GNOME Text Editor
The plain text editor that comes with GNOME desktops. The Notepad of Linux, with tabs and colour coding.
Our verdict
This is the app that opens when you double-click a .txt file on a GNOME desktop, and it is the honest answer to "what replaces Notepad". You will not install it. It is already there.
It does what Notepad does and a bit more. Tabs, undo that goes back a long way, and drafts that survive closing the window. Fonts and line numbers are in the menu. Nothing else asks for your attention.
If you were a Notepad++ person rather than a Notepad person, this will feel thin, and you should look at a proper code editor instead. For jotting a list or reading a config file, it is the right size.
What's good
- Already installed on Ubuntu, Fedora and most beginner systems
- Opens instantly and saves plain .txt files with no fuss
- Keeps what you typed if you close it without saving, so a stray click costs nothing
- Colour codes code and config files if you ever open one
What to know first
- No macros, no column editing, none of the heavy lifting Notepad++ does
- Windows line endings are handled quietly, which is fine until you need to control them
- Search and replace is basic next to a real code editor
- Not present on KDE systems, which ship their own editor instead
The details
- Cost
- Free
- Open source
- Yes (GPL-3.0-or-later)
- How you install it
- App store (Flatpak), .deb installer, .rpm installer, Built-in app store
Windows apps it can replace
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