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Neight (pronounced N8) is a lightweight text editor for writers who work in Tamil and English on Windows and macOS. It handles mixed-language drafting, Markdown, and distraction-free writing without the weight of a full IDE or word processor.
Neight does not use any AI models or send telemetry. It makes no automatic network calls at all — it never checks for updates or contacts any server on its own. Every network request happens because you clicked something.
| Windows | Windows 10 (version 1809) or Windows 11, 64-bit |
| macOS | macOS 15 Sequoia or later, Apple Silicon (arm64) only — no Intel build |
| Tamil typing | A built-in Tamil keyboard layout (Tamil 99, Tamil Phonetic, or the macOS Tamil layout). Third-party input apps such as NHM Writer and Azhagi are not supported |
Nothing else to install — no runtime, no framework, no admin rights for the direct download.
Neight is distributed through the app stores. They handle installation, updates and signing for you, and are the recommended route on both platforms.
- macOS: Get Neight from the Mac App Store — signed, sandboxed, and updated by the App Store. No Gatekeeper prompt.
- Windows: Get Neight from the Microsoft Store — no SmartScreen prompt, because Microsoft re-signs every Store package.
These are the latest builds, published straight from a developer machine on every build. They are unsigned: Windows shows a SmartScreen prompt and macOS refuses to open them without the extra step described below. They move ahead of the Store versions and receive no review, so treat them as development builds rather than stable installs. There is no version history here — each build replaces the last.
- Windows (x64):
Neight.exe - macOS (Apple Silicon):
Neight-mac-arm64-unsigned.app.zip
Both come from the dist-latest
branch. What changed in each version is in CHANGELOG.md.
From the Microsoft Store (recommended):
- Open the Store listing and click Get.
- Launch Neight from the Start menu. No SmartScreen warning appears.
From the unsigned .exe download:
- Download
Neight.exeand copy it to any folder. - Double-click to run. Because this copy isn't Store-signed, Windows Defender SmartScreen may appear — click More info → Run anyway.
From the Mac App Store (recommended):
- Open the App Store listing and click Get.
- Launch Neight from Launchpad or Applications. No Gatekeeper prompt appears, and updates arrive automatically.
From the unsigned download:
It is unsigned, so Gatekeeper blocks it on first launch. This is expected, and the extra step is only needed once.
- Download and unzip the file — you get
Neight.app. - Drag
Neight.appto/Applications. - Right-click (or Control-click)
Neight.appand choose Open, then click Open in the dialog that appears. Double-clicking will not work the first time. - From then on, launch it normally.
The macOS build targets Apple Silicon (arm64) only.
With thanks to Muthu Nedumaran, who signs and publishes the Mac App Store build.
For advanced configuration, power-user features, and update instructions see ADVANCED.md. For build instructions and developer notes see DEVELOPER.md.
Language Switch settings:
Additional screenshots are in the screenshots folder.
- New, Open, Save, Save As — standard shortcuts (
Ctrl+S,Ctrl+F,Ctrl+G,F5, …) - Undo/Redo, Find/Replace, Go To Line, Time/Date insert
- Word wrap, custom fonts, dark mode, zoom
- Opens and saves both
.txtand.mdfiles - Find/Replace escape sequences — click the ℹ button inside the Find/Replace bar to insert special characters like
\n(newline),\t(tab),\xHH(hex byte),\u0000(Unicode codepoint) into search fields - Triple-click a word to instantly search for it in Google (the word is selected and your default browser opens)
- Zoom font size with
Ctrl++/Ctrl+-,Ctrl+Scroll wheel, or — on a macOS trackpad — pinch to zoom
- Double-press Ctrl (or ⌃ Control on macOS) to switch keyboard layouts instantly without leaving the editor — between Tamil and English, or any two installed layouts
- Sorkuvai lookup — right-click a Tamil word to look it up in the Tamil dictionary
- Partial word highlighting — select a Tamil stem and see all inflected forms highlighted across the document
- Normalize Unicode (NFC) — clean up inconsistent codepoint sequences from mixed input methods before publishing
- Gutter line numbers (
Ctrl+Shift+L) — paragraph-level line numbers like a code editor - Adjustable margins and line spacing — five spacing presets (Condensed through Triple); viewport padding is added automatically so lines never clip at the window edge
- Auto-save at configurable intervals (2, 5, 15 or 30 minutes, or off) — writes run on a background thread and never cause a visible pause. They are atomic everywhere except in the Mac App Store build, where the sandbox does not permit the write-temp-then-rename pattern atomicity needs.
