Text Edit: How to stop the auto-numbering?

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Level 1

97 points

Text Edit: How to stop the auto-numbering?

I'm pasting text from web pages into Text Edit. Trouble is, about 10% of the text has numbered lines, as in 1. 2. 3. etc up to 10. After pasting a numbered section, the following paste will continue the numbering automatically. Any pasted paragraph that is inset receives a number. So instead of a long document that has a couple of sections numbered 1-10, 80% of the doc has numbers increasing up to 78.

I don't see any way to turn this function off. The only apparently relevant menu item is "Smart copy/Paste" in Preferences, but turning that off doesn't change anything. Speaking of Preferences, one would think that a manual guide (or menu item or individual scrap of data) describing Text Edit Preference settings would be included with the program. Nope. In fact, entering the words: "Text Edit Preferences" into the (so-called) Help viewer brings back nothing useful at all. The only Help I've ever found for learning about my Mac has been here on Discussions.

Thanks for any tips,
Greg Reyna

G4 dp1.42gHz, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Jun 4, 2009 11:20 AM

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Answer 1

Jun 4, 2009 12:27 PM in response to Greg Reyna

Try the pulldown menu in the toolbar (next to Spacing) and select "none."

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Answer 2

Greg Reyna Author

Level 1

97 points

Jun 4, 2009 9:03 PM in response to Bruce Etnyre

Thanks! It worked like a charm. I noticed that if no text is selected when you select "None", it deletes numbers that have already been pasted, but by selecting the last line of text (one that has no number preceding it), the setting is activated without affecting previous pastes.

I never even noticed the toolbar. Usually I run BBEdit, so I don't know Text Edit at all--and obviously, I'm not a big toolbar user...

Greg

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Answer 3

Jun 5, 2009 6:55 AM in response to Greg Reyna

Happy to hear it helped. We've probably all overlooked something that was right in front of us.

I was unaware of this feature in TextEdit also, until I looked in its help files.

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Answer 4

Greg Reyna Author

Level 1

97 points

Jun 5, 2009 10:08 AM in response to Bruce Etnyre

Like I said, I've never found much help from the Mac's OS Help system. To me, it's about as un-intuitive as it could get. Linking one-line text descriptions to other one-line text descriptions is a rather arbitrary way to communicate the use of software. In Text Edit's help system, "Editing Software" leads, after two links, to a page that displays fourpieces of information about Editing. Then there are more links. What about the idea of putting all related information about Editing in one place, like a good manual does?

The formatting of a good manual is something that has improved over the years, and when done right makes it easy to find the needed information. Apple doesn't provide manuals for its OS software, why not? I have seen very adequate on-line manuals that are designed more like a printed manual, in a style that has been worked out over decades. Why re-invent the wheel? --Especially when the new model is so inferior to the original.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Macs. But in my opinion, their help system is a major weakness, and should be re-assessed. A cynic might say it's designed that way in order to sell books.

Greg

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Answer 5

Jun 5, 2009 1:24 PM in response to Greg Reyna

I somewhat agree with you that at times help for Apple applications seems unintuitive, but if you think that is, try help in Micro$oft Office applications. Not that Apple's help feature couldn't be better, but it could be worse.

Anyway, for once I found something useful using help in TextEdit, and it helped you, so I'm glad about that.

Come back to the forums anytime. There's usually someone here who can help, but even then it is sometimes frustrating. That's understandable though because the users here can't see the other user's computers and very often vital information is not provided from the user having issues.

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Answer 6

Greg Reyna Author

Level 1

97 points

Jun 5, 2009 3:03 PM in response to Bruce Etnyre

No question: The people on Apple Discussions are the best! Recently an Apple expert came to our union meeting to talk, and answer questions about Macs. I made sure all the new Mac users in the audience knew about this excellent resource.

Greg

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