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Mac OS X text-manipulation APIs provide basic text input and display as well as text encoding conversions, text-search capabilities, and document summarizations. These APIs also enable sophisticated typography. Developers can, for example, precisely position individual glyphs and lines of text, draw Unicode text at any angle of rotation, kern text, and activate and deactivate fonts.

A guided introduction for developers new to Mac OS X text and fonts.  
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NSText Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the class that declares the most general programmatic interface for objects that manage text.
Cocoa 2008-05-06
Latent Semantic Mapping Reference (HTML)
Describes the C API for classifying text and other token-based content based on latent semantic information.
Carbon, Cocoa, Text Manipulation 2008-04-08
Apple Type Services for Fonts Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the C API for ATS-based font access and management.
Carbon, Typography 2007-12-11
Font Manager Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the C API for QuickDraw-based font access and management.
Carbon 2007-12-11
Script Manager Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Deprecated - Describes the legacy C API that was used for managing writing systems. Replaced by Unicode technology.
Carbon, Text Manipulation 2007-12-11
Core Text Reference Collection (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the C API providing text and font services to applications and application environments.
Carbon, Typography 2007-12-04
NSAttributedString Application Kit Additions Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes extensions to Foundation's NSAttributedString class that add support for document types, text attributes, and string handling.
Cocoa 2007-12-04
NSSecureTextFieldCell Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the class that implements the user interface of NSSecureTextField.
Cocoa 2007-10-31
NSSpeechSynthesizer Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the class used to parse text into speech.
Cocoa 2007-07-23
Input Method Kit Reference Update (HTML) (PDF)
Summarizes the symbols added to the Input Method Kit framework.
Cocoa 2007-07-18
CTFont Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the Core Text opaque type that represents a font.
Carbon 2007-06-29
ATSUI Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the C API for rendering Unicode-encoded text with advanced typographic features.
Carbon, Typography 2007-06-28
NSFont Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the class that represents fonts to an application.
Cocoa, Typography 2007-06-08
Text Input Source Services Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the API for operating on text input sources, such as keyboards, character palettes, and ink input.
Carbon, Text Manipulation 2007-06-07
IMKInputController Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the class that controls input on the input method side.
Cocoa, Text Manipulation 2007-06-06
IMKServer Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the class that manages connections to input method clients.
Cocoa, Text Manipulation 2007-06-06
IMKServerInput Protocol Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the informal protocol used to receive text events.
Cocoa, Text Manipulation 2007-06-06
Input Method Kit Framework Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the API for building input methods for Chinese, Japanese, and other languages.
Cocoa, Text Manipulation 2007-06-06
IMKCandidates Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the class that supports the use of candidate windows for an input method.
Cocoa, Text Manipulation 2007-06-05
IMKMouseHandling Protocol Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the protocol used to receive mouse events for an input method client session.
Cocoa, Text Manipulation 2007-06-05
IMKStateSetting Protocol Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the protocol used to set or access state values for an input method client session.
Cocoa, Text Manipulation 2007-06-05
IMKTextInput Protocol Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the protocol used to send and obtain data from an input method client session.
Cocoa, Text Manipulation 2007-06-05
CTFontDescriptor Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the Core Text opaque type used to represent a font descriptor.
Carbon 2007-05-30
Text Utilities Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the C API for operating on strings (formatting, sorting, converting, comparing).
Carbon, Text Manipulation 2007-05-29
CTLine Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the Core Text opaque type used to represent a line of text.
Carbon 2007-05-24
CTRun Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the Core Text opaque type used to represent a glyph run.
Carbon 2007-05-24
CTFontCollection Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the Core Text opaque type used to store a collection of font references.
Carbon 2007-05-16
CTGlyphInfo Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the Core Text opaque type used to override a font's mapping from Unicode to the glyph ID.
Carbon 2007-05-09
Core Text String Attributes Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the CFAttributedString attributes recognized by Core Text.
Carbon 2007-05-01
CTFrame Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the Core Text opaque type used to represent a frame containing multiple lines of text.
Carbon 2007-05-01
CTTextTab Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the Core Text opaque type used to represent a tab in a paragraph style.
Carbon 2007-05-01
CTTypesetter Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the Core Text opaque type used to represent a typesetter, which performs line layout.
Carbon 2007-05-01
NSSpellChecker Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the class that gives any application an interface to the Cocoa spell-checking service.
Cocoa 2007-04-27
NSSpellServer Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the class used to make your particular spelling checker a service available to any application.
Cocoa 2007-04-27
NSTextView Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the class instantiated as the front-end, primary user interface object of the Cocoa text system.
Cocoa 2007-04-27
Core Text Utilities Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the Core Text functions and data types that apply to the framework as a whole.
Carbon 2007-04-21
CTFramesetter Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the Core Text opaque type used to generate text frames.
Carbon 2007-04-21
CTParagraphStyle Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the Core Text opaque type used to represent paragraph or ruler attributes in an attributed string.
Carbon 2007-04-21
NSLayoutManager Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the class that coordinates the layout and display of characters held in an NSTextStorage object.
Cocoa, Text Manipulation 2007-04-16
NSTextTable Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the class that represents a text table as a whole.
Cocoa 2007-04-11
NSFontManager Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the class instantiated as the controller object for the font conversion system.
Cocoa 2007-04-06
NSFontPanel Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the class that implements the Font panel--a user interface object that displays a list of available fonts.
Cocoa 2007-04-06
NSFontPanelValidation Protocol Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the informal protocol used to tell the Font panel to display some or all of its elements.
Cocoa 2007-04-06
NSInputServerMouseTracker Protocol Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the protocol implemented by text input servers to handle mouse events.
