@Ron-Zarnick ,

Download the most recent Notepad++ from the official downloads page at https://notepad-plus-plus.org/downloads/

Once installed, run it an go to Plugins > Plugins Admin, checkmark GEDCOM Lexer plugin, then click Install

I had the same issue but didn’t investigate the involvement of plugins. The issue appeared after changing the Dark Mode to “Follow Windows”.

After switching the preference back and forth and restarted Notepad++, the issue was fixed.
Steps: Settings > Preferences > Dark Mode > Light mode / Dark mode / Follow Windows > Restart Notepad++

@Рома-Смирнов

Is it possible that your file is encrypted?

If so, you’ll have to determine how it was encrypted and decrypt it first, before Notepad++ or anything else can use it.

There seems to be such a code-folding regression in N++ v8.7.8, for more info and possible future fix watch the issue #16597.

@Alexander-Vorobyov

It will be easier for others on the forum to help you if you share debug info (?->Debug Info from the Notepad++ main menu).

I seem to recall that the specific problem of Notepad++ overwriting files with a lot of NUL characters was fixed a long time ago, but I’m not super familiar with this topic.

@Alan-Kilborn said in Help with a... distant replacement?:

@HeyImAName-HeyImALastName

Wow, that is really non-trivial.
But I’d say to try starting with this regular expression replacement:

Find: (?-s)^(\t*"(.+?)": "\$\[{2}.+?\]{2}).+?,
Replace: ${1}$[["${2}"]]",

Wow, that looks like absolute gibberish to me, I can’t decipher it in the slightest. But I tried it and it worked perfectly! Thanks for your help, and everyone else who replied.

@Claudia-Svenson

There is one thing I haven’t seen mentioned here yet. It’s the way I have Notepad++ set up:

Select Follow current document as the default directory. In the shortcut you use to start Notepad++, set the directory you want to use when there is no current document as the Start in directory.

In this set-up, when an existing document is open, the Open and Save As commands will begin in the folder containing that document. If you switch to an as-yet-unsaved file, Open, Save and Save As will begin in the folder containing the last existing document you viewed in that session. But if you start Notepad++ without opening any existing documents, Open, Save and Save As will begin in the folder you set as the working directory.

It’s not exactly what you requested, but perhaps close enough to reduce aggravation.

@Terry-R

Thank-you Terry, I turned of the option for DrictWrite in the rendering, and now i can see my documents.

Such a strange option to give me a problem after so may years of using notepad.

Have a great day!

@PeterJones said:

I concur. Has anyone ever asked for (specifically) not touching sessions.xml when -openSession/File > Load Session… is active?

No, not really, its a shame.

@hemanti0503 said in Documentation on upgrading Portable npp:

Unpack fresh download to new folder
Adjust config files in old npp folder

Correct.

Now, why should I copy the old npp.exe to the new folder (replacing the new exe)?

You shouldn’t. That was a mistake in the documentation.

Also what about all my plugins?

What do you mean, what about the plugins? Since you are copying the new version into the original directory, your plugins are all still there. New versions of plugins plugins don’t come with the portable version, true, so there’s nothing to copy from; but they also don’t automatically come with the installed version, either, so that’s behaving no different. After doing your upgrade of Notepad++, run the Plugins Admin and upgrade any plugins it tells you need updates.

Maybe it’s a typo in the doc, and it should read copy … from the new to the old

Yes

Did nothing else change in the new version other than the exe (and that nppPluginList.dll)?

Config files were explained; executable and DLL were explained (though with an accidental order swap); what else do you think there might be that could change?

@Mark-Jessel
Your question lacks any substance with which to help you.

Please read our FAQ post here.

You will need to supply far more information before anyone can really help you.

Terry

Great! I had tried that but did wait for the “shadow” to appear. Thank you very much for your help.

