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Comparison of TeX editors

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The following is a comparison of TeX editors.

Table of editors

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Properties of TeX editors 1
Name Editing style[Note 1] Native operating systems Latest stable version Costs License Configurable Integrated viewer
AUCTeX Source Linux, macOS, Windows (2023-04-23) 13.2 Free GPL Yes Yes
  Authorea Source / partial-WYSIWYG Online Free Proprietary Yes Yes
CoCalc Source Online Free AGPL + Commons Clause Yes Yes
GNOME LaTeX Source Linux (2023-06-25) 3.46.0 Free GPL Yes No
Gummi Source Linux (2022-04-29) 0.8.3 Free MIT Yes Yes (Live update)
Kile Source Linux (macOS, Windows)[Note 2] (2012-09-23) 2.1.3 Free GPL Yes Yes (Quick preview)
LyX WYSIWYM Linux, macOS, Windows (2023-01-07) 2.3.7 Free GPL Yes Yes
Notepad++ Source Windows (2024-02-20) 8.6.4 Free GPL Yes No, but can be integrated [Note 3]
Overleaf Source Online Free Unclear Yes Yes
Scientific WorkPlace WYSIWYM Windows (2016-02-23) 6.0.12 Non-free Proprietary Yes Yes
TeXmacs[Note 4] WYSIWYG Linux, macOS, Windows (2024-03-11) 2.1.4 Free GPL Yes Partial (preview using system Pdf viewer)
Texmaker Source Linux, macOS, Windows (2023-04-29) 5.1.4 Free GPL2 Yes Yes
TeXnicCenter Source Windows (2013-09-29) 2.02 Stable Free GPL Yes No
TeXShop Source macOS (2023-07-21) 5.15 Free GPL Yes Yes
TeXstudio Source Linux, macOS, Windows (2024-06-07) 4.8.1 Free GPL2 Yes Yes (pdf, selection with dvi2png)
TeXworks Source Linux, macOS, Windows (2024-02-12) 0.6.9 Free GPL No Yes (pdf)
Verbosus Source Online, Android, iOS (2016-05-06) 4.1.3 Free Proprietary Yes Yes (pdf)
Vim Source Linux, macOS, Windows (2024-01-02) 9.1.0 Free Vim Yes No
Visual Studio Code Source Linux, macOS, Windows (2024-06-19) 1.90.2 Free Source code: MIT
Microsoft-built binaries: Proprietary
Yes Yes (pdf) [Note 5]
WinEdt Source Windows (2023-05-16) 11.1 Non-free Proprietary Yes Yes
WinShell Source Windows (2013-02-10) 3.3.2.6 Free Proprietary Yes No
Name Editing Style Native Operating Systems Latest stable version Costs License Configurable Integrated viewer
Properties of TeX editors 2
Name Inverse search[Note 6] DDE support[Note 7] Organises Projects Menu for inserting symbols Document comparison Spell-checking Multiple undo-redo
AUCTeX Yes No Partial (master file) Yes Yes Yes[Note 8] Yes
  Authorea  Yes Yes No No Yes Yes
CoCalc Yes No No No Yes Yes
GNOME LaTeX Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Gummi Yes Yes No No Yes Yes
Kile Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes
LyX Yes ? No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Notepad++ Yes, with SumatraPDF Yes, with a DDE client Yes Partial[Note 9] Yes Yes Yes
Overleaf Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Scientific WorkPlace ? ? Yes No Yes No (one level)
TeXmacs Yes Partial (shows document parts) Yes Partial (for own format only) Yes Yes
Texmaker Yes No Partial (master file) Yes No Yes Yes
TeXnicCenter Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
TeXShop Yes No No Yes[Note 10] No Yes Yes
TeXstudio Yes Yes Partial (master file) Yes Yes Yes Yes
TeXworks Yes No No No No Yes[Note 11] Yes
Verbosus No No Yes Yes No No Yes
Vim Yes ? Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Visual Studio Code Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
WinEdt Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
WinShell Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Name Inverse search DDE Support Organises Projects Menu for inserting symbols Document comparison Spell-checking Multiple undo-redo
Properties of TeX editors 3
Name Collapsible sections Find and replace using RegEx Intelligent error handling Autocompletion of LaTeX commands Parenthesis matching Starts up to previous state[Note 12] Unicode support RTL Support[Note 13]
AUCTeX Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[Note 14] Yes Yes
  Authorea  No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes ?
CoCalc Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
GNOME LaTeX Planned Yes Yes Yes Yes (just same files) Yes Yes
Gummi No No No No Yes No Yes ?
Kile Yes[Note 15] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
LyX No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Notepad++ Yes Yes No Partial[Note 16] Yes Yes Yes Yes
Overleaf Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
Scientific WorkPlace No ? ? Yes No Yes ?
TeXmacs No Yes Yes ?
Texmaker Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
TeXnicCenter since v2.0 since v2.0 Yes Yes Yes Yes since v2.0 ?
TeXShop No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
TeXstudio Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
TeXworks No Yes[Note 17] No Yes[Note 18] Yes No Yes Yes
Verbosus No No Yes Yes Yes No Yes ?
Vim Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes
Visual Studio Code Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
WinEdt Yes Yes (modified) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
WinShell Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No (just same files) Yes ?
Name Collapsible sections Find and replace using RegEx Intelligent error handling Autocompletion of LaTeX commands Parenthesis matching Starts up to previous state[Note 19] Unicode support RTL Support[Note 20]
Screenshots and Video Tutorials of TeX editors
Editor Screenshot
LyX
LyX main window
Screenshot
  
Texmaker
Screenshot of Texmaker version 4.5
TeXmacs
The TeXmacs editor
TeXstudio
Screenshot of TeXstudio (2.12.6)
Visual Studio Code
The LaTex Workshop extension for Visual Studio Code
Editor Screenshot

See also

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Notes and references

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  1. ^ "Source" means you see and edit the TeX source files. "WYSIWYM" = What You See Is What You Mean, i.e. you see and edit formatted text. WYSIWYG means that see the output file automatically updated during the edit. Note that some PDF viewers (e.g. evince) automatically reload the PDF document when it is updated on the disk. So, any "source" TeX editor can be turned into partial WYSIWYG editor by opening such a reader in an adjacent window.
  2. ^ Support for non-Linux systems considered experimental.
  3. ^ Notepad++ can execute Tex viewers
  4. ^ TeXmacs is an original document preparation system, with own syntax and own algorithms, but can be used to obtain TeX files through its LaTeX export capability.
  5. ^ Requires installation of LaTeX Workshop extension.
  6. ^ 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)
  7. ^ 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 Dynamic Data Exchange
  8. ^ Requires installation of extra package.
  9. ^ A plug-in is required.
  10. ^ LaTeX panel & Matrix panel
  11. ^ Requires installation of extra package
  12. ^ Starts up to previous state including the current editing point.
  13. ^ RTL support means Right to Left language support.
  14. ^ configurable as an option of the Emacs editor
  15. ^ With usual \section{} notation, Kile collapses equations and figures, but not sections. Collapsing of sections is possible with non-standard notation \begin{section}{}...\end{section}{}, but it eliminates sections from Structure View. An alternative possibility is bracketing sections with comments %BEGIN and %END.
  16. ^ This will have to be set up manually.
  17. ^ 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 )
  18. ^ Template file in resource directory ( ’ Documentation of the code completion feature )
  19. ^ Starts up to previous state including the current editing point.
  20. ^ RTL support means Right to Left language support.