Colors in XED -- Menu item not there

[pgmer6809]

When creating files with XED it would be very nice to be able to specify that certain words be in a certain color or font.
The XED help says this:

Font & Colors Preferences
Font
Select the Use default theme font option to use the default system font for the text in the xed text window.
The Editor font field displays the font that xed uses to display text. Click on the button to specify the font type, style, and size to use for text.
Color Scheme
You can choose a color scheme from the list of color schemes. By default, the following color schemes are installed:
Classic
Classic color scheme based on the gvim color scheme.
Cobalt
Blue based color scheme.
Kate
Color scheme used in the Kate text editor.
Oblivion
Dark color scheme using the Tango color palette.
Tango
Color scheme using the Tango color scheme.
You can add a new color scheme by clicking on Add..., and selecting a color scheme file
You can remove the selected color scheme by clicking on Remove

But none of that appears when I go to Edit=> Preferences. There is a Theme choice but that does not do what I want.
XED can do colors, because it colorizes certain words depending on the file name.
is there any way I can get XED to do what it is supposed to do and allow me to choose fonts and colors?
pgmer6809

[smurphos]

Open Xed, navigate to Edit > Preferences > Editor.

Uncheck 'Use the System Fixed Width Font' to display a drop-down box to select your choice of font.

The colour scheme is the same thing as the theme. If you don't like any of the defaults you can create your own using one of the defaults as a starting point.

They can be found in /usr/share/gtksourceview-3.0/styles

This is for Xed in Mint 19.

[pgmer6809]

I think that even if I can modify themes and so on it is not going to do what I want.XED seems to be a programmers editor, and the color schemes etc. seem to be target-ed at highlighting syntax for some language or other.
I am looking for a writer/notetaker's editor that will allow me to underline, boldface, change the font color, or the background color of words or phrases that I want to emphasize. Like NOTECASE allows me to do.
I guess xed is not the tool for the job I have in mind.

Surprising that there does not seem to be a lightweight editor that will let you boldface, underline, or italicize things. Things that you can do from the terminal (see e.g. man pages)
Have to use LibreOffice I guess....
Thanks for the suggestion though.
pgmer6809

[MrEen]

Abiword should suffice. I don't use it myself, but it's lighter than LibreOffice.