Handling digital documents has become a part of the daily lives of users. We have seen a lot of Document editing tools and most of them follow the WYSIWYG (‘What you see is what you get’) approach to Word formatting. In such type of Word formatting, a GUI based approach is established and users can see the end result while typing the content. That is one way of approaching Word Formatting. Another way is through the use of a Word formatting tool that makes use of the WYSIWYM (‘What you see is what you mean’) approach. LaTeX Editors fall in the second category and in this article, we list the best LaTeX editors that you should use in 2022.

Before we begin our article, let us first understand LaTeX editors. If you already know what they are want to skip to the list, you can use the table of content below.

  • TeXmaker
  • TeXnicCenter
  • LyX
  • Texstudio
  • TeXworks
  • Papeeria
  • Overleaf
  • Authorea
  • Kile LaTex Editor
  • Vim with LaTeX-Suite
  • LaTeX Workshop for Visual Studio Code
  • VerbTeX
  • Frequently Asked Questions

What is a LaTeX editor?

Still don’t get what this is all about? In simple terms, LaTeX (pronounced Lay-tek), is a markup level text editing tool that separates the word formatting from the content entry task. Quite similar to HTML in its formatting, LaTeX is one of the most commonly used text editor in the academia. For people who have to deal with scientific papers and publishing, with a lot of mathematical equations thrown into the mix, LaTeX text editors are pretty much the industry standard.

1. TeXmaker

If you like using open-source apps, TeXmaker is one of the most popular, open-source, multi-platform solution for LaTeX editing. This tool is available for all major platforms and possesses features that make a great case for any LaTeX text editor. To get started with TeXmaker, its configuration window allows users to set-up all the basic settings of their LaTeX document before starting work on it.

Key Features: Unicode support, Code folding, Spell-checking, Built-in PDF viewer, Auto-completion, 370 mathematical symbols and more.

TeXnicCenter is another great LaTeX editor specifically developed for Windows operating system. Since it runs on Windows, TeXnicCenter uses Microsoft’s MiKTeX typesetting distribution which makes it easy for Microsoft Word to process LaTeX documents. Also, TeXnicCenter is a free and open-source LaTeX editor so that’s great. Talking about the features, it has almost everything that you want in a LaTeX editor.

What I love about TeXnicCenter is that it has pre-defined LaTeX snippets which makes it easy to create complex formula and documentation particularly for computer scientists. It goes without saying that TeXnicCenter  has all the common features like syntax highlighting, bracket matching and spell checking. To sum up, if you are a Windows user, TeXnicCenter is one of the best LaTeX editors that you can use in 2022 and you don’t have to look any further.

LyX is among the most popular LaTeX editors right now with support for many modern and unique features. It is an open-source editor and it’s available on a number of platform including Windows, macOS, and Linux. It emphasizes on the WYSIWYM writing approach with a simple GUI based interface. The app uses many flexible tools like integrated equation editor and reference indexing to create LateX documents seamlessly.

While many prefer LyX for mathematical documents, you can also create a structured novel or script using its advanced markup tools. Besides that, you have support for academic article referencing, link overlay and ability to create a master thesis using branched out nodes.

Platforms Supported: Windows, macOS, and Linux.

TeXstudio is another open-source and multi-platform LaTeX editor, which is quite popular among the academia. This tool is based on the open-source TeXmaker which we just talked about. TeXstudio is pretty much an extension of the former mentioned tool and added further support and features to it.

Some of its key features are Syntax Highlighting, reference checking, multi-cursors and more than 1000 mathematical formula included with it. Citations form a major component of scientific documents and TeXstudio provides support for Link overlay helps a lot in that. The Assistant feature of TeXstudio makes it easy for anyone without the complete knowledge of LaTeX editors set up a file and place blocks of images or tables anywhere in the document.

5. TeXworks

TeXworks is a multi-platform, open-source LaTeX editor. It is a LaTeX editing tool that is based off another open-source LaTeX editor – TeXshop. It provides a GUI-based approach to LaTeX editing and features many of the key advantages found in the previous mentioned tools. The app features a built-in PDF viewer just like in the above mentioned tools, but this tool also possesses an auto-synchronization feature to it.

