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27 EmEditor Reviews
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An email to support is answered in a few hours.
It loads a csv file (50 or 100 million lines) very fast.
You can use the 'find in files' search option to search with RegEx in folders and display the found content.
A lot of languages are supported. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Can't name one at the moment. It is really easy to use. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
FUNCTIONALITY:
There is nothing that EE can't do: that's its main selling point. It's packed with built-in functionality and let's you extend that core functionality with scriptable macros. Think "UltraEdit's flexibility without the slow-as-death macro playback".
EmEditor also comes in handy in unexpected ways: forget Excel, EE is THE BEST way to work with CSV files. As of a few years ago, I've been using EE instead of Excel to quickly process / sort / filter data from my bank accounts and credit cards at tax time.
By the way, the "filter" function extraordinarily useful, and I can't remember seeing it in other editors: type a string and EE hides all but the lines that contain that string. Another, somewhat related setting is the ability (Edit > Narrowing) to restrict the current editing area to a sub-portion of the current file. (Hitting Ctrl+Home goes to the top of that logical area, not the top of the file, and searching is restricted to that active area. Super useful, and I can't remember seeing this in another editor.
You can not just customize menus and items, but even their accelerator-key (e.g., setting Alt+A as shortcut by renaming the "&Search" menu to "Se&arch").
QUALITY:
I'm a fullstack web dev, but I've done quite a bit of Windows dev. I've never seen a piece of software that leverages so well all Windows APIs. You can tell that everything is done carefully and thoughtfully, even the most mundane functionality. (Even the "Tools > Import and Export" uses native wizard and progress bars. If you've ever done Windows dev, you'll know that it's much easier to implement this as a series of submenu items and just saving the appropriate file - EE is programmed by an artisan, if you see what I mean.)
I'm just realizing this as I write this review. I don't think I've ever come across a bug in EmEditor. Stuff that doesn't behave as desired/expected, sure, but no bug or crash or hang - ever. In fact, one of EE's claim to fame is to be able to open huge files. (I can attest that it does: opening a PHP log from a live server and see it open in under a second is something.)
EXTENSIBILITY:
EE is clearly a labor of love. This editor is more regularly updated than any piece of software I know of, and it's been the case since its release around 2007/2008 (from memory - I only started seriously using EE about 10 years ago). As a result, pretty much anything you can think of has been asked by others and in many cases, implemented.
For years, I've been using TextPad for its macros. The macros are saved in a binary format and they can't be customized after the fact. In EE, all macros are stored in editable JS code with a well documented API.
Both of these mean that there's pretty much nothing you can't do with EE.
SUPPORT:
As far as I know, EmEditor is a one-man project. The upside is that Yutaka Emura, EmEditor's creator, provides support himself. On one end of the spectrum you have Sublime Text who's notion of support is to tell you to "search the forum", companies like JetBrains that refer you to their ill-conceived and always slow YouTrack system, or editors that are essentially dead because there's little to no money in that sector anymore. Receiving support from the person who wrote the software is a treat. I hope that many people will buy what is not only objectively the best all-purpose editor on Windows, but also the only one that is actively developed, and has been uninterruptedly so for over a decade. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
NEGATIVES:
Despite unequivocally recommending EE, let's start with the negatives - not just to get them out of the way but also give this review some credibility. I struggle to find meaningful negatives with EE, but here are the ones that came to mind:
- I wish that EE could give me the kind of insight into my code that JetBrains IDEs do. (But yes, I realize that is a programming editor, not an IDE.)
- It's sometimes difficult to find a particular setting, at least the first time you look for it, but that's common in highly customizable pieces of software. One way EE could be improved is by approaching settings the way VS Code does, offering both a UI (like TextPad or JetBrains) and customizable syntax files (like EditPlus or Sublime Text).
- Also relating to Settings, I wish that these three dialogs could be consolidated: "Properties for current configuration", "Properties for all configurations", and "Customize...". Sometimes it's hard to know where a setting will be stored and I search in the wrong dialog.