- Recovery copies for unsaved documents — if you have typed text but not yet named the file, Neight silently writes a recovery copy to
~/Documents/Neight/on every autosave tick. The recovery file is cleaned up automatically the moment you save, open another file, or start a new document. Use File → View Recovery Folder to open the folder, and File → Empty Recovery Folder to delete old copies. (In the Mac App Store build, from 2026.086, these live in~/Library/Application Support/Neight/instead — sandboxed apps cannot use your real Documents folder. View Recovery Folder always takes you to the right place.) - Smart suggested filename — when you press
Ctrl+Son an unsaved document, the save dialog opens pre-filled with a name derived from the first words of your text (up to 4 words, max 100 characters). Accept it, edit it, or choose a different location — the dialog behaves exactly as usual. - Continue where you left off — reopens your last file at startup (toggleable under Settings)
- Auto-Hide Scrollbar — scrollbar flashes briefly when you scroll, then disappears to keep the writing area clean
- Plain-text paste (
Shift+Ctrl+V) — strips formatting on paste - New Window — open a second instance for side-by-side writing
- Open With integration — the macOS app bundle appears in Finder's
Open With menu for
.txt,.mdand.markdownfiles. On Windows, the Microsoft Store build registers the same three types automatically from the 2026.081 update onward, so Neight appears in Explorer's Open With menu with nothing to switch on; the direct.exedownload is not registered with the shell. Windows has hash-protected the default handler since Windows 8, so Neight cannot silently claim it — Help → Debug Info links to the Default Apps page. On macOS, the same dialog can set the Markdown handler directly.
The status bar shows — per your preferences — word count, sentence count, character count, reading time, cursor line/column, and current keyboard layout. Every element can be individually shown or hidden from View → Status Bar (or click the status bar itself to open that submenu instantly). Layout is fixed-width so hiding one item never shifts the others.
Select text and the counters describe the selection instead, shown as Words: 42 of 1240 so the selection and the whole document are visible at once and can never be confused. Reading time marks itself as Read (sel):. Your show/hide preferences still apply — a counter you have hidden stays hidden. The counters appear a moment after you settle on a selection, so a quick drag or double-click doesn't make them flicker, and they revert the instant you click away.
All Markdown features live in the Markdown menu:
- Live split preview (
Ctrl+Shift+M,⌘⇧Mon macOS) — the rendered document sits beside the editor, with a divider you can drag to any ratio. It updates as you type and follows your light/dark theme and editor font. Available for.mdand.markdownfiles. - Headings
Ctrl+1–Ctrl+6, bold, italic, bold italic - Lists (unordered, ordered, checkbox), quotes, code blocks, strikethrough, highlight
- Table templates, horizontal rules
- Hyperlink and image insertion with URL validation
- Smart tag replacement — changing a heading level or style removes old markers before inserting new ones
The preview uses the same renderer as Export Markdown to PDF, so what you see is what the PDF will contain. On a very large document it stops re-rendering as you type and switches to Markdown → Refresh Preview (Ctrl+Shift+R), so typing never stalls.
Privacy note: URL validation makes a single HEAD request only when you explicitly click Validate URL. Your text never leaves your device, and Neight makes no network request on its own. See PRIVACY.md.
Export plain text or Markdown to PDF from File:
- A4 layout with proper margins; filename header (text) or rendered headings and tables (Markdown)
- Font choice is carried into the PDF
- Context-sensitive: the menu shows Text-to-PDF or Markdown-to-PDF based on the open file type
Two small draft-cleanup tools under Edit:
- Insert Blank Lines — adds a blank line after every non-empty line (useful for review or annotation)
- Collapse Blank Lines — reduces runs of blank lines to one (useful for normalizing pasted content)
- Help → Writer (சொல்வெளி) Mode — large Tamil serif font, generous spacing and margins, minimal status bar. Great for distraction-free prose.
- Help → Techie (நுட்பர்) Mode — compact font, full status bar, gutter line numbers. Great for technical writing.
See ADVANCED.md for the full settings applied by each mode, and for the Save Preset feature that lets you customize these modes.
