How to Create a Text File on Windows 10 (Make TXT Files)
This could be one of the most universally needed features across any operating system or platform. Knowing how to create a text file on Windows 10 is a skill you will be using all throughout your lifetime of using technology.
Windows has a great inbuilt feature for you to quickly and easily create and edit a text file and save it anywhere you like.
You don’t have to spend money on extra software to get the job done effectively and easily.
The built-in text Notepad editor is not as sophisticated as a complete word processor but still provides you with more than enough features to complete the job.
What is a plain text file?
A text file has a .txt at the end of the file name. This extension defines it specifically as a text document. You can read more about showing file extensions in another article of ours.
Other than that, it contains basic plain text. Special characters can be present within one or even ASCII characters. Anything more like images won’t be part of a text file.
Create text file
- Move your mouse pointer somewhere on your desktop or somewhere within Windows File Explorer to the location you wish to add a new one.
- Press your right mouse button and a new contextual menu will open.
- Hover your mouse pointer over ‘New’ then move your mouse pointer onto ‘Text Document’ and press your left mouse button.
- Type in the name for your document and press enter to complete the process.
If you made a mistake, you can easily rename it again, or delete it and start over.
Tip: If you are halfway editing the filename (and still in the editing mode) and don’t want to make the changes anymore, press the ‘Esc’ key on your keyboard.
How to edit text files (After you create a file or pre-existing files)
Simply move your mouse pointer onto the text file and double-click your left mouse button.
The Windows Notepad text editor will open it for editing.
Once you have edited it, you can click on ‘File’ and ‘Save’ in order to update the text file.
How to make a text file using Notepad
By opening the Notepad text editor directly, you can begin creating and editing your text file straight after the program has been opened.
This may seem easier for some, so this method would be the preferred way in that case.
To open Notepad, simply press the Windows key and start typing notepad. You will most likely have typed a few characters and Notepad will appear in the menu for you to select.
Press your left mouse button while hovering your mouse pointer over Notepad in the menu.
Once Notepad has been opened, edit your document and left-click your mouse on ‘File’ then left-click on ‘Save As’ to create it and select its save location.
In conclusion to creating a text file
If you want a lightweight yet slightly more sophisticated text editor that can be formatted for other applications, I highly recommend Notepad++. It is free and lightweight.
However, if your needs are limited, I’d recommend sticking to Notepad.
For example, text files can be saved on mobile devices, cloud storage facilities, USB flash drives, tablets, and computers.
Text files can be viewed and edited by various devices and software.
This makes them the perfect go-to for storing quick notes or information you need to refer back to at any time.
So, knowing the way to create a text file is a very useful skill, wouldn’t you agree?
