# Rich Text Format on Mac? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 18, 2008, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-text-format-on-mac/477782 "2008-12-18T18:47:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-text-format-on-mac/477782/1 "2008-12-18T18:47:07Z")
Can Mac’s open RTF files? If so, how? I sent an RTF to a friend and he says he can’t open it. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-text-format-on-mac/477782/2 "2008-12-18T18:48:38Z")
Sure. What is the filename (including the extension)? ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-text-format-on-mac/477782/3 "2008-12-18T18:52:34Z")
costs.rtf ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-text-format-on-mac/477782/4 "2008-12-18T18:58:43Z")
Well, that should work. It should open in TextEdit. Maybe they can launch TextEdit, and try to do File-\>Open, and pick the file. It’s also possible that the file got borked on sending - maybe try zipping first, and re-sending. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-text-format-on-mac/477782/5 "2008-12-18T19:06:18Z")
I have passed on the information. Thanks for your help. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-text-format-on-mac/477782/6 "2008-12-18T19:25:18Z")
Yes, the default format of TextEdit seems to be RTF. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-text-format-on-mac/477782/7 "2008-12-18T21:00:28Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > Can Mac’s open RTF files? If so, how? I sent an RTF to a friend and he says he can’t open it. Yeah, I could save and write RTFs on at least System 7.0.1, if not 6.0.7 or earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-text-format-on-mac/477782/8 "2008-12-18T21:17:47Z")
All MacOffice applications will open them if TextEdit doesn’t. (And it should). ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-text-format-on-mac/477782/9 "2008-12-19T12:52:42Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > Can Mac’s open RTF files? If so, how? I sent an RTF to a friend and he says he can’t open it. It is the default text format of the TextEdit text editor on the Mac. And heck, RTF is 7bit ascii-what’s not to open? The whole point of RTF is that anything that reads ascii text will read RTF-and perhaps format it though that is a secondary consideration. Don’t know what the problem is, but reading RTF isn’t it! 🙂 The usual culprit in reading a file from a Mac is a bad file extension. You said you sent a friend the file. How was it sent? ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rich-text-format-on-mac/477782/10 "2008-12-19T13:44:58Z")
I picked RTF because in my experience almost every modern desktop OS will open it. But I have not used a Mac for more than tinkering, so I know little about it. I sent it via email. The man on the other probably is not a Mac user either. He is getting it on his girlfriend’s computer. I have sent him the directions someone outlined above and have not heard back from him. Worst case, he will be here today and I will give him a hard copy.