Instead of Excel, why not use a bit of PythonScript to generate the “ruler” lines?:

accum = '' for j in range(1020, 1030 + 1): desired_len = j des_len_as_str = str(desired_len) s = des_len_as_str tens_count = 0 while True: if (len(s) + 1) % 10 == 0: if (tens_count + 2) * 10 <= desired_len: s += str((tens_count + 1) * 10) tens_count += 1 if len(s) >= desired_len: break s += '_' s = s[:-len(des_len_as_str)] + des_len_as_str accum += s + '\r\n' editor.copyText(accum)

The example above generates ruler lines of length 1020 through 1030, inclusive. The ruler data ends up in the clipboard after the script runs.

Note that mine might be different from the earlier ruler lines discussed – I chose that the intermediate numbers start in their indicated column, e.g. after you paste the output of the script into a new tab, if you put the caret just to the left of the 8 in 890, the status bar will indicate Col: 890.

To select 890 characters from that same example line, put the caret between the 8 and the 9 and then press Shift+Home.

Here’s some output from the script:

1020_____10________20________30________40________50________60________70________80________90________100_______110_______120_______130_______140_______150_______160_______170_______180_______190_______200_______210_______220_______230_______240_______250_______260_______270_______280_______290_______300_______310_______320_______330_______340_______350_______360_______370_______380_______390_______400_______410_______420_______430_______440_______450_______460_______470_______480_______490_______500_______510_______520_______530_______540_______550_______560_______570_______580_______590_______600_______610_______620_______630_______640_______650_______660_______670_______680_______690_______700_______710_______720_______730_______740_______750_______760_______770_______780_______790_______800_______810_______820_______830_______840_______850_______860_______870_______880_______890_______900_______910_______920_______930_______940_______950_______960_______970_______980_______990_______1000______1010___1020 1021_____10________20________30________40________50________60________70________80________90________100_______110_______120_______130_______140_______150_______160_______170_______180_______190_______200_______210_______220_______230_______240_______250_______260_______270_______280_______290_______300_______310_______320_______330_______340_______350_______360_______370_______380_______390_______400_______410_______420_______430_______440_______450_______460_______470_______480_______490_______500_______510_______520_______530_______540_______550_______560_______570_______580_______590_______600_______610_______620_______630_______640_______650_______660_______670_______680_______690_______700_______710_______720_______730_______740_______750_______760_______770_______780_______790_______800_______810_______820_______830_______840_______850_______860_______870_______880_______890_______900_______910_______920_______930_______940_______950_______960_______970_______980_______990_______1000______1010____1021 1022_____10________20________30________40________50________60________70________80________90________100_______110_______120_______130_______140_______150_______160_______170_______180_______190_______200_______210_______220_______230_______240_______250_______260_______270_______280_______290_______300_______310_______320_______330_______340_______350_______360_______370_______380_______390_______400_______410_______420_______430_______440_______450_______460_______470_______480_______490_______500_______510_______520_______530_______540_______550_______560_______570_______580_______590_______600_______610_______620_______630_______640_______650_______660_______670_______680_______690_______700_______710_______720_______730_______740_______750_______760_______770_______780_______790_______800_______810_______820_______830_______840_______850_______860_______870_______880_______890_______900_______910_______920_______930_______940_______950_______960_______970_______980_______990_______1000______1010_____1022 1023_____10________20________30________40________50________60________70________80________90________100_______110_______120_______130_______140_______150_______160_______170_______180_______190_______200_______210_______220_______230_______240_______250_______260_______270_______280_______290_______300_______310_______320_______330_______340_______350_______360_______370_______380_______390_______400_______410_______420_______430_______440_______450_______460_______470_______480_______490_______500_______510_______520_______530_______540_______550_______560_______570_______580_______590_______600_______610_______620_______630_______640_______650_______660_______670_______680_______690_______700_______710_______720_______730_______740_______750_______760_______770_______780_______790_______800_______810_______820_______830_______840_______850_______860_______870_______880_______890_______900_______910_______920_______930_______940_______950_______960_______970_______980_______990_______1000______1010______1023 1024_____10________20________30________40________50________60________70________80________90________100_______110_______120_______130_______140_______150_______160_______170_______180_______190_______200_______210_______220_______230_______240_______250_______260_______270_______280_______290_______300_______310_______320_______330_______340_______350_______360_______370_______380_______390_______400_______410_______420_______430_______440_______450_______460_______470_______480_______490_______500_______510_______520_______530_______540_______550_______560_______570_______580_______590_______600_______610_______620_______630_______640_______650_______660_______670_______680_______690_______700_______710_______720_______730_______740_______750_______760_______770_______780_______790_______800_______810_______820_______830_______840_______850_______860_______870_______880_______890_______900_______910_______920_______930_______940_______950_______960_______970_______980_______990_______1000______1010_______1024 