Might be a little late (9 days ago), but take a look at the file in a hex editor. It’s possible that the UTF (Unicode) is out of sync and you are only seeing the null characters. Assuming you are using Latin based language where 1 byte per character is used, in Unicode every other character is a NULL.

Assume that “.” is null. If you open a Unicode file in an editor that doesn’t recognize Unicode, so you can see the actual contents, you will see something like:

H.e.l.l.o...W.o.r.l.d.!

I haven’t seen what you are talking about happen, and you would have to be saving the file in a Unicode type format for this to happen, but if something was corrupted it could in theory do what you describe.

Or, the file might just be lost.

I would think “hot pink” also known as fuchsia. Old people like me need more drastic contrast :)

Should just be an option.

I am new to Notepad++ but I know the answer to your question. Yes, it can be done, but there appears to be a bug with it loading correctly on startup. Here is my comment about it: https://notepad-plus-plus.org/community/topic/44/bug-normal-text-always-highlighted

It seems that your problem is that Compare splits the screen into two ‘views’ and does not remove them after ‘Compare’ is done. Select the unwanted tab on the right or just click in the editable area. Then go to View->Move/Clone current document->Move to other view. It should restore your original environment.

Alternately close all tabs in the unwanted ‘view’.

The dual ‘view’ mode is actually a Notepad++ feature and can be used for many general editing tasks.

Does Plugins -> XML Tools -> Current XML Path (alternatively the “break your fingers” Ctrl+Alt+Shift+P) do what you want?