Cocoa 2007-04-02
NSInputServiceProvider Protocol Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the protocol implemented by text input servers to handle application and text field events.
Cocoa 2007-04-02
NSInputManager Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the class used by text views to communicate with the text input management system.
Cocoa 2007-04-01
NSInputServer Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the class that interprets text view events and communicates them to the text input management system.
Cocoa 2007-04-01
NSTypesetter Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the abstract superclass that defines the interface for typesetter objects that perform text line layout.
Cocoa, Typography 2007-03-26
NSGlyphInfo Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the class that allows you to override a font's default mapping from Unicode to its glyph ID.
Cocoa 2007-03-01
Fonts Panel Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the C API for providing a Fonts window in a Carbon application.
Carbon 2007-02-26
Multilingual Text Engine Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the C API for supporting Unicode text editing.
Carbon 2007-02-19
Search Kit Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Programming interfaces that support user searching of textual content, supporting query-based and similarity-based searches.
Carbon, Cocoa 2006-07-14
Find By Content Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Deprecated - Describes the legacy C API for performing relevance-ranked searches. Replaced by Search Kit.
Carbon, Cocoa 2006-07-13
TextEdit Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Deprecated - Describes the legacy C API for text handling and manipulation. Replaced by the Multilingual Text Engine (MLTE).
Carbon 2006-07-13
NSATSTypesetter Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes a concrete subclass of NSTypesetter that places glyphs during text layout.
Cocoa, Typography 2006-07-10
NSAttributedString Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the class for creating and managing strings that can have sets of attributes associated with specified character ranges.
Cocoa 2006-06-28
NSMutableAttributedString Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the subclass of NSAttributedString that supports changing characters and attributes in the string.
Cocoa 2006-06-28
NSString Application Kit Additions Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes extensions to Foundation's NSString class that add support for drawing string objects directly in an NSView.
Cocoa 2006-06-28
NSChangeSpelling Protocol Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the formal protocol implemented by objects that can correct a misspelled word.
Cocoa 2006-05-23
NSGlyphGenerator Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the class used to perform the initial, nominal glyph generation phase in the text layout process.
Cocoa, Typography 2006-05-23
NSGlyphStorage Protocol Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the formal protocol that defines the methods a glyph storage object must implement to interact properly with NSGlyphGenerator.
Cocoa, Typography 2006-05-23
NSIgnoreMisspelledWords Protocol Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the formal protocol implemented by text-bearing objects to have the spelling checker maintain a list of words to ignore.
Cocoa 2006-05-23
NSMutableAttributedString Additions Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes extensions to Foundation's NSMutableAttributedString class that add support for setting text attributes and making them consistent.
Cocoa 2006-05-23
NSMutableParagraphStyle Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the class that supports changing the values of the subattributes in an NSParagraphStyle attribute.
Cocoa 2006-05-23
NSParagraphStyle Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the class that encapsulates the paragraph or ruler attributes used by the NSAttributedString classes.
Cocoa 2006-05-23
NSRulerMarker Class Objective-C Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the class that displays a symbol, such as a tab setting, on an NSRulerView object.
Cocoa 2006-05-23
NSRulerView Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the class that displays a ruler and markers adjoining an NSScrollView object's document view.
Cocoa 2006-05-23
NSSimpleHorizontalTypesetter Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Deprecated - Describes the class used for text line layout that has been replaced by NSATSTypesetter.
Cocoa, Typography 2006-05-23
NSTextAttachment Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the class used by the NSAttributedString class cluster as the value for attachment attributes.
Cocoa 2006-05-23
NSTextAttachmentCell Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the class that implements the functionality of the NSTextAttachmentCell protocol.
Cocoa 2006-05-23
NSTextBlock Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the class that represents a block of text laid out in a subregion of a text container.
Cocoa 2006-05-23
NSTextContainer Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the class that defines a region where text is laid out.
Cocoa 2006-05-23
NSTextInput Protocol Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Descibes the formal protocol that text views implement to receive input from the user's keyboard and mouse.
Cocoa 2006-05-23
NSTextList Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the class that represents a section of text that forms a single list.
Cocoa 2006-05-23
NSTextStorage Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the semiconcrete subclass of NSMutableAttributedString that defines the storage mechanism for the Cocoa text system.
Cocoa 2006-05-23
NSTextTab Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the class that represents a tab in an NSParagraphStyle object.
Cocoa 2006-05-23
NSTextTableBlock Class Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the class used to represent a text block that appears as a cell within a text table.
Cocoa 2006-05-23
Ink Services Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Defines the C API for customizing handwriting recognition.
Carbon, Text Manipulation 2006-01-10
Unicode Utilities Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the C API that allows applications and input methods to operate on Unicode text.
Carbon 2006-01-10
CFAttributedString Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the opaque type for representing an immutable character string and associated set of attributes.
Carbon 2005-12-06
CFMutableAttributedString Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the opaque type for representing a mutable character string and associated set of attributes.
Carbon 2005-12-06
Text Services Manager Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the C API for communicating between client applications and provider modules.
Carbon 2005-11-09
Text Encoding Conversion Manager Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the C API for transferring text across other platforms or over the Internet.
Carbon, Text Manipulation 2005-07-07
Keyboard Layout Services Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the C API for managing key-to-character mappings used to support various languages.
Carbon 2002-11-18
FontSync Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the C API for content-based font identification and comparison.
Carbon, Typography 2002-10-01
Locale Utilities Reference (HTML) (PDF)
Describes the C API for supporting conventions of a specific language or region.
Carbon 2002-01-24