Please note: Neu is not currently in active development, and has not been updated for some time. As a result, it is now available for free.
What?
Neu is a simple application that makes it easier to create new documents in the Finder, without you having to open an application first.
It does this by adding “Create Document…” and “Create And Open Document…” menus to various places, including the main menubar, the Dock, and the Services menu that the Finder shows when you right-click on something. You can also trigger Neu from any application using a special key combination.
Neu lets you choose what to make from a list of templates, which are simply existing files. Once you’ve chosen a template, Neu creates a copy of it, brings the Finder to the front, and selects the new file.
Neu comes with some pre-defined templates, but you can add your own, so you can customise the types of new file available to suit your needs. It can make a blank text file, an empty letter, a shopping list, or anything else that you want. You can have one template, or a hundred - it’s up to you.
Why?
I often find that I want to create a text document in a hurry, to scribble down some notes in.
In certain other operating systems (mentioning no names), there is a “New File…” menu in the file explorer that lets you create common file types.
On the Mac, the Finder doesn’t have this functionality, so I created Neu.
Where?
You can download Neu 1.2.1 here. Please note that Neu requires Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) or Mac OS 10.7 (Lion).
You can find the release notes, including a list of known problems and the latest changes, here.
As Neu is no longer actively being developed, it can be downloaded from the Mac Application store for free.
How?
Neu contains a built-in user manual, which is available from the Help menu - this is the first place to go for help with using the application.
Click on the links below for some additional help with Neu.