header cycles between System, Light, and Dark.

For supported formats - Markdown, HTML, CSV/TSV, XML, JSON, SVG, LaTeX, and RTF, plus a clean reading view for plain text - Text Editor can show a live rendered preview so you can see how the result will look as you type. The preview is view-only: editing always happens in the editor pane.

View modes

• Edit. Show only the editor - full width for writing.
• Split. Show the editor and the rendered preview side by side. The preview updates as you type, and can scroll in step with the editor (View > Mode > Keep preview in sync).
• Preview. Show only the rendered result - useful for reading or checking the final output.

Switch between Edit, Split, and Preview at any time under View > Mode. The Markdown preview renders headings, lists, links, code blocks, and other standard Markdown formatting, and the Format menu offers one-click Markdown formatting - bold, italic, headings, lists, quotes, and code.

Save (Ctrl+S) writes your changes back to wherever the file lives - the save status in the app bar shows when everything is saved. If the file was changed somewhere else in the meantime, Save asks before overwriting (see If the file changed somewhere else), and view-only files cannot be saved over their source.

Where Save goes

• Files on your computer. On Chromium browsers such as Chrome, Edge, and Opera, a file opened with the Open picker - or dropped onto the page - saves back in place: the original file on disk is updated, just like a desktop editor. In Firefox and Safari, or when the browser can't grant in-place access, Save downloads a copy instead.
• Files in Google Drive. A file opened from Google Drive saves straight back to that file in Drive.
• New documents. The first Save of a brand-new document asks you to pick a name and location (or downloads a copy on browsers without in-place access).

Other ways to save

• A new document. File > Edit in Google Drive saves it straight to Drive, and File > Save as asks you to pick a name and location on your device. Either way, future saves go to that home.
• A file in Google Drive. File > Make a copy creates a copy in Drive and opens it in a new tab (like Google Docs). File > Download a copy downloads a snapshot to your device without changing where the file lives. File > Edit locally moves the document's home to a file on your computer, so future saves go there.
• A file on your computer. File > Save as re-saves it as a new local file, and File > Edit in Google Drive moves the document's home to Drive, so autosave and future saves go there.

Drive file management

You can rename the open document at any time with File > Rename. For files that live in Google Drive, the File menu offers a Google Drive section with Make a copy, Share, Move, Locate, and Version history.

If saving fails

• Your text remains in the editor. A failed save does not clear what you wrote - the text stays in the editor, and a recovery draft keeps guarding it where browser storage allows. Fix the cause, then save again.
• Files on your computer. Approve the browser's permission prompt if one appears, check that the disk isn't full, and confirm the file wasn't moved or locked by another program. If in-place saving keeps failing, File > Save as can write the document to a fresh local file instead.
• Files in Google Drive. Drive saves can fail for connection, permission, account, or file-status reasons - see If Google Drive requests fail.

While a file is open here, the same file can also change somewhere else: someone edits it in Google Drive, or another program on your computer writes to it. Text Editor notices and shows a warning banner - "This file changed in Google Drive (or on this computer) since you opened it. Saving now will overwrite the other version." - instead of silently overwriting anyone's work.

Your choices

• Save anyway. Your text in the editor becomes the file's contents. The other version is replaced (for Drive files, it remains available in the file's version history).
• Use their version. Text Editor backs up your text first, then loads the other version - and the confirmation message offers Undo to bring your text right back.
• Dismiss. Keep editing without deciding yet. Autosave stays paused so nothing overwrites anything in the background - the question comes back when you save.

Good to know

• Nothing happens without you. While the banner is up, no version is written over. Both versions still exist until you choose.
• If the safety backup fails. "Use their version" backs up your text before loading theirs. If that backup cannot be written, Text Editor stops and changes nothing - save a copy of your version elsewhere first (File > Download a copy for a Drive file, File > Save as for a local file), then decide.

Some files open in view-only mode: you can read them, but the editor won't let you change or save them. A banner above the editor tells you when this is the case, and why.

When a file opens view-only

• No edit access in Drive. The file was shared with you as a viewer or commenter. Only the owner or an editor can change it.
• The file is very large. Extremely large files open read-only so the editor stays responsive.
• A binary file opened as text. A file that isn't really text (an image, an executable, an archive) can be inspected via "Open as text anyway", but saving is disabled - writing it back as text would corrupt it. For the same reason, the copy commands are disabled for these files too.

What still works

Everything that doesn't change the file: reading, selecting, copying text out, find, and go to line.

To edit a Drive file you can only view

For a Drive file that is view-only because of permissions, make your own copy: File > Make a copy creates an editable copy in Google Drive and opens it in a new tab, and File > Edit locally or File > Download a copy puts an editable copy on your device. The copy is yours; the original stays untouched. Extremely large files and files opened with "Open as text anyway" stay read-only for safety.

