Create and work with documents on Mac

• On your Mac, open an app that lets you create documents, then click New Document in the Open dialogue, or choose File > New.

  For example, open TextEdit to create a plain text, rich text or HTML document.

  Open TextEdit for me

Many Mac computers come with these Apple apps that you can use to create spreadsheets, presentations, reports, and more.

• Pages: Create letters, reports, flyers, posters, and more. Pages includes many templates that make it easy to create beautiful documents.

  Open Pages for me (if installed)

• Numbers: Create spreadsheets to organise and present your data. Start with a template, then modify it however you like — add formulas, charts, images, and more.

  Open Numbers for me (if installed)

• Keynote: Create compelling presentations with images, media, charts, slide animations, and more.

  Open Keynote for me (if installed)

If you don’t have Pages, Numbers, or Keynote on your Mac, you can get them from the App Store.

Open App Store for me

They’re also available for your iOS devices (from the App Store) and on iCloud.com.

There are several ways to format and work with text in documents on your Mac:

• Change fonts and styles: In a document, choose Format > Show Fonts or Format > Font > Show Fonts, or Format > Style. See Format text in documents with fonts.

• Change colours: In a document, choose Format > Show Colours, or Format > Font > Show Colours. See Use colours in documents.

• Enter different types of characters: You can enter characters with accent marks or diacritic marks.

• Check spelling: In most apps, spelling is checked while you type, and mistakes are automatically corrected. You can turn off these features or use other options. See Check spelling and grammar.

An app may provide additional ways to format and work with text, and with images and objects. To learn more about an app, choose Help in the menu bar while working in the app.

Many apps on your Mac save your documents automatically (a feature known as Auto Save) while you work. You can save a document at any time.

• Save a document: In a document, choose File > Save, enter a name, choose where to save the document (to see more locations, click the down arrow button ), then click Save.

  When you save your document, you can add tags to help you find it later. You may be able to save your document in iCloud Drive so it’s available on your computers and iOS devices set up with iCloud Drive.

• Save a document with another name: In a document, choose File > Save As, then enter a new name. If you don’t see Save As, press and hold the Option key, then open the File menu again.

• Save a document as a copy: In a document, choose File > Duplicate or File > Save As.

You can also save a document as a PDF and combine multiple files into a single PDF.

There are several ways to find documents on your Mac:

• Ask Siri: You can have Siri look for one file or a set of files and then follow up to narrow the scope of what Siri finds. Learn more about Siri.

  Here are examples of things you can ask Siri:

  • “Show me the files I worked on last week about kitchen remodel”

  • “Just the ones tagged appliances”

• Use Spotlight: Click the Spotlight icon in the menu bar, then enter the name of your document. You can also use Spotlight to specify criteria to narrow the search results.

• Use tags: If you tagged your document, click the Finder icon in the Dock to open a Finder window, then click the tag in the Finder sidebar. See Use tags to organise files.

• Use the Recents folder: In the sidebar of a Finder window, click Recents.

• Use the Recent Items menu: If you worked on a document recently, choose Apple menu  > Recent Items.

In some apps, you can open recent documents by choosing File > Open Recent, then the document.