1025_____10________20________30________40________50________60________70________80________90________100_______110_______120_______130_______140_______150_______160_______170_______180_______190_______200_______210_______220_______230_______240_______250_______260_______270_______280_______290_______300_______310_______320_______330_______340_______350_______360_______370_______380_______390_______400_______410_______420_______430_______440_______450_______460_______470_______480_______490_______500_______510_______520_______530_______540_______550_______560_______570_______580_______590_______600_______610_______620_______630_______640_______650_______660_______670_______680_______690_______700_______710_______720_______730_______740_______750_______760_______770_______780_______790_______800_______810_______820_______830_______840_______850_______860_______870_______880_______890_______900_______910_______920_______930_______940_______950_______960_______970_______980_______990_______1000______1010________1025 1026_____10________20________30________40________50________60________70________80________90________100_______110_______120_______130_______140_______150_______160_______170_______180_______190_______200_______210_______220_______230_______240_______250_______260_______270_______280_______290_______300_______310_______320_______330_______340_______350_______360_______370_______380_______390_______400_______410_______420_______430_______440_______450_______460_______470_______480_______490_______500_______510_______520_______530_______540_______550_______560_______570_______580_______590_______600_______610_______620_______630_______640_______650_______660_______670_______680_______690_______700_______710_______720_______730_______740_______750_______760_______770_______780_______790_______800_______810_______820_______830_______840_______850_______860_______870_______880_______890_______900_______910_______920_______930_______940_______950_______960_______970_______980_______990_______1000______1010_________1026 1027_____10________20________30________40________50________60________70________80________90________100_______110_______120_______130_______140_______150_______160_______170_______180_______190_______200_______210_______220_______230_______240_______250_______260_______270_______280_______290_______300_______310_______320_______330_______340_______350_______360_______370_______380_______390_______400_______410_______420_______430_______440_______450_______460_______470_______480_______490_______500_______510_______520_______530_______540_______550_______560_______570_______580_______590_______600_______610_______620_______630_______640_______650_______660_______670_______680_______690_______700_______710_______720_______730_______740_______750_______760_______770_______780_______790_______800_______810_______820_______830_______840_______850_______860_______870_______880_______890_______900_______910_______920_______930_______940_______950_______960_______970_______980_______990_______1000______1010__________1027 1028_____10________20________30________40________50________60________70________80________90________100_______110_______120_______130_______140_______150_______160_______170_______180_______190_______200_______210_______220_______230_______240_______250_______260_______270_______280_______290_______300_______310_______320_______330_______340_______350_______360_______370_______380_______390_______400_______410_______420_______430_______440_______450_______460_______470_______480_______490_______500_______510_______520_______530_______540_______550_______560_______570_______580_______590_______600_______610_______620_______630_______640_______650_______660_______670_______680_______690_______700_______710_______720_______730_______740_______750_______760_______770_______780_______790_______800_______810_______820_______830_______840_______850_______860_______870_______880_______890_______900_______910_______920_______930_______940_______950_______960_______970_______980_______990_______1000______1010___________1028 1029_____10________20________30________40________50________60________70________80________90________100_______110_______120_______130_______140_______150_______160_______170_______180_______190_______200_______210_______220_______230_______240_______250_______260_______270_______280_______290_______300_______310_______320_______330_______340_______350_______360_______370_______380_______390_______400_______410_______420_______430_______440_______450_______460_______470_______480_______490_______500_______510_______520_______530_______540_______550_______560_______570_______580_______590_______600_______610_______620_______630_______640_______650_______660_______670_______680_______690_______700_______710_______720_______730_______740_______750_______760_______770_______780_______790_______800_______810_______820_______830_______840_______850_______860_______870_______880_______890_______900_______910_______920_______930_______940_______950_______960_______970_______980_______990_______1000______1010____________1029 1030_____10________20________30________40________50________60________70________80________90________100_______110_______120_______130_______140_______150_______160_______170_______180_______190_______200_______210_______220_______230_______240_______250_______260_______270_______280_______290_______300_______310_______320_______330_______340_______350_______360_______370_______380_______390_______400_______410_______420_______430_______440_______450_______460_______470_______480_______490_______500_______510_______520_______530_______540_______550_______560_______570_______580_______590_______600_______610_______620_______630_______640_______650_______660_______670_______680_______690_______700_______710_______720_______730_______740_______750_______760_______770_______780_______790_______800_______810_______820_______830_______840_______850_______860_______870_______880_______890_______900_______910_______920_______930_______940_______950_______960_______970_______980_______990_______1000______1010______1020___1030