TeXworks features many of the key capabilities of a LaTeX editor like auto-completion, auto-correction, Unicode support and more. If only the basic bare bones of a LaTeX editor is required, It ticks in all the boxes perfectly.

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6. Papeeria

Papeeria is an online LaTeX editor which is quite good with advanced tools and features. You can achieve all the LaTeX editing features online using its web-based UI. One of the key features of Papeeria is its huge library of templates.

You can also build complex plots visually using its plot builder feature. Trusted by many academicians and scientists, Papeeria is a powerful LaTeX editor which can be accessed right from your web browser.

7. Overleaf

Another great online LaTeX editing tool is Overleaf. Trusted by over 200,000 academia worldwide, Overleaf is a great LaTeX editing tool with all the features that make your document creations easy.

Key Features: Real-time collaborations, Effortless sharing, Real-time previewing, Rich Text Editing, Easy error tracking, Document revision history and more.

If you are looking for more web-based LaTeX editors, Authorea should be a great option for you. Authorea is a great online LaTeX editor, and possesses many of the great features offered by the previously mentioned tools. Ready-to-use templates, collaboration tools, document revision history, chat feature, auto-creation of references page, easy insertion of images, links, tables, etc., are some of its key features.

Pricing: Free (Can create up to 3 LaTeX documents; 10 if you are a student or educator), $10/mo (Unlimited LaTeX Documents)

Kile is a user-friendly LaTeX editor by KDE. If you don’t know about KDE, it’s a highly respected international free software community that develops open-source software for users. So, all their software and apps including Kile are free to download and use. Kile editor is quite new to the Windows Store and it’s already making waves thanks to its graphical interface and interactive preview mechanism that allow users to readily see the results of editing.

Key Features: Graphical interface, interactive preview mechanism, huge assortment of templates and wizards, quick preview, advanced editing commands, and more. 

10. Vim with LaTeX-Suite

Vim is an open-source and very powerful editor. Vim-LaTeX is an extension for Vim that lets you edit and compile LaTeX documents. It brings a minimalist and powerful approach to text editing. Use Vim-LaTeX to bring the best of both the worlds into your document editing processes. The extension works with Vim version 6.0 or above.

11. LaTeX Workshop for Visual Studio Code

One of the biggest strengths of Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code is the presence of a robust community that strives to add more features to the open-source code editor that is arguably the best in its segment. Thanks to an extension named LaTeX Workshop, you can leverage the power of Visual Studio Code to edit your LaTeX documents.

12. VerbTeX

While most often you’ll be using LaTeX editors on your PC or Mac, there are times when you’re on the go and can’t really access a computer. In such a situation, if you have to make some urgent edits, you can check out an app like VerbTeX which is a really good LaTeX editor for Android and iPhone. It comes with features such as syntax highlighting, support for local and cloud mode, code-completion, hotkeys, and more. You can also use custom template files to get a jumpstart on your LaTeX project.

Platforms Supported: Android, iOS

Q. Is LaTeX a coding language?

No. LaTeX is a high-level, descriptive markup language. That said, you can leverage the power of packages to enhance the capabilities of LaTeX. While you might manage to complete tasks through this approach, it might not be the ideal or efficient way to solve a problem.

Yes. There are tools to convert LaTeX documents to Word. However, a more convenient way would be to convert the document as PDF using one of the aforesaid LaTeX editors, followed by converting the PDF to Word.

Yes. You can use one of the convertors to change a PDF document to LaTeX. The accuracy of the output may depend on the content quality and formatting of the PDF document.

Q. Which command is used for current date in LaTeX?

You can use the command ‘\today’ for adding the current date to your LaTeX document.

That ends our list of the 12 best LaTeX Editors that you should be using in 2022. We have not only include LaTeX Editing app but also online LaTeX editors along with LaTeX plugins, as well as LaTeX editor for Android and iPhone. So, you see, you can choose the one that fits your needs. Do check out the list and let us know which is your favorite app to edit LaTeX among the all. Meanwhile, if you’re simply looking for something that can replace Word, Powerpoint, etc, you should check out our list of Microsoft Office alternatives.