I don't like to say this but there is something in Microsoft Windows that I wish I could do on the Mac. I wish I could right-click in a window and choose "create new text document" from a pop-up menu. Is there some hack that will let me do that? Or is there an extant feature that I don't know about.
The simplest approach to a single click that will open a new text document is to do the following:
Now, with a single-click of that TextEdit app on your Dock, it will open a new plain text window. No Finder necessary.
TextEdit User Guide for Mac - Apple Support
Learn to use the Mac as a Mac: Mac User Guide - Apple Support
If you don’t want to create a quick action to get to the text file, and don’t want Command-Space-TextEdit or a TextEdit app icon in the doc or desktop, there’s an app that does this and more:
$2: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/new-file-menu/id1064959555?mt=12
free: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/new-file-menu-lite/id1066302071?mt=12
But probably the closest built-in implementation of this is the obscurely-named macOS stationery pad feature available within Finder, which allows the creation of template files. Drop a marked-as-a-template file in the dock or elsewhere, tap on it, and off you go:
Create new text document from Finder
