textmaker

SoftMaker Office word processor

TLDR

Start TextMaker

$ textmaker

Open a Word document

$ textmaker [path/to/file.docx]

Open a document with the Office 2026 launcher

$ textmaker26 [path/to/file.docx]

Start with OpenGL disabled

$ textmaker -disableopengl

Export a document to PDF from an options file

$ textmaker -pdf:[path/to/export.ini]

textmaker starts TextMaker, the word processor in SoftMaker Office from SoftMaker Software GmbH. DOCX is its default file format. It also opens and saves RTF, OpenDocument Text, Markdown, plain text, and TextMaker documents from earlier versions, and it can export PDF.On Linux the package installs a year-suffixed script. SoftMaker Office 2026 provides textmaker26. The 2024 release provides textmaker24, and FreeOffice adds textmaker24free. The program binary itself is named textmaker. Pass a document path to open that file instead of a blank document.Batch PDF export reads an INI file passed to -pdf:. On Linux the switch is written with a dash. Quotation marks around the path are optional. The export shows a progress window while it runs.

PARAMETERS

_file_

Document to open.

-disableopengl

Start with the OpenGL display engine off. Used on Linux when a faulty OpenGL driver keeps the window from opening.

-pdf:inifile

Create a PDF from the document named in inifile, then exit. inifile is UTF-8 and must begin with a byte-order mark.

CONFIGURATION

PDF export is driven by an INI file. The [pdf files] section names the input and output. Further sections match the PDF dialog: [pdf general textmaker], [pdf preferences], [pdf view], and [pdf protection]. Empty or invalid values fall back to defaults without a dialog.

$ AppFile=/home/user/report.docx
PdfFile=/home/user/report.pdf

[pdf general textmaker]
PageRange=ALL
PageExport=ALL
TaggedPdf=1

[pdf preferences]
OpenPDFViewer=0
FontEmbedding=ALL

AppFile is the document to convert. If it is missing, the export stops. If PdfFile is empty, the PDF path is taken from AppFile with a .pdf suffix. PageRange accepts lists such as 1-2;4. PageExport is ALL, ODD, or EVEN. OpenPDFViewer set to 1 opens the result in a PDF viewer.

CAVEATS

Current Linux packages put a year-suffixed launcher on PATH. A bare textmaker command is the binary inside the install directory and the name used by older packages.The program needs a graphical session. -pdf: shows a progress window and is not a headless converter. The manual's startup and print switches (-N, -FO, -FN, -P, -Q) are specified for Windows.SoftMaker Office is proprietary. FreeOffice is the reduced free edition and uses the same style of launcher.

HISTORY

SoftMaker released TextMaker 1.0 for DOS in the fall of 1987. A Linux build followed as TextMaker 2002 in May 2003. SoftMaker Office 2006 for Linux, which also includes PlanMaker and Presentations, shipped in December 2006.

RESOURCES

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