Did you know you can create a personalized To Do list with TextEdit? The latest version of TextEdit makes customized list creation easy with its built-in list function. In this short tutorial, I'll show you how to create a To Do list in just a few minutes.

1.  Set the document format to rich text.

2.  Select Text from the Format menu and then select List... from the drop-down menu. A small pane will open and you will be able to create a custom list.

TextEdit list pane

Add Prefix and Suffix

3.  Add a prefix of your choice to the beginning of any list by typing the prefix you want in the text box under Prefix. For example, you can create a task list that begins with the words "To Do".

Example list with prefix

4.  Add a suffix of your choice to the end of any list by typing the suffix you want in the text box under Suffix. If you only use a suffix, it will appear in the list the same way as a prefix does, but if you combine the suffix with a prefix, they are joined together as a single word.

Example lists with suffix

Add a List Marker

5.  Click the list marker button and select a marker to add between your prefix and suffix. For example, you can add numbers to a task list that has a prefix of "To Do" and a suffix of "today". When you add a list marker to a prefix and a suffix, the three parts appear as one word unless you add spaces or punctuation to the prefix and/or suffix.

Example of list items with prefix, suffix and list marker

6.  Type your first item and then press Return after each item in the list. To end the list, press the Return key twice.

After creating a custom list and clicking the OK button on the List Pane, your new list will appear in the Lists drop-down menu on the TextEdit Toolbar for the current document only. However, you can create a TextEdit template by typing a space in the document and saving it as a rich text document with a name like "List Template". To create a new document from the template, just double-click on the template and save the document that opens with a new name.