Hey, so I spent way too much time last night playing with RichText—that native macOS editor I mentioned for when you need more than plain text but less than a full Word explosion. You know how I've been fighting with Pages for simple technical docs? This promised to be the middle ground.
First impression: it's genuinely native—feels like Apple made it themselves. Clean, fast, Dark Mode just works. I opened a draft of our API documentation, ready to finally make it look professional.
What I tried first (and why it failed):
Wanted to add a code snippet with proper syntax highlighting. Found the "Insert Code Block" button, pasted my Python, and... nothing. Just plain text. Checked the menu—syntax highlighting was enabled. Toggled it off and on. Still nothing. Spent 20 minutes assuming the feature was broken or only worked for certain languages.
What I eventually figured out:
The problem was that I'd pasted the code into a paragraph style, not a dedicated code block. RichText has separate "Code Block" and "Inline Code" styles. You have to apply the "Code Block" paragraph style to the entire block first—*then* syntax highlighting activates. The [Apple Typography documentation](https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/typography) explains some of the underlying text system—RichText is built on the same native framework, so style inheritance works similarly.
What actually helped (the stuff I wish I'd known first):
1. Used the Style Inspector. It shows which paragraph style is active. Mine was "Normal." Switched to "Code Block," and boom—instant syntax highlighting.
2. Discovered the OpenType features. There's a "Typography" panel hiding under Format > Font. I enabled ligatures and stylistic alternates for headings, and suddenly the doc looked like it was professionally typeset.
3. Realized the table editor is actually usable. I needed a simple comparison table. RichText lets you create it visually, merge cells, adjust borders—and it all stays editable, not like pasting from Excel.
A couple of other things I stumbled on:
- The focus mode is brilliant for writing. Hides everything except the text, with a customizable background. I wrote two whole sections without distraction.
- Version history is integrated with macOS Versions—I accidentally deleted a paragraph, went back in time, and restored it in seconds.
- Export to Markdown preserved all my headings and code blocks perfectly. Dropped it into our docs site, zero cleanup needed.
- I found [this page](https://stc-oldboys.com) with notes on other writing tools for macOS—useful for comparing when colleagues ask for recommendations.
Checklist for next time (so I don't repeat mistakes):
1. Always check the paragraph style first—formatting lives there.
2. Explore the Typography panel for any serious document—ligatures make a difference.
3. Use Focus Mode for first drafts, formatting later.
4. Tables are easier to build in RichText than to import from elsewhere.
5. Test exports early—Markdown, PDF, and Word all behave slightly differently.
Anyway, I'm genuinely impressed. It's become my default for anything that needs to look nice but doesn't require Word's complexity. If you're tired of fighting with office suites for simple docs, give it a shot—just remember to set that paragraph style first. Let me know if you try it.Lorem Ipsum