## Plain Text

Plain text files may seem too simple to be truly useful. No styling. No images. Nothing but text. But the reality is these simple files are underlying a lot of your daily experience. From the HTML code instructing your browser how to display a web site, to the code DEVONthink is written in, plain text is very powerful. DEVONthink supports plain text files as a native, editable format.

Plain text files can be created via Data > New > Plain Text. While they don't support formatting, they are often an ideal format for rapidly recording thoughts with less distraction. They are cross-platform, including on mobile, and can be opened in dozens (if not hundreds) of applications. Another benefit of plain text is it can be easily processed in automations.

There are a large number of plain text file formats in the world. DEVONthink recognizes many of them and they should be editable just like standard `.txt` files. However, if you have a format that is not recognized, you can add the extension to be recognized as a plain text format. See the Hidden Preferences section of the Appendix on how to accomplish that.

## Rich Text

Word processing applications brought us text with flair. Need some bold and italic text? How about adding a photo to the page? And color? These applications were providing it all. But their formats are proprietary so if you don't have the creator application, you can't open the file or you'll have to convert it first. The rich text format provides a useful text format that supports formatted text. These files are generally cross-platform compatible and editable in many applications. DEVONthink uses the same text engine found in Apple TextEdit, so it's an easy transition if you're already familiar with it.

Rich text files can be created via Data > New > Rich Text. You can attach other documents to rich text documents simply by dragging them into the text. Technically the rich text document becomes an `.rtfd` package and the dragged file is saved as part of the package. Using the context menu, you can show an attachment's content in a Quick Look preview. Also, if you double-click an attachment, it will open in the system default application.

Outlining: If you need to may lists in your rich text documents, there is a built-in "mini outliner" is a built into the text engine. On any blank line in a rich text document, type `⌥︎``⇥︎` Option-Tab to create a bullet point (macOS shows dashes instead of bullets). Type something then press `↩︎` Return to create the next line item, and so on. Additional `⌥︎``⇥︎` will increase the indentation; `⇧︎``⇥︎` will outdent the line. Press `↩︎` multiple times to exit the list. Lists use a hyphen by default but you can change this via the Format > List dialog on a selected level of the list.

Annotating: Part of the popularity of rich text is the speed of composition but also being able to format with highlights, underlines, etc.

Sections: Another powerful feature of rich text is the ability to create sections and subsections. Especially useful in long-form documents, set a solitary line in bold and it will be detected as a section. A single line underlined acts as a subsection. But note these lines must be standalones and not mixed styles.

## Interface

Editing Bar: The navigation bar for rich text files includes the Editing Bar. Click this icon and the editing bar will appear in place of the navigation bar. The tools available here consist of:

- Edit the formatting of a list.
- Edit parameters of a table.
- Increase the size of the font.
- Decrease the size of the font.
- Set characters to be subscript.
- Set characters to be superscript.
- Adjust the line spacing of selected text.
- Set bold on the text.
- Set italic on the text.
- Set underlines on the text.
- Set strikethrough on the text.
- Highlight selected text. This uses the currently selected highlight color.
- Add or edit a link applied to the selected text.
- Convert selected text into an active link. This can be used to dynamically create Wiki documents.
- Show or hide the ruler. Place tab stops with the mouse, then remove them by dragging them off the ruler. Drag new tab stops (left aligned, centered, right aligned, or decimal aligned) from the repository at the right side to their desired positions on the ruler. Use the mouse to adjust the left and right margins and indent.
- Show the Fonts panel.
- Show the Color Picker.

Format Bar: In addition to formatting options in the Format menu and the simple controls in the editing bar, DEVONthink provides another toolbar just for rich text editing. Select Format > Show Format Bar to display a set of rich text controls under the toolbar in main or document windows. Similar to TextEdit, it provides the following options:

- Styles: Select a predefined text style from the pop-up menu. To define your own styles, choose Other to open the standard macOS style editor. In the style editor, navigate back and forth through the styles of your document or the stored favorite styles. (Use the radio buttons to switch between document and favorite styles.) Click Select to select all occurrences of text with the displayed style in the document, click Apply to apply the style to selected text, or click Done to leave the style editor. To add a style from your document to the favorites, click Add To Favorites; to remove a favorite, click Remove From Favorites.
- Font Controls: Displaying three dropdown menus for, choosing the font face, font weight, and font size.
- Colors: Two buttons are available for setting the text and background color.
- Basic Styling: Allows you to choose bold, italic, or underlines.
- Alignment: Align the current paragraph (the one with the insertion caret inside) left, centered, justified, or right by clicking the according alignment buttons in the ruler.
- Spacing: Choose the desired spacing for the current paragraph from the Spacing pop-up menu. Choose Other to enter values other than the ones shown.
- Lists: Make the current paragraph a list (indented and with a bullet or numbered) by choosing the desired list style from the Lists pop-up menu. Choose Other to define your own list style.

Context Menu: In addition to the context menu items available with text selections, rich text files also feature these specific commands:

- Insert > ...: Inserts special characters or items into the document.
- Quick Look Attachment: Opens a Quick Look panel for the selected attachment in a rich text file.
- Split Document: Splits the document at the current insertion position. A new document is created for the text after the cursor position and removed from the current document. This can be used in rich text and plain text, including Markdown content in edit mode.

Inspectors: The usual inspectors work with both plain and rich text files, but there are a few inspectors that work with rich text:

- Properties: The Info > Properties inspector can display metadata on rich text files, like Keywords, the Author, or Organization.
- Table of Contents: If you read above about creating sections and subsections, the Table of Contents inspector is where you can view and navigate these sections.
- Annotations: Rich text supports highlighting, underlining, strikethrough, etc. You can view and access these in the Document > Annotations inspector.

## Item Linking

In addition to the document's standard item link, plain and rich text files support this alternative item link:

- Paragraph Link: Link to the paragraph of the selected text.

Alternate item links are available in the context menu in the view/edit pane or when holding the Shift key while viewing the Edit menu.