New in BBEdit 8.7
What’s new in BBEdit 8.7?
BBEdit 8.7 includes nearly two hundred new features, refinements and user interface improvements. Here are the highlights of the major feature additions and changes in BBEdit 8.7 from the previous version, BBEdit 8.2.
This version is a * free update for all BBEdit 8.5 and 8.6 customers* and a * paid upgrade for all customers with BBEdit 8.2.6 or earlier. (For a complete list of the changes made since BBEdit 8.6.2, please see current release notes.)
Code Folding
Code folding collapses sections of text to simplify your documents structure and improve readability.
- *Language sensitive: Compiled and codeless language modules generate information that BBEdit uses to indicate automatic fold points.
- Manual: You can select any range of text in any kind of document and fold it. Or you can useBalance&Foldto quickly collapse a range of text in between matching parentheses, braces, brackets, or curly quotes.
Clippings
Formerly known as the Glossary , BBEdits powerful Clippings system provides quick access to frequently used pieces of text.
- Easier clipping creation: NewSave as ClippingandSave Selection as Clippingmake it much simpler than before to create new clippings and sets.
- Clippings menu: Provides quick access to clippings sets, clippings in the currently active set, and commands to insert and manage clippings.
- ImprovedInsert Clippingwith auto-completion: Insert Clippingnow brings up a panel that allows you to search for clippings by name. If youve typed a partial word before choosing Insert Clipping, BBEdit will use the word to auto-complete the clipping.
Preferences
BBEdits rich Preferences interface has been enhanced and revised for greater usability and control.
- Show and hide individual menu commandsor entire menus: Use the newMenuspreferences to turn off menus and commands that you never use, to get them out of sight and out of mind.
- Organizational improvements: The Preferences window and controls have been enlarged for easier reading, and preferences have been reorganized into fewer preference panels. Unused preferences have been consigned to the dustbin of history.
- Searching: Cant find a preference setting? No problem! Just open the search drawer in the Preferences window, start typing, and BBEdit will list the preferences whose names or concepts match what youve typed.
Code Editing
Version 8.6 features even more improvements to BBEdits already legendary code-editing abilities.
- Per-language editing and display options: Set different text colors for different languages; control soft wrap, spell checking, and more on a per-language basis; selectively show and hide status bar and navigation bar elements.
- Codeless Language Module improvements: Use regular expressions to define function bodies for greater flexibility.
- Ruby, YAML, and SQL: Built-in syntax coloring and function navigation; SQL support includes generic SQL, MS Transact-SQL, MySQL, Oracle PL/SQL, and PostgreSQL.
- Improved JavaScript support: improved handling of object-oriented JavaScript, and display of anonymous functions.
User Interface Enhancements
This release of BBEdit features extensive user interface refinements.
- Editing window overhaul: The tool bar has been simplified, and elements that used to be hidden under popup menus are now visible in the editing view for easier access.
- UI buff and polish: HIG updates to dialog and alert window layouts and contents.
- And even new application and document icons.
And more!
- Indented soft wrapping: Wrapped lines can now be indented to the windows left margin, to the same level as the beginning of the line, or reverse indented.
- Improved disk browsers: Hierarchical file list, with available file filtering.
- Sub-line differences: When comparing files using Find Differences, BBEdit shows you the differences in words within each line of differences.
- Read, write, and search gzip (.gz) files: How cool is that?
- Auto-save: Periodic snapshot of unsaved documents to avoid data loss in the event of power failures or system crashes.
- PCRE 5.0: Extended regular-expression matching engine adds support for named subexpressions and many other new features.
Please try out the BBEdit Demo and take a look.
Check your free upgrade eligibility , or obtain info about purchasing the upgrade.