Issues with the Preview HTML plugin

Lachlanmax

I have also had some issues with this plugin before. From the project history, it looks like Preview HTML has been around for quite a long time, and the original project was later deprecated, so some problems are maybe not so surprising.

The current fork still tries to keep it usable, but the embedded preview can depend a lot on the Notepad++ version, the Windows browser component being used, and the local system setup. Because of this, modern HTML, CSS, and JavaScript do not always behave exactly like in a real browser.

One thing I noticed is that the project still seems to carry some compatibility logic from older browser assumptions, so the result can differ from one machine to another.

If the live preview is not reliable, the more stable way is often View -> View Current File In -> Browser, and then using a normal browser for testing.

So for me, the main issue is not really that the plugin is bad, but more that it is operating in an area where browser behavior, Windows web components, and Notepad++ compatibility have all changed quite a lot over time.

Hope that helped!

rdipardo

@robk-blue, @lachlanmax

In fact, internal anchors are navigable if the preview is being rendered by the WebView2 embedded browser — the default in current plugin versions, provided that Edge is installed on the PC and the NoEdge user option is not enabled.

Additional questions/concerns can be posted here.

Robk Blue

Hi,

Thanks for your quick responses. After reading @rdipardo response and then trying to download and install the latest version of Preview HTML from Github, I simply went into Plugins Admin and updated there.

Now it works lol.

Robk Blue

And this morning I woke up to my html previewer not working at all! Just a blank screen. I updated Notepad++, reinstalled the plugin, no dice.

Are there any logs or debugging for plugins?

rdipardo

[T]his morning I woke up to my html previewer not working at all! Just a blank screen.

Sounds like an earlier reported issue.

In addition to my suggestions in that thread, make sure the plugin version is 1.4.4, then open the About dialog to see what browser version is detected:

Are there any logs or debugging for plugins?

Logging is only active when the plugin is built in debug mode. I don’t distribute debug DLLs because the additional instrumentation code usually gets flagged by virus scanners.

Robk Blue

@rdipardo said:

@robk-blue, @lachlanmax

In fact, internal anchors are navigable if the preview is being rendered by the WebView2 embedded browser — the default in current plugin versions, provided that Edge is installed on the PC and the NoEdge user option is not enabled.

Additional questions/concerns can be posted here.

I’m having trouble installing the 1.44 version you linked. It has no .dll file that Windows would use. What am I missing?

rdipardo

@Robk-Blue said:

I’m having trouble installing the 1.44 version you linked.

If your version of Notepad++ is at least 8.9.4, you can use the built-in Plugins Admin installer:

It has no .dll file that Windows would use.

If you’re talking about a ZIP archive you got from the plugin’s GitHub page, my guess is that some anti-virus program is putting the DLL in quarantine as soon as you extract it, or else the extracted DLL needs to be cleared of a Web origin designator:

Remove MOTW

Robk Blue

@rdipardo
My Notepad++ says it’s up to date at 8.9.3 and the Preview HTML plugin shows 1.4.3 as its version in Plugins Admin!

And there’s part of the problem, your earlier link to ‘current plugin versions’ is different to the one just above (GitHub page) which has the DLL file. Sweet !

Screenshot - 17_05_2026 , 12_41_07 PM.png

OK, I downloaded it and manually installed 1.4.4. It’s working for the moment.

Thanks a bunch.

PeterJones

@Robk-Blue said:

My Notepad++ says it’s up to date at 8.9.3

Notepad++ has actually released two versions since v8.9.3, they just haven’t been triggered for auto-update, so the Check For Updates won’t show them.

See FAQ: Why Can’t I Just Say “Most Recent Version”

Robk Blue

@PeterJones OK, I didn’t know that.

.8.9.4 and .5 both broke my PreviewHTML plugin, installing back to 8,9,3 fixed it. So, there you go.