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I have been looking for a text editor that can save directly to an SD card in phone/tablet. I would prefer an open source app but would be willing to pay for the right product.

I have tried many editors over the years and trusted several, Jota and DroidEdit, but both of these cannot write to the card.

I've searched the web but I only seem to be able to find very old recommendations and articles.

I'm quite surprised that there aren't more quality choices, like there are on Windows and Linux.

Thanks

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    Take your pick from my list here. Hard to give a recommendation just based on "access SD card" without knowing what features you need (development, wiki, markdown …). For open-source ones, watch out for the F-Droid and the IzzyOnDroid icons. For Markdown and organization, I'd recommend Markor.
    – Izzy ♦
    Nov 10, 2019 at 12:08
  • @Izzy Ironically, Markor has a bug in its SD storage handling that remains unresolved after more than a year. Can you suggest any other open-source alternatives with markdown support?
    – Stephen Bosch
    Jul 24, 2020 at 19:57
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    @StephenBosch as I don't use anything else, I can only refer you to afore mentioned list, sorry. And I didn't encounter that bug either (admittedly, I don't write frequently on my phone). Hard for the author to fix if he cannot reproduce it, so I can fully understand Gregor in that issue.
    – Izzy ♦
    Jul 24, 2020 at 21:03

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Try this:

QuickEdit

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QuickEdit is a fast, stable and full-featured text editor for Android devices. It has been optimized for both phone and tablet, it's of high performance and real-time feedback on large text files (more than 10,000 lines). The speed and responsiveness are very good if you compare it with other text editor apps on Google Play. It can be used as a text editor or code editor for normal text files and programming files. It will automatically detect the character encoding of your files, but you can still change it as you wish.

QuickEdit allows you to Access files from recently opened or added files collections, FTP, Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive and has syntax highlight for more than 40 languages like C++, C#, Java, XML, Javascript, Markdown, PHP, Perl, Python, Ruby, Smali, Swift, etc. QuickEdit has the ability to edit system files on rooted devices too.

Quoda Code Editor

Quoda is yet another code editor for Android. Unlike other code editors, Quoda has predefined templates for various languages like CSS, C#, HTML, Java, PHP, Python, Visual Basic, and XML. This makes it very easy to create new files from scratch. Just like Turbo Editor, Quoda has a bottom bar with all the essential keys to type brackets, quotes, special characters, and symbols. Quoda supports syntax highlighting and code completion for various languages like Perl, C, C++, Java, JavaScript, Lisp, C#, Lua, Markdown, CSS, Haskell, ActionScript, Objective-C, HTML, PHP, Python, Google Apps Script, etc.

Quoda built-in support for Google Drive, Dropbox, and SFTP/FTP. Using the SFTP/FTP feature, you can browse, download, and update files to and from your server. Other features of Quoda include the ability to download source code from URL, markdown support, syntax themes, find and replace with regex support, auto-indentation, bracket matching, line bookmarking, etc.

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Turbo Editor

Turbo Editor delivers in terms of being a complete learner’s text editor. Supporting several languages including HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, and Python, the editor does what it promises with fewer ad distractions. But there’s a feeling that somebody decided to cut corners. The biggest annoyance is a bug that doesn’t allow you to preview results. It can also be difficult to form indents or to find a line of code.

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Pros: A neat Spartan interface to hone your coding skills in an Open Source environment. You can easily share your results over Hangouts and transfer files from your local SD cards.

Cons: Mostly a work in progress. But, if they fix the bugs, Turbo Editor has real potential.

Dcoder

Dcoder can save your day if you are trapped in long public commutes and could do with a few creative spells. It works decently even with your native Android keyboard. One of the best for learning IDEs, the app allows you to choose from over thirty languages. Featuring a rich text editor with syntax highlighting, the output is visible right on the window, which is reassuring. The “Design Now” feature is ideal for web developers. The app is generally free, but the paid version isn’t too expensive.

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Markor (tested v2.8.0, Android 8, Galaxy A3)

2m

Markor:

  • can browse, open, edit and write files on SD card (though see an issue mentioned in the comments under the question above)
  • no ads
  • can open files from some (!) file explorers (install it, open it, give permissions for SD card, use it from file explorers) eg. built-in Galaxy A3 file explorer won't work, but Total Commander works
  • Markor for me is better than Total Commander's built-in editor, it handles seamlessly the background sync of the file with Resilio Sync, reloads it like Notepad++ reloads the new version on my desktop

I've spent a day testing all the editors I've found on Google Play and FDroid (Acode, Code Editor, Dcoder, Editor, 920 Editor, FHCode, Jota Text Editor, QuickEdit Text Editor, Retro Text Editor, Simple Text Editor, Squircle IDE, TEdit, Text Edit, Turbo Editor):

  • all other editors can't open files on SD card, even after granting permissions, or open it, but can't save it, or forget the file-name, or simply crashes during, or you have to reinstall it after each usage...
  • or other editors seems to work, but you have to watch dozens of ads even to change 1 character in a text file
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