Finch in 40 seconds: a function written in the editor, a file opened with ⌘P, several places edited at once, a replace everywhere, some JSON formatted and a theme change.

Finch replaces TextEdit for anything text: notes, config files, JSON, logs, scripts, code. It opens a file or folder instantly, keeps your tabs from one session to the next even when unsaved, and brings over the Sublime Text moves: multiple cursors, Quick Open for files (⌘P), a Command Palette (⇧⌘P), find and replace everywhere. Finch is free.

What Finch does

A fast editor

Everything you expect from a modern text editor, with nothing to configure.

Automatic syntax highlighting for about forty languages: Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Swift, PHP, Go, Rust, HTML, CSS, JSON, YAML, Markdown, SQL, Shell…
Drag-to-reorder tabs, a clickable minimap, line numbers, code folding.
Two columns (⌥⌘2) to keep two files side by side, and a live Markdown preview (⌥⌘P).
Sidebar: open files and folders, with creating, renaming and moving files to the Trash.
Large files: logs of several tens of MB open without lag.

The Sublime Text moves

Keyboard first: jump anywhere and edit several places at once.

Multiple cursors: ⌘D adds the next occurrence, ⌘-click places a cursor, ⇧⌘L splits a selection into lines, ⌥-drag selects a column.
Quick Open (⌘P): a file in a few keystrokes, “:” for a line, “@” for a function or heading in the file.
Command Palette (⇧⌘P): every command from the keyboard, with its shortcut.
Lines: duplicate (⇧⌘D), delete (⇧⌘K), move (⌃⌘↑↓), join (⌘J), comment (⌘/).

Find and replace

In the file or across a whole folder, with or without regular expressions.

Find bar (⌘F): regular expressions, match case, whole word, occurrence count.
Replace one by one or Replace All (⌥⌘F), undoable with a single ⌘Z.
Find in Files (⇧⌘F) across a folder, filtered by type (*.php, -*.min.js…), and replace everywhere.
Turn every occurrence into cursors in one click.

Files and encodings

Finch respects your files just as they are.

Encodings: UTF-8 (with or without BOM), UTF-16, Latin-1, Windows-1252 and more; automatic detection, reopen with another encoding.
LF, CRLF or CR line endings preserved, and convertible from the status bar.
JSON formatting that keeps key order, sort lines, remove duplicates, upper and lower case, Base64, URL encoding.
System files (/etc/hosts…): save with the administrator password.
File changed by another app: reloaded automatically, or flagged if it has unsaved changes.

Nothing gets lost

Quit whenever you like: everything is waiting for you next launch.

Session restore: tabs, folders, cursor position and the contents of unsaved tabs come back exactly as they were.
Themes Mariana, Monokai, Emerald (dark), Breakers and Celeste (light); dark mode by default.
Default editor for text files in one click, instead of TextEdit.
Automatic updates from within the app.

In pictures

The Finch editor — **The editor**: tabs, sidebar and minimap, Mariana theme.

**Quick Open** (⌘P): a file from the folder in a few keystrokes.

**Command Palette** (⇧⌘P): every command from the keyboard.

**Multiple cursors**: ⌘D selects the next occurrences, and you type just once.

**Find and replace**: occurrences highlighted, replace one by one or everywhere.

**Find in Files** across a folder, with a snippet of each matching line.

Markdown preview — **Two columns**: Markdown and its live preview.

Monokai theme — **Themes**: here Monokai, the Sublime Text classic.

A coffee for what's next

Finch is free, ad-free, and will stay that way. I develop it in my spare time: every coffee helps fund the next versions, fixes and new features, and tells me the app is useful to you.

Buy Me a Coffee

Installation

Download the .zip fileIt unzips on its own in the Downloads folder.
Drag Finch to ApplicationsIn the Finder, into your Mac's Applications folder.
Open FinchThe app is signed and notarized by Apple: it opens without a warning.

Requirements

Free, with no ads and no account.
Available in English, French and Spanish: the app follows your Mac's language, or the one chosen in its settings.
macOS 14 Sonoma or later, on a Mac with Apple silicon or Intel.