Why does Autosave plugin keep disabling autosave at timed intervals?

Mr-Brunes

Hi

I had occasion to reinstall NP++ 8.8.3 on Win11 and re-enabled the Autosave plugin (v2.00) with the option to save at 1 min timed intervals ticked. But periodically I’ve noticed that files were not being saved and the plugin option shows the timed interval is now unticked!

Autosave.ini is dated 25th July '25, isn’t read-only and says:

[Options]
Timer=10
SaveOnActivateApp=0
SaveOnTimer=0
SaveOnTabChange=0
SaveOnExit=0
SaveCurrentFileOnly=0

Shouldn’t timer = 1?
Any ideas why this is?

PeterJones

@Mr-Brunes ,

I’ve used AutoSave 2.00 for years (and versions before that), and I’ve never seen it un-checkmark that option (or change the time between saves).

I am wondering whether you might have multiple instances of Notepad++ on your computer; if so, maybe AutoSave is only set up the way you want it to be on one of those multiple instances.

When you are running Notepad++ with AutoSave in the wrong settings, look at ?-menu’s Debug Info (and copy it, and maybe paste it into a reply here)

Assuming Debug Info shows something like

Notepad++ v8.8.4   (64-bit)
Build time: Aug  4 2025 - 18:01:28
Scintilla/Lexilla included: 5.5.7/5.4.5
Boost Regex included: 1_85
Path: C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe
Command Line: "C:\Users\pryrt\AppData\Roaming\Notepad++\plugins\config\AutoSave.ini" 
Admin mode: OFF
Local Conf mode: OFF
Cloud Config: OFF
Periodic Backup: OFF
...
Plugins: 
    AutoSave (2)
    ...

(I stripped out irrelevant stuff, because I have a lot of plugins)

A first thing to look at is the Path:, Admin mode:, and Local Conf mode: entries in the Debug Info. That will tell us a lot.

If I set the options to:

… I then have to exit Notepad++ normally (File > Exit or the upper-right X), then it writes the updates to %AppData%\Notepad++\Plugins\Config\AutoSave.ini – it doesn’t write the config file when I say OK, it waits until I exit Notepad++. So look at the AutoSave.ini last-changed date while Notepad++ is open. Then change AutoSave>Options…, click OK, then exit Notepad++; refresh the Explorer window and see if the AutoSave.ini date changes to the most recent timestamp. If not, then the settings for AutoSave aren’t where you think you are (and that strengthens the idea that you have multiple copies of Notepad++ floating around).

Secondly, I’m wondering if the times when it loses it, you are getting a Notepad++ crash, instead of a normal closing. (Or even using something like taskkill /f /im notepad++.exe will prevent AutoSave from writing its config to disk, whereas taskkill without the /f will allow it to write the config.)

Third, I know you said it’s not “read-only”, but Windows doesn’t just use a singular “read-only” flag: it also has user-based permissions. So maybe it’s not “read-only”, but your normal user doesn’t have write permission. (Or maybe you are running Notepad++ as admin when you make the change, but when you run as your normal user, it finds those settings weren’t saved.) So right click on the AutoSave.ini, Properties, then go to the Security tab; click thru the users in the list of user names, and see if the Permissions for XYZ table shows that different users have different permissions (especially your normal user compared to the Administrators group).

So, to recap, the first things I’d check:

? > Debug Info, especially Path, Admin mode, and Local Conf mode.
Look for multiple copies of Notepad++ on your computer, which would mean the config files are in different locations, so maybe the different copies have different settings
How is Notepad++ being closed after you change the setting? Do you File > Exit, or click the X or just shutdown Windows or use Task Manager to kill the task or use the TASKKILL utility or something else?
Check detailed permissions, not just “read only” flag