So, here’s a procedure for “hacking” Notepad++ in order to get better-looking and easier-to-differentiate tab bar icons.
First, get what is needed, and put everything together in a temporary folder somewhere:
Obtain “Resource Hacker” from http://angusj.com/resourcehacker/
I chose the ZIP install, but whatever your pleasure.
Really what you need in this step is ResourceHacker.exe
Get some replacement icons, by downloading:
http://www.famfamfam.com/lab/icons/silk/famfamfam_silk_icons_v013.zip
Extract these files only: accept.png, lock.png, pencil.png
Use an online conversion tool to convert all 3 of the .png files to .ico files
One that I found simple to use was: https://icoconvert.com/
Name the resulting .ico files this way: accept.ico, lock.ico, pencil.ico
Also add to this collection of files a copy of your usual notepad++.exe file.
Next, and also in the same folder, create hack_npp_icons.txt with the following content:
[FILENAMES]
Open=notepad++.exe
Save=notepad++_hacked_icons.exe
Log=con
[COMMANDS]
-modify accept.ico,ICONGROUP,501,1033
-modify pencil.ico,ICONGROUP,502,1033
-modify lock.ico,ICONGROUP,503,1033
Now, obtain a CMD.exe window in your temporary folder (not going to do a lot of hand-holding here) and run the following command:
ResourceHacker.exe -script hack_npp_icons.txt
If all goes well, you should end up with no error messages and a new file called notepad++_hacked_icons.exe in your folder.
Copy the hacked exe back to the folder you copied your original notepad++.exe from.
Now test-run the hacked exe (after closing any running instance of N++ of course).
It should start and any tabs on the tab bar should now have the alternative icons:
A “pencil” icon for modified but unsaved files:
5c301d8a-99b2-440e-84ad-b9d76b406775-image.png
A “green checkbutton” icon for saved files:
4833d989-8372-4dde-b990-7d042906abda-image.png
A “lock” icon for readonly files:
265eebb0-4f30-4853-8520-fea87322d22d-image.png
