# Editor is a small Android text editor that opens files other apps hand you > The Editor app for Android is a generic text editor that can stand alone or act as the handler when another app offers you a text file, with syntax highlighting, regular expression search and a set of options for themes, typefaces and text size. Its README is blunt about two limits: files over roughly 500 KB are refused, and a pathological search pattern can hang the app for good. **billthefarmer/editor** — Android simple text editor - Repository: https://github.com/billthefarmer/editor - Website: https://billthefarmer.github.io/editor - Stars: 572 · Forks: 96 - Language: Java - License: GPL-3.0 - Published: 2026-10-22 · Updated: 2026-10-22 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/billthefarmer-editor ## An editor that doubles as a file handler Editor is described as an Android simple generic text editor, available from F-Droid under the package name `org.billthefarmer.editor` and from the project's GitHub releases, with the documentation site at billthefarmer.github.io/editor. The interesting part of its design is that it works standalone or as a target for other applications. The README says it may be used standalone or to show or edit any sort of text file from another app, and that if you select a text file in a file manager or similar app you will be offered the option of using this editor along with whatever other apps you have installed that can show or edit a text file. There is one behavioural rule that runs through all of it. Files will initially be opened read only, and a long touch on the display or the edit item in the toolbar enables editing. That applies to a file you open from the chooser, a file from the recent list, and a file another app hands over. The editor never starts in a writable state, which is a sensible default for an app that is often invoked with a file it did not choose itself. The project is written in Java, licensed under GPL 3.0, and the recent tags are v1.98 from 2026-04-17, v1.97 from 2026-03-30 and v1.96 from 2024-04-05. The last push was on 2026-04-17. ## Five toolbar items, and the read only rule The toolbar has five items, and each one maps to a single behaviour. `Edit` edits the current read only file. `View` views the current file read only. `Save` saves the current file if modified. `New` starts a new empty file, and the README notes that you use the Save as item to save that new file. `Open` opens a text file using a chooser. The chooser itself is documented in a separate file, `Chooser.md`, and the README describes one detail: the parent folder will be the first in the list. So the directory you are in when you open the chooser is the first thing you see, which is a small decision that matters more than it sounds when you are moving between folders. The menu adds the items the toolbar cannot hold. `Open recent` pops up a list of recent files, and its last entry, `Clear list`, empties that list. `Search` is an interactive search of the text using a regular expression, and the first matching item is highlighted, with the search button in the keyboard used to find the next one. `Find all` finds all recent files containing the search text, and that menu item only appears while the search widget is active. The rest of the menu is a short list of file operations: `Save as` to save with a new name, `Go to` to scroll to a selected position in the file, `Print` for the current file, `View markdown`, `Charset` to change or show the current character set, `Options`, `Theme`, `Text size`, `Typeface` and `About`, which shows the version, copyright and licence. ## Options cover the things users actually change The `Options` submenu is where the app's preferences live, and the list is short enough to reproduce in another editor. `View files` opens files read only for viewing, which is the mode you want when you are browsing a device rather than editing. `Open last` opens the last opened file on startup, which saves a step for a quick fix. `Auto save` saves the current file on app pause, which is the setting that most affects whether you lose work when Android reclaims the app. `Word wrap` limits text width to screen width and wraps the text. `Suggestions` turns on text input and spelling suggestions. And `Highlight syntax` highlights programming language syntax. The `Theme` submenu offers Light, Dark, System, White, Black and Retro, which is a wider set than the usual light and dark pair. `Text size` offers Small, Medium and Large, `Typeface` lets you choose the typeface, and `About` shows the version, the copyright and the licence. `View markdown` is a slightly odd one and is worth understanding. You are prompted to choose a viewer for an HTML file containing the encoded markdown from the current open file, and if the text contains no markdown the result is the same text. So it is a converter and a handoff to another app, not a markdown editor, which is a fair way to treat markdown on a phone without building a preview into the app. ## The 500 KB limit is documented, so stop filing issues about it Two constraints in the README are worth reading before you install, because both are stated as facts rather than as bugs. The first is the file size. Editor loads the whole of the file to be edited into memory, and it will not load large files, larger than about 500 KB, which would cause performance issues or cause the app to crash. The README then asks directly that you not raise issues about the Too large dialog shown when attempting to load a large file. That is a design decision rather than an oversight. Loading a whole file into memory is what makes the app simple and fast on a phone, and the cost is a ceiling. If your