You know that moment when you're racing against a deadline, your coffee is getting cold, and then your internet cuts out? That was me, last October, with a 120-page thesis that absolutely needed to compile in the next two hours. Overleaf was my life raft until it wasn't.
I'd been using Overleaf for years. The cloud-based workflow was slick: write from anywhere, collaborate instantly, no fiddling with build environments. But I was paying for premium, I was dependent on their servers, and apparently, their infrastructure doesn't care about my rural MacBook Air's spotty internet connection.
That afternoon, something snapped. I spent 20 minutes hitting "compile," watching it timeout, refreshing, and getting nowhere. Meanwhile, I had all the tools I needed sitting on my machine — MacTeX, a local TeX installation — but no editor that actually made using them pleasant. So I started searching for local-first LaTeX editors for Mac.
That's when I found TeX64.
The Setup: Easier Than I Expected
Here's the thing about going local: I expected friction. Technical hurdles. Obscure installation steps. But TeX64 surprised me.
I already had MacTeX installed (which most serious LaTeX users do), so TeX64 was literally a download from tex64.com, one app installation, and I was editing. No account creation. No login walls. Just open it and start working.
The free tier doesn't restrict anything I care about — you get the full editor, the workspace, even the AI assistant Axiom. (There's a paid tier if you want cloud sync or extended AI usage, but I haven't needed it yet.)
When I opened my first project file, I was struck by how capable the interface felt. The project workspace showed my file tree on the left, tabs for jumping between files, and a split view so I could see my LaTeX source and the compiled PDF side-by-side. For my 120-page thesis, split view was a revelation: I could edit the introduction on one side, watch the PDF update on the other, all without alt-tabbing between windows.
Your First Compile
I pasted my thesis source into TeX64 and hit compile. Fourteen seconds later, a 120-page PDF sat in my workspace. On my M2 MacBook Air. Locally. No waiting for cloud servers. No dependency on my wifi's mood.
Then I made a syntax error intentionally to test something.
I mistyped a citation key. Compile failed. But instead of just giving me a cryptic error log (like most editors), Axiom kicked in. The AI assistant read the compile log, understood what went wrong, and proposed a fix with a diff right there in the UI. I could see exactly what it was suggesting to change. One click and the error was gone. Next compile: success.
This became my workflow: write, compile locally, let Axiom catch the stupid mistakes I make when I'm tired.
The Feature That Broke Overleaf For Me: OCR
Here's where TeX64 really got under my skin (in the best way).
I spend a lot of time in lectures, scrawling equations in my notebook. Converting those handwritten math notes into LaTeX is usually a tedious process: either type them out manually (error-prone) or spend 20 minutes wrestling with some janky online tool.
TeX64 has built-in equation OCR. You take a screenshot of your handwritten notes or a photo from your phone, drop it into the editor, and it converts it to editable LaTeX. I tested it on some particularly messy quadratic equations from my notes. Not perfect every time, but close enough that I only needed to tweak a few characters instead of retyping everything.
For someone who lives between paper and LaTeX, this is huge.
SyncTeX: Click and Jump
One feature I didn't expect to care about, but now I can't live without: SyncTeX integration.
Click anywhere in the compiled PDF → jump to that spot in your source code. Click in the editor → the PDF jumps to show you that section. It sounds small, but when you're debugging formatting issues, it eliminates the guesswork. "Why is this equation off-center?" Click the equation in the PDF, land directly on the source. Fixed.
The Visual Math Palette
My university's math department would be appalled at how many of my early LaTeX documents were hand-typed, searching for the right symbol each time. TeX64 includes a visual math palette where you can click symbols to insert them. It's not revolutionary, but it's genuinely useful when you're building complex equations and don't want to hunt through amssymb documentation.
The Daily Workflow
A typical day now looks like this:
- Open TeX64, load my project
- Edit a chapter or section — file tree keeps things organized
- Compile (8–14 seconds for the full thesis, depending on complexity)
- If there are errors: Axiom suggests fixes, I review and apply
- Split view shows the PDF updating in real-time
- If I need to add an equation from lecture notes: OCR it, tweak as needed
- SyncTeX helps me debug any formatting weirdness
No internet required. No waiting for Overleaf's servers. No premium payment for features that should be basic.
What I'm Honest About
TeX64 isn't perfect. Here's what I miss or find frustrating:
- macOS only: If you ever switch to Windows or Linux, TeX64 doesn't follow you. I'm okay with that as a long-term Mac user, but it's worth knowing.
- Requires MacTeX: You need TeX Live or MacTeX installed locally. TeX64 isn't a standalone LaTeX environment; it's an editor for your existing installation. This is actually a feature for power users, but beginners might find it intimidating.
- No real-time collaboration: Overleaf's ability to work with teammates simultaneously is gone. If you need that, you're still sharing source files the old-fashioned way.
- No multi-device sync (without paying): Free tier is local-only. If you want to edit on your Mac and then switch to your iPad, that's a paid feature.
The Bottom Line
Overleaf taught me I like working in the cloud until the cloud betrays me. TeX64 taught me I actually prefer not having to rely on someone else's infrastructure.
The compile speeds are noticeably faster. The AI assistant catching my errors is genuinely useful. The OCR for handwritten notes saves me hours. And the local-first workflow means I'm not one internet hiccup away from losing time.
Is it a perfect Overleaf replacement? Not if you're working in a team that needs simultaneous editing. But for solo writers, thesis students, and people who actually want control over their LaTeX workflow, it's excellent.
My thesis compiled successfully, on time, without a single moment of "the internet is down" panic.
If you're a Mac user tired of cloud editor hiccups, you owe it to yourself to try TeX64. It's free to start, and your local LaTeX installation is already sitting there, waiting to be used properly.
Check it out: tex64.com
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