Print your document straight from the editor with File > Print (Ctrl+P, or Cmd+P on a Mac). The print dialog shows a preview and lets you adjust options before sending the document to your printer - or save it as a PDF through your browser's print destination.

Large documents

• Rendered preview has a size limit. For formats with a rendered preview (like Markdown), a very large document prints as plain text instead of the rendered layout - rendering it whole for print would be too slow.
• Very long documents print without line numbers. Past a certain length, line numbers are dropped from the printout to keep printing fast.
• If the rendered preview fails to print. Text Editor falls back to printing the document as plain text, so you still get your content on paper.

Text Editor helps protect your work in two ways: autosave writes your edits to the file automatically, and recovery drafts add a local safety net for unsaved changes.

Autosave

• Saves as you type. When your document has a writable home - a file on your computer with in-place access, or a file in Google Drive - autosave flushes your edits to it automatically, the way Google Docs does. The save status in the app bar tells you when everything is saved.
• On by default. Toggle it with File > Autosave. With autosave off (or for a document with no home yet), save manually with Ctrl+S.

Recovery drafts

• Saved in your browser. While a document has unsaved changes, a recovery draft is kept locally in your browser on this device. It is not uploaded anywhere.
• Restored automatically. After a reload, an accidental tab close, or a crash, Text Editor restores your latest unsaved edits and shows a "Recovered unsaved changes" notice, so you can pick up where you left off.

Important

Recovery drafts are a safety net, not a permanent backup. They live only in this browser on this device, and clearing your browser data will remove them. To keep a lasting copy, save your file (see Save your file).

Recovery storage warnings

• "Recovery storage is full." The browser storage that holds recovery drafts is out of space, so new unsaved changes may not be backed up. Save your file, or free up space by clearing site data you no longer need.
• "Recovery storage is unavailable." The browser is blocking local storage (this can happen in private windows or with strict privacy settings). Your editing still works, but there is no crash safety net - keep the tab open and save your file to make your changes durable.
• "Large file: autosave runs less often." For large files, recovery drafts are written at a slower pace to keep typing smooth. Everything still works - there is just a slightly longer gap between backups.
• "Recovery drafts and autosave are off for this large file." For very large files, recovery drafts are turned off entirely. Your changes live only in the editor until you save - use Ctrl+S early and often.

Text Editor supports the standard editing shortcuts. On a Mac, use Cmd where the list shows Ctrl unless noted. For the complete, up-to-date list, open Help > Keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+/) in the app.

Common shortcuts

• New file: Ctrl+N
• Open / Open from Drive: Ctrl+O / Ctrl+Shift+O
• Save: Ctrl+S
• Print: Ctrl+P
• Find: Ctrl+F
• Replace: Ctrl+H (Cmd+Shift+H on a Mac)
• Go to line: Ctrl+L
• Undo / Redo: Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Shift+Z
• Select all: Ctrl+A
• Toggle comment: Ctrl+Shift+/
• Move line up / down: Alt+Up / Alt+Down
• Duplicate line: Ctrl+Shift+D
• Select next match: Ctrl+Alt+Right (the literal Ctrl key on a Mac, not Cmd)
• Add cursor above / below: Ctrl+Alt+Up / Ctrl+Alt+Down (the literal Ctrl key on a Mac, not Cmd)
• Collapse to one cursor: Esc
• Increase / decrease font size: Ctrl+Shift++ / Ctrl+Shift+-
• Command palette: Ctrl+Shift+P
• Full screen (hide app controls): Ctrl+Shift+F to toggle (Esc also exits)

In Markdown files, the usual formatting keys work too: Ctrl+B bold, Ctrl+I italic, Ctrl+U underline. The editor also supports many more shortcuts for indenting, commenting, and navigating - the standard set you'd expect from a code editor.

If Copy, Cut, or Paste from a menu does not work

Browsers restrict how web pages may reach the system clipboard, so the Edit-menu clipboard commands sometimes get blocked - the keyboard shortcuts never are. Use Ctrl+C to copy, Ctrl+X to cut, and Ctrl+V to paste (Cmd on a Mac). If the browser shows a clipboard permission prompt, allowing it also unblocks the menu Paste command (Copy and Cut do not need a prompt).

Text Editor runs entirely in your browser. Your files are processed locally on your device - they are not uploaded to a server for editing.

Key points

• Local processing. Files you open from your computer are read and edited in your browser. They stay on your device.
• Limited Drive access. Opening from Google Drive uses the drive.file scope, so Text Editor can only access the specific files you pick or create with it - never your whole Drive. When you save a Drive file, your changes go from your browser directly to your own Drive - never through a Text Editor server.
• Recovery drafts stay local. The recovery drafts that guard unsaved work live only in your browser on this device. They are not sent anywhere.

For more about the Google permissions Text Editor uses, see the FAQ.