@Terry-R

Thank you!

@Dave-Evans said in Why my notepad++ become like this?:

In this forum and on Reddit (and maybe other platforms) I’ve seen many posts saying that the rendering of their files changed. And the color red is mentioned often.

Not sure what posts you are talking about. Trying to interpret JSON5 is the only situation I can think of that consistently gives red for users, except when they’ve done something wrong.

Well, Notepad++ just automatically updated itself (maybe I should turn that feature off, I didn’t realize that a new version could be so dramatic).

Quite honestly, more people complain that the new highlighting (like when N++ enables new languages) doesn’t show up, because Notepad++ does not overwrite old stylers/themes/langs config files. So unless you deleted your old config before updating, it’s much more likely that nothing in the Style Configurator changed on you.

And now my file (a .py file, for what it’s worth) is mostly in read.

What theme are you using (Settings > Style Configurator > Select Theme: <theme name here>)? And what’s in your ?-menu’s Debug Info.

Please click the </> button and paste in the python code that doesn’t highlight right for you, because I’ve never seen python “in mostly red” or anything close. And also provide a screenshot in your most recent version showing it being “in mostly red”, so that we can try to replicate your exact circumstances.

And really nice would be if you could download a portable Notepad++ for the old version you had before the update, and then show a screenshot of the exact same code looking right under the old version, so we can compare that to the new version (and try to replicate the difference ourselves); if you cannot do this part, I understand (especially if you’ve forgotten what version number your old version was before you upgraded), but it would go a long way to help us replicate your problem if you were able to do this.

For example, here’s a screenshot showing in v8.8.1 (the most recent), that it’s highlighting python reasonably, not “in mostly red”, which is why I am doubtful that it’s solely the fault of the Notepad++ update:
c4791c6a-dd43-43bf-925b-97592cf69d69-image.png

I think it’d be nice if there were a layering of options, and I’d like a layer that is very stable and that allows me to say that I liked very much TECO on a VT100.

Notepad++ installer/updater refuses to overwrite your themes/stylers/langs under normal circumstances, to avoid accidentally overwriting your cutomized colors, so it’s highly stable for the vast majority of users.

None of the <1% of users who has ever complained about Notepad++ overwriting their themes/stylers/langs has ever given enough information for anyone to be able to repeat the circumstance in which it was overwritten (and I would love for you to be the first to break that streak). (Some of the regulars have speculated it has to do with running Notepad++ As Admin when you run ? > Update Notpead++, which somehow corrupts the user’s AppData settings or something, but there has never been a repeatable procedure which can replicate the complaint.)