Open the Editor
The Editor is a text and code editor built into Glass Power Tools. This page covers the ways into it on each platform, what an editor window holds, and how you leave it.
Open the Editor#
On Apple Vision Pro, iPad and iPhone there is no File menu, so you reach the Editor these ways:
- Choose Projects in the library, select a project, and choose Open. See Work with projects.
- In Projects, choose the plus button in the toolbar, then New Document for an editor window on a new, empty document, or Open… for files or a folder.
- In a Terminal service's Files browser, choose Edit on a file, or Open in Editor on a folder. See Projects on a server.
- With the Open in Editor action in the Shortcuts app (see Siri, Shortcuts and the rest of the system), or by opening a text file with Glass Power Tools from another app, such as Files.
Once an editor window is open, Open… (the folder button in its toolbar) asks for files or a folder. With a keyboard attached, press ⌘O.
On Apple Vision Pro: the editor window's toolbar is the row of controls below the window: Shrink to Orb (see Shrink a session window to an orb on Vision Pro), New Document, Open…, Show Preview when the file has one, Settings, Save, and, while a document is open, Find and Close Document. Save as Project joins them when the open project is no longer in Projects. The lightning bolt for Active is at the top of the window.
On Mac: you can also use the File menu from any window:
| Command | Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| New Editor Window | ⇧⌘E | Opens a new editor window on a new, empty document, ready to type into. |
| Open… | ⌘O | Asks for one or more files, or a folder, then opens them. |
| Open Recent | — | Lists up to 20 files and folders you opened recently on this Mac. Clear Menu empties the list. |
What you choose decides what happens:
- Files open as tabs in the editor window in front. A new window opens only when no editor window is open.
- A folder opens as a project, in its own window. If the project is already open, its window comes forward. If the editor window in front is empty, the project opens there instead of in a new window.
If you cancel, nothing opens.
The Editor does not open by itself when the app starts, and editor windows are not brought back after the app restarts, with or without documents in them: open a project again from Projects, or, on Mac, a file from Open Recent. The library is the first thing you see.
What an editor window holds#
Each editor window has its own set of documents, and at most one project. A second window starts empty; it does not show the first window's tabs. Your text size, line-number and wrapping settings, and the recent files list, are shared by every window.
- Open documents appear as tabs across the top once there are two or more.
- The file list on the left appears only when a project is open. With no project, the window shows just the document.
- The bar at the bottom shows the cursor position, the language and the line endings. See Languages and syntax highlighting.
An empty editor window shows No Document with two buttons: Open… and New Document. You can also drop files or a folder onto any editor window. Dropped files open in that window; a dropped folder opens as a project, in that window if it is empty, otherwise in its own.
Start a new document#
Choose New Document (the plus button in the toolbar). Each new document is named Untitled, then Untitled 2, and so on, until you save it.
On Mac: ⌘N in an editor window also makes a new document. The File menu names it New Document while an editor window is in front.
Leave the Editor#
On Apple Vision Pro and iPad, close the editor window as you close any window.
On iPhone: the Editor fills the screen. The back chevron in the top corner returns to Connections, the library. Your open documents and project are kept, including unsaved changes. To return, choose the editor session in Active (the lightning bolt). Its row shows how many files are open and how many are unsaved. To end the session, swipe the row and choose Close.
On Mac: ⌘W closes the document in front. When it is the last document and no project is open, the window closes with it. When a project is open, the window stays on the project, and ⌘W again closes the window. If the document has unsaved changes, you are asked first. See Save your work.
Note
There is no Close Project command. Closing the editor window closes its project. On iPhone, ending the session in Active closes it.
Closing a window, quitting, or ending the session in Active with unsaved changes asks first; see Close a window with unsaved changes.
Open text files from the Finder#
On Mac: Glass Power Tools is offered for plain text, source code, JSON, XML, Markdown and YAML files. Open the file's context menu in the Finder and choose Open With ▸ Glass Power Tools. To open every file of that kind in Glass Power Tools, choose Get Info, pick Glass Power Tools under Open with, then Change All…. The file opens in the editor window in front, or a new one.