use case involves files larger than half a megabyte, this app is the wrong choice and no configuration will change that. The second is the search. The exact regular expression syntax used is the one in the Android documentation for Pattern, and the README warns that odd text patterns unlikely to be found in an ordinary source file can hang the regex functionality so the app stops working, and that there is no way to predict or recover from this. The mitigation it offers is the `(?i)` flag for case insensitive search. So the failure mode is not an error message, it is a frozen app. That is a design choice with real consequences, and it is why the README spends as much space on the limits as on the features. ## Printing, shortcuts and the read only file picker The remaining features each carry a caveat that is worth knowing in advance. `Print` prints the current file, and if you would like the output highlighted you will need to scroll slowly through the whole file to give the app a chance to highlight it, because printing a file that is not on screen cannot be highlighted. The README cautions that attempting to print a large file on an older device with limited resources may cause the app to stop responding. The launcher shortcuts are a different kind of feature. You may create a New file or an Open file shortcut in the launcher, and the New file widget creates a shortcut that opens a new file in Editor, while the Open file widget pops up a dialog showing the file chooser, where you may choose a file or use the Storage button, and you may cancel and fill in the name and path fields, or edit the name or path fields after choosing a file. One limitation is stated plainly: content URIs returned by the Android file picker will not be resolved. That last point is a platform boundary rather than a bug in the editor. It means a shortcut cannot point at a document provided through the system picker, only at a path the app can address directly. ## The documentation is split across files, and the issue tracker says so The repository is a normal Android project with a `build.gradle`, `gradle.properties`, the `gradlew` and `gradlew.bat` wrappers, a `gradle/` directory, a `src/` directory, a `fastlane/` directory for release metadata, a `docs/` directory and a `.github/` directory for workflows. The documentation is split by topic at the top level, with `Charset.md`, `Chooser.md`, `Mode.md` and `Syntax.md` sitting next to the README, and the README itself only summarises the character set section, saying the current character set is displayed under the current file name and is optionally detected. The issue tracker section at the top of the README is unusual and worth reading. It says there have been a number of issues raised on this app where users have obviously not read this README, looked at the documentation, or looked at old closed issues, and asks people to read the README, read the docs and look at the old issues before raising another one, noting that you can search the issues from the box at the top. That is a project that has been running long enough to accumulate a queue of duplicates, and the maintainer has decided the answer is documentation. For a user, the practical advice is to search before filing, and for anyone evaluating the project, it is a signal that the issue tracker is not a good place to judge how well a question was answered. ## Conclusion Adopt Editor when you want a small, ad free text editor on Android for configuration files, logs and notes, or when you want your own app to be able to hand a text file to a simple editor. Do not adopt it for files above roughly 500 KB, for editing Markdown as a rich document, or anywhere a stalled regular expression would be costly. Verify first that your files fit the size limit the README states, that the search patterns you use are ordinary ones, and that the version you install matches the one you read, with v1.98 published on 2026-04-17 and the last push on the same day. ## FAQ ### What is the Editor app for Android? It is a simple generic text editor that can be used standalone or to show and edit text files opened from other apps, such as when you select a text file in a file manager. Files open read only, and editing is enabled with a long touch or the Edit toolbar item. ### What is the largest file Editor will open? It will not load files larger than about 500 KB, because the app loads the whole file into memory and larger files would cause performance problems or a crash. The README asks that you do not raise issues about the Too large dialog. ### Does Editor support regular expression search? Yes. The Search menu item performs an interactive search using a regular expression, the first matching item is highlighted, and the syntax is the one in the Android documentation for Pattern, with `(?i)` for case insensitive search. The README warns that unusual patterns can hang the regex functionality so the app stops working, with no way to predict or recover. ### Where can I get the Editor app for Android? From F-Droid under the package name `org.billthefarmer.editor`, and from the project's GitHub releases. The documentation is at billthefarmer.github.io/editor, with separate files for the charset, the file chooser, the mode and syntax highlighting. ## Sources - [billthefarmer/editor on GitHub](https://github.com/billthefarmer/editor) - [License: GPL-3.0](https://github.com/billthefarmer/editor/blob/master/LICENSE) - [Project website](https://billthefarmer.github.io/editor) - [README](https://github.com/billthefarmer/editor/blob/master/README.md) - [Releases](https://github.com/billthefarmer/editor/releases) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/billthefarmer-editor