- Sometimes EE inserts indents in puzzling places after you hit Enter, for example after a closing HTML tag or after a end-of-line semicolon in JS code. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
* Super fast, lightweight, easy to install and use
* Opening very large files in a matter of seconds
* Rapid development of new features and optimisations
* Powerful built-in functions
* Delimiters view makes Excel redundant
* Fully customisable with support of macros (JavaScript, VBScript)
* Unicode compliant
* Pleasure to work with the Developer; very responsive and receptive to new ideas and feedback Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
There is not much to dislike really! Maybe documentation of methods can be slightly better (ie. having more examples), but other than that EmEditor is one of the best tools I have ever used and makes my workday much easier! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
The title says it all: EmEditor simply is the fastest editor I found when working on huge files. Even hundreds of MB are no problem. Compared to Notepad++ this is just the editor I had been waiting for :-) Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Extending the editor is possible through macros, yet this requires more knowledge than what I was ready to invest for. Fortunately, EmEditor's author, Yutaka Emura, helped me solve my issues. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
There simply isn't a better editor for working with large text-centric files under Windows. The product is massively optimised and continues to be continually improved, with both further optimsations and new features. We have been using EmEditor for over 5 years now and it is worth every penny. We have tried virtually all of the major text editor's on the market and as an overall package, EmEditor comes out on top for working with large files. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
There really isn't a lot to dislike. The price for the full edition may put some potential user's off, but once you start using it (particularly with large files), you realise you get what you pay for. It is a phenomenal piece of software and for us, is absolutely worth the price. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
EmEditor has a lot features you can read on www.emeditor.com, I use a lot of them. But there also a lot small points (not on this list), what it makes for me the daily work easier an there and therefore it is the best editor on microsoft platform for me. For example "Auto Marker" its one of small features what I don't want miss by daily work.
"Filter" or "batch find/replace" featur are only two off the long list of features what I can't see by other ones. With "Filter" makes daily work faster and easier compare to "find". The filter, search and replace function has special options (e.g. number range) that I have never seen by competitors. Many other programs fail, because they are not able to open very large files (especially non-commercial programs), to filter with regex, or are much slower.
It's easy to install, to use and to customize for you needs. I made a lot macros for my needs, so I save a lot time by daily work, undeppendet if for a lot small or really large files.
For macros you can juse javascript or vbscript, other editors have often proprietary macro language.
Plain Text not always easy to read. I spend a lot time for searching an Plain Text Editor with "even lines" view. By EmEditor I used "horizontal grid" view, what makes reading on files with long lines easier. Now "even lines" it's also a new features by EmEditor, so it's on your personal taste if like "horizontal grid" or "even lines" or still blank.
"Auto Marker" and Markers are additional points for better and faster reading. For example, with "keyword highlight" I use by log files regex, so I see public ip's in a different color as pivate ip's.
I am sure that I have forgotten a lot to write here, because there are countless functions that I use in my daily work with emeditor and only notice when I work on another computer (without EmEditor), whether professional or private.
For me it is no longer a question whether i should use a commercial or a free editor. The functions, the fast qualified support as well as the continuous improvement and further development make emeditor the first choice for me. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
I have no real negative points, short time ago I send them a "nice to have list". (special request, I never saw this features by ohter ones) They have so much features compare to other plain text editors for my needs. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
EmEditor can be adapted for professional or personal projects. I like that it has a simple interface, compatible with a wide variety of files. Another feature that I like is that it is a lightweight program. I also like your autocomplete and replaced options. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
EmEditor does not have an integrated browser function. Another aspect that I don't like is that it takes longer than expected to debug projects. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
EmEditor provides a built-in debugger that allows you to run all APIs. This editor handles multiple languages and extensions to develop web projects. This software is capable of handling the most sought-after languages such as HTML, JSP, PHP and XML. It is a much lighter software than Sublime Text and has regular updates. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
I have problems configuring JSON files, although I may not have the necessary experience. I also consider that it does not have enough available add-ons. Also, I would like to have support for React libraries. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
