This page shows a table contrasting the features of the text editors that interface to TeX (or LaTeX or its other incarnations).
Table of editor properties
Properties of TeX editors | Editing style[1] | Native operating systems[2] | Latest stable version | Free (i.e. gratis) | Open source (license) | Configurable | Integrated viewer | Inverse search[3] | DDE support[4] | Organises Projects | Menu for inserting symbols | Document comparison | Spell-checking | Multiple undo-redo | Collapsible sections | Find and replace using regular expressions | Intelligent error handling | Autocompletion of LaTeX commands | Parenthesis matching | Starts up to previous state (including editing point) | Unicode support | |
|---|
| AUCTEX | Source | L, M, W | 11.86 (2010-02-21) | Yes | Yes (GPL) | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes[5] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[6] | Yes | AUCTEX |
| BaKoMa TeX Home | WYSIWYG / Source | W, M, L | 9.83 (2012-05-10) | No (cost) | No | Yes (scriptable) | Yes
(Live update) | Yes | Yes | Partial[7] | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial[7] | Yes | BaKoMa TeX |
| Eclipse (By plugin TeXlipse) | Source | L, M, W | 1.5.0 (2011-11-26) | Yes | Yes (EPL) | Yes | Yes[8] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Eclipse (By plugin TeXlipse) |
| Geany LaTeX Plugin Home | Source | L,W | 0.50 (2010-06-12) | Yes | Yes (GPL) | Yes | Yes | No | N/A | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Geany LaTeX Plugin |
| Gedit LaTeX Plugin Home | Source | L | 0.2 (2010-04-18) | Yes | Yes (GPL) | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes[9] | Yes[10] | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Gedit LaTeX Plugin |
| Gummi | Source | L | 0.6.5 (2012-10-20) | Yes | Yes (MIT) | Yes | Yes
(Live update) | Yes | N/A | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Gummi |
| Inlage | Source | W | 4.7 (2011-02-03) | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes�-± | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Inlage |
| JaxEdit | Source | B | 0.20 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | n/a | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | JaxEdit |
| JLatexEditor | Source | L (M, W) | 0.1.56 (2011-04-06) | Yes | Yes (GPL) | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial[11] | JLatexEditor |
| JHepWork | Source | L (M, W) | 2.8 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | JHepWork |
| Kile | Source | L (M, W)[12] | 2.1.1 (2012-01-26) | Yes | Yes (GPL) | Yes | Yes
(Quick preview) | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Kile |
| | Editing Style | Native Operating Systems | Latest stable version | Free (i.e. gratis) | Open source (license) | Configurable | Integrated viewer | Inverse search | DDE Support | Organises Projects | Menu for inserting symbols | Document comparison | Spell-checking | Multiple undo-redo | Collapsible sections | Find and replace using Regular Expressions | Intelligent error handling | Autocompletion of LaTeX commands | Parenthesis matching | Starts up to previous state (including editing point) | Unicode support |
| LaTeXila | source | L | 2.2.2 (Oct 08, 2011) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Planned | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes
(in beta) | Yes | Planned | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial (just same files) | Yes |
| LatexLab | Source | B | ? | Yes | Yes (Apache License) | ? | Yes | Yes | N/A | ? | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | LatexLab |
| Latexian | Source | M | 1.0.6 | No (cost) | No | Yes | Yes
(Live Preview) | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Latexian |
| LEd | Source | W | 0.53 (2009-10-09) | Yes | No | ? | Yes
(dvi) | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No (just same files) | No | LEd |
| LyX | WYSIWYM | L, M, W | 2.0.3 (2012-3-1) | Yes | Yes (GPL) | Yes | Yes
(InstantPreview) | Yes | ? | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | only commands in maths mode | N/A | Yes | Yes | LyX |
| MeWa | Source | W | 1.4.0 (2007-06-06) | Yes | Yes (GPL) | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | MeWa |
| Notepad++ | Source | W | 5.9.8 (2012-01-05) | Yes | Yes (GPL) | Yes | No, but can be integrated [13] | No | No | No | Partial[14] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Partial[15] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Notepad++ |
| Scientific WorkPlace | WYSIWYM | W | 5.5 | No (cost) | No | Yes | Yes
(TrueTex®) | N/A | ? | ? | Yes | No | Yes | No (one level) | No | ? | ? | N/A | Yes | No | Yes | Scientific WorkPlace |
| Scribo Home | Source | M | 2011.1
(beta) | Yes | No | ? | Yes
(pdf) | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Scribo |
| ShareLaTeX Home | Source | B | n/a | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | ShareLaTeX |
| TeXCoding Home | Source | W | 2010.3 | No (cost) | No | Yes | Yes
(pdf, dvi) | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | TeXCoding |
| | Editing style | Native operating systems | Latest stable version | Free (i.e. gratis) | Open source (license) | Configurable | Integrated viewer | Inverse search | DDE support | Organises Projects | Menu for inserting symbols | Document comparison | Spell-checking | Multiple undo-redo | Collapsible sections | Find and replace using Regular Expressions | Intelligent error handling | Autocompletion of LaTeX commands | Parenthesis matching | Starts up to previous state (including editing point) | Unicode support |
