Saving TextEdit

I recently lost some work in TextEdit by stupidly clicking on "Don't Save." (See:http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/os-x-applications-games/183107-dont-save.html) In that discussion I learned that TextEdit has an autosave feature, but that it doesn't work on a previously unsaved file when "Don't Save" is selected (Duh!). So, I am proposing a failsafe workaround for dummies like me. (See avatar.)

I have created and saved a file named "TextEdit Temp File." From now on when I start TextEdit, I'll just use File/Open Recent and select my new Temp file. Since it's a previously Saved file, the autosave feature will protect my work 100%.

Question: Is there a way to get TextEdit to Open my new Temp file by default each time I bring up the app? Comments?

There are quite a few ways you could do it, but here are two of the simplest.

1. You could just place the template file in the Dock instead of having a TextEdit icon. That's probably the simplest way.

2. You could create an Automator Application that does nothing more than open that file and then give it TextEdit's icon and put that in the Dock. This has the benefit of fitting in the "application section" of the Dock.

Neither method would work when opening TextEdit from other locations, but you could place the application from the second method in your Applications folder and give it a similar name so that it would show up in Spotlight searches.

Using either method, I have another recommendation: make your template file Stationery pad. That way, if you accidentally save without changing the name, you won't have to recreate a blank template. It will also solve the problem of opening multiple documents at once (without it, the methods above would both only open or activate a single document until you saved with a different name).

To make a file Stationery pad, open its Get Info window and check Stationery pad. Then each time you open it afterward, a copy will be made, and you will edit that.

If you do a lot of plain text writing and editing, I suggest using another application rather than TextEdit. There are more powerful free text editors for OS X (Smultron) and some very nice free word processors such as "Bean" which have an autosave feature similar to MS Word.

Regards.

Great suggestions! I don't often use plain text, so TextEdit is just fine for me.

I've put my template in the Dock, with a cool icon, and made it "stationery" as suggested. That leaves my TextEdit in the Dock for new files if I want them. Thanks for the help. I think this is going to work out perfect for me.