| Menu | What you find there |
|---|---|
| File | New, New Window, Open, Save, Save As, Export Text to PDF, Export Markdown to PDF, View Recovery Folder, Empty Recovery Folder, Exit |
| Edit | Undo/Redo, clipboard, Find, Find Next, Replace, Replace All, Go To, Time/Date, Search with Google, Select All, blank-line tools, Normalize Unicode |
| Markdown | Preview, Refresh Preview, and all Markdown insertion shortcuts — headings, lists, formatting, links, tables |
| Format | Font, Word Wrap |
| View | Line Spacing, Margins, Gutter Line Numbers, Word Index Overlay, Auto-Hide Scrollbar, Partial Word Highlighting, Status Bar controls |
| Settings | Continue where you left off, Appearance, Save Current Settings to (Writer Mode Preset / Techie Mode Preset), Language Switch, Auto-Save Interval |
| Help | Writer (சொல்வெளி) Mode, Techie (நுட்பர்) Mode, Neight on GitHub, About, Debug Info |
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| New File | Ctrl+N |
| New Window | Ctrl+Shift+N (Win/Linux), Meta+Shift+N (macOS) |
| Open | Ctrl+O |
| Save | Ctrl+S |
| Save As | Ctrl+Shift+S |
| Find / Replace | Ctrl+F / Ctrl+H |
| Find Next | F3 |
| Go To Line | Ctrl+G |
| Insert Date/Time | F5 |
| Search with Google | Ctrl+E |
| Plain-text Paste | Shift+Ctrl+V or Shift+Insert |
| Increase / Decrease font size | Ctrl++ / Ctrl+- |
| Zoom font with mouse / trackpad | Ctrl+Scroll wheel, or pinch to zoom (macOS trackpad) |
| Gutter Line Numbers | Ctrl+Shift+L |
| Word Index Overlay | Ctrl+Shift+W |
| Language Switch | Double Ctrl (Win/Linux) or Double ⌃ Control (macOS) |
| Switch to layout 1 / 2 | Ctrl+, / Ctrl+. |
| Markdown menu | Alt+M (Windows/Linux menu mnemonic; macOS menus don't use Alt) |
| Markdown Preview (split view) | Ctrl+Shift+M (⌘⇧M on macOS) |
| Refresh Preview | Ctrl+Shift+R |
| Heading 1–6 | Ctrl+1 to Ctrl+6 |
| Bold / Italic / Bold Italic | Ctrl+B / Ctrl+I / Ctrl+Shift+B |
| Code Block | Ctrl+Shift+K |
| Hyperlink | Ctrl+K |
ADVANCED.md covers the features aimed at power users who want to go beyond the defaults:
- Writer (சொல்வெளி) Mode and Techie (நுட்பர்) Mode — full settings tables
- Save Presets — save your own settings as the baseline for a mode, stored in
~/Documents/Neight/(in the Mac App Store build from 2026.086,~/Library/Application Support/Neight/) - Reading Time — configurable Tamil and English reading speeds with per-script calculation
- Word Index Overlay — number every word in your document; fully customizable appearance. The semi-transparent overlay is lovingly called the butter paper effect (like laying a translucent sheet over your manuscript to annotate word positions). See ADVANCED.md for details.
- Language Switch configuration — choose which two layouts to switch between
- Appearance settings — theme options, custom colors, overlay opacity and color controls
- Unicode tools — NFC normalization and partial word highlighting details
- Settings and file locations — where
settings.jsonlives, how to reset, autosave logs - Recovery folder — where silent recovery copies of unsaved documents are stored, how to view and empty it
- Known Tamil text navigation issue in Qt
I started Neight after running into Tamil text rendering and editing issues in the newer Windows Notepad. Other editors were either too heavy, too cluttered, or simply not suited to quick bilingual writing.
The goal was simple: make a small, dependable editor that feels close to Notepad, but works better for the way I actually write.
Neight is especially useful if you want:
- a simple editor for short and medium-form writing
- better support for Tamil + English workflows
- a lightweight app instead of a full IDE or word processor
- a Markdown-capable editor without a cluttered toolbar
The idea for Neight was sparked by Pa. Raghavan, editor of MadrasPaper.com — an online Tamil magazine. His years-long search for the perfect distraction-free writing app on macOS was the seed that became this project. That level of care for the craft of writing was reason enough to build something.
Warm thanks also to Muthu Nedumaran of Murasu.com for his encouragement and support throughout.
Neight is a personal project, vibe-coded with AI assistance and brewed at venkatarangan.com. The name: NotepadEnhanced → NotepadE → N8 → Neight.
- Export to DOCX
- Page numbers in PDF footer
- Print preview before PDF export
- Drag and drop a file into the editor window to open it — dropping onto the app icon and Finder's Open With already work
- Optional AI features for translation, rewriting, or lookup
DEVELOPER.md covers everything you need to build, run, or understand Neight's internals:
- Running from source and requirements
- Building distributables on Windows and macOS
- Architecture overview and project layout
- Performance design choices
- macOS Open With implementation
- Autosave watchdog and diagnostic logs
- Settings validation and security notes
CHANGELOG.md records what changed in each build, tagged by platform. The most recent entries cover the sandbox fix that resolved the Mac App Store build's earlier inability to open or save files, and the macOS version floor it shipped with.
This project is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for details.
Neight is provided AS IS, without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose, reliability, availability, performance, and accuracy.
Neight is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Google, Sorkuvai, the Government of Tamil Nadu, or any other third-party service or brand referenced by this project. Neight only opens those public services by passing user-selected query text through configured URL prefixes. All third-party names, trademarks, service marks, logos, and copyrights remain the property of their respective owners.
You are responsible for validating whether it is suitable for your own workflow.