TextEdit does not save files to an external drive with the ExFat file system. Other programs work fine with this disk.
On the internal drive TextEdit works fine.
MacBook Air (2020 or later)
FYI in my case, if I DUPLICATE an existing textedit file on my exfat flash drive by using FINDER Copy/Paste, and open that dupe, and try to make changes & save -- then the error occurs...
BUT if I instead duplicate the file using File / Save As -- in the SAME DIRECTORY / FLASH DRIVE -- I don't have the problem! I can make changes and save.
(I also had to OMIT adding the .rtf extension to the file name. That also caused save failure.)
Mac OS 11.6, TextEdit 1.16 (365.2) there is no problem with saving files.
Everything works well.
A very useful observation. Thanks for the information.
Let's gather matching data!
Who experiencing this issue is using Carbon Copy Cloner? I am..
A month ago everything was working properly. Maybe this happened after a system update, or maybe it's just some kind of system bug.
Weird "system" bug that only affects a few people.
Have you reformatted it as ExFAT on your Mac as suggested? If you formatted it on Windows or Linux, it might be somehow incompatible. However, you run the risk of it not working on another OS.
Almos_27 wrote:
If I format the disk in Mac OS Extended, everything works fine, but in ExFat and Fat file systems TextEdit does not save or modify files. It can only create a duplicate. The same disk with ExFat on another computer with Mac OS 10.14.6 works fine.
FAT is a comparatively fragile file system. It was meant for floppy disks, and with all the limits inherent in that.
Different tools and different implementations can have disagreements over what values are permitted or not permitted, this all having written a FAT file system.
For a previous discussion and for some potential repair options, see:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4154638
If a particular FAT volume doesn’t play well, re-generate it; reinitialize the volume.
Windows started to ditch FAT most of thirty years ago with the release of NTFS, save for the continued use of FAT variants for storage interchange.
If you have both systems in proximity (same network), set up a network file share and use that.
If you really need to swap disks and cannot (occasionally) re-format this volume (possibly on Windows, etc), consider getting the NTFS write support for macOS available from Paragon, and switch this volume from ExFAT to NTFS.
Almos_27 wrote:
Yes, of course, I formatted on a Mac. With the Mac OS Extended TextEdit file system works fine. But I have to be able to work with this drive in Windows.
I didn’t suggest Mac OS Extended.
I have a MacBook Air M1.
External SSD drive and flash card. I connect via the original adapter or directly to the USB-C port. In each of these cases there is a problem. The problem only affects TextEdit, other programs work and save files without problems.
If I format the external drive to the MacOS Extended file system, everything works fine.
What error do you get or what happens?
I don't have any problem with TextEdit saving to ExFAT.
Yes, of course, I formatted on a Mac. With the Mac OS Extended TextEdit file system works fine. But I have to be able to work with this drive in Windows.
Barney-15E wrote:
I didn’t suggest Mac OS Extended.
I mentioned HFS (HFS+). At that point in this thread, swapping storage with Windows had not been mentioned.
TextEdit does not save
