Trying to find a free text editor is not that hard. There are tons of them out there. So I really didn’t expect much from FreeText. That being said, it was free, and I decided to give it a go. What I was left with was a great program that I can use to make note-taking easier. It offers quite a few features that I did not expect from a free program.

WHAT IS IT AND WHAT DOES IT DO

Main Functionality

In short, FreeText is a very simple-to-use program that you can use for taking notes, making lists or storing different information. You can use the program how you see fit, and it offers plenty of tools to help you out. Although it does not offer advanced tools that you would find in other word processing programs, it does offer a number of cool features that one may not find in a free “notepad” like program.

Pros

• Makes taking notes, making lists, storing contacts and other information extremely easy
• Comes with little icons that you can insert into your text (star, check mark, caution sign, arrow and “X” symbol) to make certain points stand out more
• Can insert tables into your text
• Allows you to insert pictures into your text
• Also allows you to insert comments and a “logic frame” into your text
• No need to save the text you are writing, because it is always open in the program

Cons

• The program has to be installed. It is such a small program, and making it portable would have improved it.

Discussion

I actually liked using FreeText. It was one of those rare programs that actually blew away my expectations. That being said, I did have pretty low expectations going into it, not because of the program itself, but because I have tried programs like it in the past that I did not like. So let’s get into the discussion.

FreeText is simple to install. It came up clean on VirusTotal, and it did not try to make me install other programs during installation. After the installation is complete, it will ask if you want to launch the program. Once you do, you will be greeted by a small box that you can now start adding text into and a small toolbar that has a few options on it.

Now, if you are looking for advanced options, this program is not for you. In fact, it prides itself on being simple to use. Simply start pasting or typing in the information you want. If you want to add a table or picture, the program can do that for you. It even has a few icons that you can easily insert into your text by clicking on that icon from the toolbar.

The first thing that you may be wondering is: How do I save? Well, don’t try to over think this. In fact the program saves for you. All you need to do to test this is type something in the program and then close it by right clicking its little icon in your task bar and choosing “Exit.” Now, reopen the program. Everything that you typed will still be there. There is no “save” button to speak of, because it does it automatically. This is actually helpful, because it eliminates the chance of you ever losing data.

At first I was a little confused on how to open another document. I mean, if I have a list of my contacts and then want to take some notes on a different subject matter, how am I able to close the current project and open a new one? Apparently, you do this through importing and exporting. When you are done with a file, you simply export it to a folder of your choice on your computer. When you want to open that file again, you can import it back to FreeText.

CONCLUSION AND DOWNLOAD LINK

FreeText is not an amazing program, but it does its job very well. I think it is one of the better free text editing programs I have used. It does not give you a lot of options, but it gives you enough that you can easily take notes. Thanks to the auto save feature, you never have to worry about losing data. The only thing that would have made the program better is if it was portable.

Price: Free

Version reviewed: 1.1

Supported OS: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/Server 2008/7/8

Download size: 1.58MB

VirusTotal malware scan results: 0/40

Is it portable? No

FreeText homepage