Notepad++: Lost all open txt files and left panel after restart – how to recover them?

Cletos

All the txt files, about 100, which were shown in the left panel in Notepad++ and also as tabs, are no longer displayed when I start Notepad++ the next time. The left panel is also not visible anymore, and the program starts, unlike before, in a small window.

How could I get all the files to be displayed again (in the left panel or otherwise)? How could I find out which files those were?

PeterJones

@Cletos ,

Depending on what version of Notepad++ you were running, and what’s happened since you last opened Notepad++:

Exit Notepad++
Use Windows Explorer to go %AppData%\Notepad++
You will have session.xml and hopefully a file called session.xml.inCaseOfCorruption.bak .
Rename session.xml to session.after.xml
Rename session.xml.inCaseOfCorruption.bak to session.xml

Depending on the state, and how little you’ve done since you had the problem, and what version of Notepad++ you are running, that backup session might contain the ~100 txt files.

If not (if there’s no session.xml.inCaseOfCorruption.bak , or if the copy there was written after your session got messed up), there is nothing we can do for you, as the backup session isn’t there. (Hopefully, those 100 txt files were all real files, not new 1 … new 100 with no saved changes ever – if they were, you can look in the backup subdirectory, but again, no guarantees the files are there).