Turn Google Chrome and Chromium into a Powerful Text Editor with TextDown

Productivity Sauce
There are several apps in Chrome Web Store that can turn your favorite browser into a no-frills text editor. But probably none of them offer the power and flexibility of the TextDown app. This editor is designed for working with Markdown files, but it also offers a raft of useful features that make it an excellent general purpose text editing tool. TextDown can be used offline, and you can use the editor to work with local text files. To enable the latter feature, choose Tools | Extensions and tick the Allow access to file URLs check box next to the TextDown entry. TextDown also supports text shortcuts for more efficient writing, and you can specify your own text shortcuts in the Words Shortcuts List text area of the TextDown Options section. Here, you can use the default td text shortcut as a template for your custom entries, for example:
"lxm": "Linux Magazine"
To use the defined text shortcut, type lxm, press Esc, and the editor expands the abbreviation to Linux Magazine.
TextDown offers extensive support for keyboard shortcuts, so you can perform practically every available action using the keyboard: from applying text formatting to saving and exporting text files. The app also features dedicated shortcuts for word and character count, a boon for serious writers. TextDown even sports its own built-in calculator: enter { followed by the equation, press Ctrl + Shift + M, and TextDown replaces the equation with its result.
All in all, TextDown is a capable text editor which can come in useful in many situations -- especially if you use Markdown as your preferred way to format text files. TextDown is open source, and its source code is available for your viewing and forking pleasure at the project's GitHub repository.
comments powered by DisqusSubscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you've found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Red Hat Migrates RHEL from Xorg to Wayland
If you've been wondering when Xorg will finally be a thing of the past, wonder no more, as Red Hat has made it clear.
-
PipeWire 1.0 Officially Released
PipeWire was created to take the place of the oft-troubled PulseAudio and has finally reached the 1.0 status as a major update with plenty of improvements and the usual bug fixes.
-
Rocky Linux 9.3 Available for Download
The latest version of the RHEL alternative is now available and brings back cloud and container images for ppc64le along with plenty of new features and fixes.
-
Ubuntu Budgie Shifts How to Tackle Wayland
Ubuntu Budgie has yet to make the switch to Wayland but with a change in approaches, they're finally on track to making it happen.
-
TUXEDO's New Ultraportable Linux Workstation Released
The TUXEDO Pulse 14 blends portability with power, thanks to the AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS CPU.
-
AlmaLinux Will No Longer Be "Just Another RHEL Clone"
With the release of AlmaLinux 9.3, the distribution will be built entirely from upstream sources.
-
elementary OS 8 Has a Big Surprise in Store
When elementary OS 8 finally arrives, it will not only be based on Ubuntu 24.04 but it will also default to Wayland for better performance and security.
-
OpenELA Releases Enterprise Linux Source Code
With Red Hat restricting the source for RHEL, it was only a matter of time before those who depended on that source struck out on their own.
-
StripedFly Malware Hiding in Plain Sight as a Cryptocurrency Miner
A rather deceptive piece of malware has infected 1 million Windows and Linux hosts since 2017.
-
Experimental Wayland Support Planned for Linux Mint 21.3
As with most Linux distributions, the migration to Wayland is in full force. While some distributions have already made the move, Linux Mint has been a bit slower to do so.