An extensible, customizable, free/libre text editor and more!

Emacs for Mac
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Emacs for Mac

  -  96.2 MB  -  Open Source
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Emacs for Mac is an amazing, extensible, customizable, free/libre text editor for macOS and much more! At its core is an interpreter for the tool Lisp, a dialect of the Lisp programming language with extensions to support text editing.

The Emacs for macOS distribution includes the full source code for the manuals, as well as several the tool Reference Cards in various languages.

The features of GNU Emacs include:
  • Content-aware editing modes, including syntax coloring, for many file types.
  • Complete built-in documentation, including a tutorial for new users.
  • Full Unicode support for nearly all human scripts.
  • Highly customizable, using the tool Lisp code or a graphical interface.
  • An entire ecosystem of functionality beyond text editing, including a project planner, mail and news reader, debugger interface, calendar, and more.
  • A packaging system for downloading and installing extensions.
Emacs has a wide variety of new features, including:
  • Limited form of concurrency with Lisp threads
  • Support for optional display of line numbers in the buffer
  • It now uses double buffering to reduce flicker on the X Window System
  • Flymake has been completely redesigned
  • TRAMP has a new connection method for Google Drive
  • New single-line horizontal scrolling mode
  • A system user unit file is provided
  • Support for 24-bit colors on capable text terminals
How to Use
  • Install using drag-and-drop or Homebrew cask
  • Launch Emacs from Applications or Terminal
  • Use C-x C-f to open or create a file
  • Use M-x to run Emacs commands
  • Customize using .emacs or init.el
  • Install packages via M-x package-list-packages
  • Navigate with keyboard shortcuts (e.g., C-x, C-c)
  • Save files with C-x C-s and exit with C-x C-c
  • Use buffers and windows to manage multiple files
System Requirements

macOS 10.13 High Sierra or later

At least 200 MB of free disk space

2 GB RAM minimum (4 GB recommended)

64-bit Intel or Apple Silicon (via Rosetta or native)

Internet connection for downloading and packages

PROS
  • Highly customizable and extensible
  • Free and open-source editor
  • Powerful keyboard shortcuts
  • Built-in support for many languages
  • Large library of plugins and tools
CONS
  • UI feels outdated to some users
  • Not optimized for macOS visuals
  • Can be complex to configure
  • Plugin conflicts may arise occasionally
Also Available: Download Emacs for Windows

Download Emacs for Mac Latest Version

  • Emacs 29.4-1 Screenshots

    The images below have been resized. Click on them to view the screenshots in full size.

    Emacs 29.4-1 Screenshot 1

What's new in this version:

Emacs 29.4
- an emergency maintenance release


Emacs 29.3
- an emergency maintenance release


Emacs 29.2
- an maintenance release


Emacs 29.1
- Supports "pure GTK" (PGTK) build
- Uses XInput 2 on X for input events
- Uses tree-sitter parsers for several programming modes
- Includes LSP client called Eglot
- Includes the use-package package
- Can access SQLite databases using sqlite3 library
- Can display WebP images using libwebp library
- Faster editing of files with very long lines
- Better support for drag-and-drop on X
- Pixel-precise scrolling with touchpad support
- Enhanced support for editing and displaying Emoji
- Support for Unicode 15.0 and many new scripts
- Many enhancements of help and completion commands
- Numerous enhancements to Image Dired
- Double-buffering on MS-Windows


Emacs 28.1
- Native compilation of Lisp files
- Text shaping with HarfBuzz and drawing with Cairo
- Support for loading Secure Computing filters
- Much improved display of Emoji and Emoji sequences
- New system for documenting groups of functions
- A minor mode for context menus
- Mode-specific commands
- Emacs shows matching parentheses by default
- Many improvements and extensions to project.el


Emacs 27.2
- The behavior of the user option 'resize-mini-frames' has changed.


Emacs 27.1
- Built-in support for arbitrary-size integers
- Text shaping with HarfBuzz
- Native support for JSON parsing
- Better support for Cairo drawing
- Portable dumping used instead of unexec
- Support for XDG conventions for init files
- Additional early-init initialization file
- Built-in support for tab bar and tab-line
- Support for resizing and rotating of images without ImageMagick


Emacs 26.3
- New GPG key for GNU ELPA package signature checking

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