text edit

Can I view word docs using text edit? If so then how do i get it to do that by default? Right now on my new Imac it opens the test drive version of MSword but i dont think i will be buying that program but i will still need to view word docs. I tried searching for this in the search but didn't find what i was looking for. Thanks!

You can view .doc files with TextEdit, though you will lose some of the special formatting features that Word offers.

yes, text edit will open .doc files. to get it to do so by default, simply right click (ctrl+ click) on a .doc file and select Get Info. Under where it says 'Open With:' select text edit from the drop down menu, then select 'Change All'

thanks worked great!

Perhaps Open Office would be useful for you if you're looking for better compatibility, but without paying eleventy-billion dollars for Microsoft Word.

My friends use TextWrangler. Looks ugly; works great.

try pages.

You might also look up Abiword.app. This is the native Mac OS X port of the open source Abiword program. Abiword is an excellent replacement for MS-Word, and reads and *writes* .doc format. I have used it more than once to repair corrupted MS-Word files where MS-Word itself wouldn't open them.

Abiword is open source freeware. You can get the Mac OS X version at www.abisource.com.