| Texmaker | Source | L, M, W | 3.5.2 (2012-11-02) | Yes | Yes (GPL2) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Partial (master file) | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Texmaker Home |
| TeXnicCenter | Source | W | 1RC1 (2008-12-07) | Yes | Yes (GPL) | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes (proprietary behavior[16]) | No (yes in V.2) | No (yes in V.2) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No (yes in V.2) | TeXnicCenter |
| Texpad | Source | M, iOS | 1.4.7/1.4.7 (2013-2-19) | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Texpad |
| TeXShop | Source | M | 3.11 (2012-06-06) | Yes | Yes (GPL) | Yes | Yes
(InstantPreview with Flashmode) | Yes | No | No | Yes[17] | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | TeXShop |
| TeXstudio | Source | L, W, M | 2.5 (2012-10-16) | Yes | Yes (GPL2) | Yes | Yes
(pdf, selection with dvi2png) | Yes | Yes | Partial (master file) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | TeXstudio Home |
| TeXworks | Source | L, M, W | 0.4[18] | Yes | Yes (GPL) | No | Yes
(pdf) | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes[19] | Yes | No | Yes[20] | No | Yes[21] | Yes | No | Yes | TeXworks |
| Verbosus | Source | B, A[22] , iOS[23] | 3.7 | Yes[24] | No | Yes | Yes
(pdf) | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Verbosus |
| Vim with plugin vim-latexsuite | Source | L | 7.3.555 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ? | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Vim |
| WinEdt Home | Source | W | 7.1 (2013-02-27) | No (cost) | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes (modified) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | WinEdt |
| Winefish | Source | L | 1.3.3 | Yes | Yes (GPL) | Yes | No | No | N/A | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Winefish |
| WinShell | Source | W | 3.3.1.12 | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No (just same files) | Yes | WinShell |
| writeLaTeX Home | Source | B | n/a | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | n/a | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | writeLaTeX Home |
| | Editing Style | Native Operating Systems | Latest stable version | Free (i.e. gratis) | Open source (license) | Configurable | Integrated viewer | Inverse search | DDE Support | Organises Projects | Menu for inserting symbols | Document comparison | Spell-checking | Multiple undo-redo | Collapsible sections | Find and replace using regular expressions | Intelligent error handling | Autocompletion of LaTeX commands | Parenthesis matching | Starts up to previous state (including editing point) | Unicode support |
See also
References
- ^ "WYSIWYM" = What You See Is What You Mean, i.e. you see and edit formatted text; "Source" means you see and edit the TeX source files.
- ^ L, M, W, B, A refer to Linux, Mac OS, Windows, Browser-based and Android respectively (of course other combinations are possible, using emulators or other software)
- ^ Inverse search means that one can locate the relevant part of the source code from the viewer (e.g., double-clicking in dvi or pdf file brings up the appropriate line/paragraph in the latex code)
- ^ On Windows some pdf viewers like Sumatra PDF or Adobe Reader don't use command line arguments for forward search, but the editor sends the document position to them using DDE
- ^ requires installation of extra package
- ^ configurable as an option of the Emacs editor
- ^ a b Source editor only
- ^ Additional plugin Pdf4Eclipse for preview of pdf files with SyncTeX support
- ^ User:rgbpe; Ubuntu Forums; http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.ph p?p=7841972#post7841972
- ^ requires an additional plugin
- ^ Can open/save files with UTF-8 encoding, but characters often do not appear correctly in editing screen.
- ^ Support for non-linux systems considered experimental.
- ^ Notepad++ can execute Tex viewers; see GNU Octave, LaTex and Notepad++ for more details.
- ^ A plug-in is required. see this list of plugins for Notepad++ for details.
- ^ This will have to be set up manually.
- ^ TeXnicCenter Development Forum: Problems with Undo
- ^ LaTeX panel & Matrix panel
- ^ TeXworks 0.4 released on March 21, 2011 for Windows and Linux
- ^ requires installation of extra package ( → How to install spelling dictionaries for the TeXworks editor )
- ^ provides a subset of the regular expression syntax implemented in the Perl scripting language, but fully supports Unicode ( → Issue 194: Add advanced regexp options to Find/Replace )
- ^ template file in resource directory ( → Documentation of the code completion feature )
- ^ "VerbTeX". 2010-07-28. https://www.verbosus.com/android-late x-editor.html. Retrieved 2010-07-28. "VerbTeX is a LaTeX Editor for Android devices. It uses the LaTeX service available at verbosus.com to generate PDFs."
- ^ "iVerbTeX". 2010-07-28. https://www.verbosus.com/ios-latex-ed itor-for-ipad-and-iphone.html. Retrieved 2010-07-28. "iVerbTeX is a LaTeX Editor for iOS devices. It uses the LaTeX service available at verbosus.com to generate PDFs."
- ^ "Terms and Conditions". 2010-02-23. https://www.verbosus.com/terms.html. Retrieved 2010-03-06. "The service is free to use (you are allowed to create four resources of any type for free). Additional costs arise if you decide that you don't want this restriction and explicitly purchase its removal."
