Updating Notepad++ Using Zip File

Loren Schoepke

I originally “installed” Notepad++ by downloading the Zip file, unziping and copying it to a folder on my Microsoft Onedrive and running it my all of my PCs just executing the “notepad++.exe”. My question is, how do I update to a new version? I currently have Notepad++ as my default editor for certain files and when I open Notepad++ it has a set of files that are opened. So my question is how do I update and retain these setting? Copy specific files from the new downloaded Zip file to my current Onedrive folder? Other options?

Thanks,
Loren

Ekopalypse

@Loren-Schoepke

I use two batch files sitting next to notepad++.exe
Content before_update

IF NOT EXIST .\customized\ mkdir customized

FOR %%i IN (config.xml,
            contextMenu.xml,
            functionList.xml,
            session.xml,
            shortcuts.xml,
            userDefineLang.xml) DO copy %%i .\customized\

content after_update

FOR %%i IN (.\customized\config.xml,
            .\customized\contextMenu.xml,
            .\customized\functionList.xml,
            .\customized\session.xml,
            .\customized\shortcuts.xml,
            .\customized\userDefineLang.xml) DO copy %%i .

and of course workflow is,

run before_update
unzi new version
run after_update

Alan Kilborn

@Ekopalypse

You’re probably missing those plugins you used to have, after that.

;-)

Ekopalypse

@Alan-Kilborn

No, because unzipping a new version doesn’t delete files,
it only overwrites existing :-)

Alan Kilborn

@Ekopalypse

I guess I didn’t think too much about your entire workflow. :)

But, taken as a whole, with the OP’s:

Copy specific files from the new downloaded Zip file to my current Onedrive folder?

…it does make sense.

Prahlad-Makwana4145

Hello, @Loren-Schoepke

Follow these steps to update notepad++ using zip file :

Step 1:- Open Run Dialog by clicking Start->run (Notepade++ should be closed).
Step 2:- Copy this text %APPDATA%\Notepad++ into the text field of Run Dialog.
Step 3:- Click ok. A folder named Notepad++ will appear.
Step 4:- Delete these two files : config.xml and stylers.xml.
Step 5:- After deleting files unzip the zip file.
Step 6:- After Unzip Launch Notepad++.

I hope above information will be useful for you.
Thank you.

andrecool-68

@Prahlad-Makwana4145
This will delete all existing your existing program settings.

andrecool-68

@Ekopalypse
If you add a copy of the directory with plugins to your script … it will be perfect!

Ekopalypse

@andrecool-68
Hmmm, you and @Alan-Kilborn must have something in mind
which I’m either not using or unaware of.

Why do you think that there is a need to include plugins directory?
I’m using this procedure since a while now and I never came across
an issue that the plugins directory got corrupted.

My understanding of unzipping something is, that only those files in
the current unzip_directory get modified which are part of the zip and
others do get untouched.
If files in a zip aren’t in the current unzip_directory they get created.

What do I miss?

Alan Kilborn

@Ekopalypse

What do I miss?

Probably nothing, just different ways and desired ways of updating (in a manual way). Plugins, however, are easy; just copy an entire folder tree from one version to another.

Here’s my somewhat more in-depth way (compared to your method above) of upgrading the rest:

Version A = version I have
Version B = version I’m going to

do a file tree compare on an freshly unzipped portable of A and B, noting any differences in files and file contents
copy A’s configuration files into B’s tree
hand-edit in any new feature’s configuration stuff into the configuration files now in B
start using version B

Maybe the adding of new feature config stuff isn’t strictly necessary, but I always do it, just in case. [An example of might be English.xml or English_customizable.xml. If you don’t find out what the new stuff is in version B, and add it in to what you had going from version A, you can’t customize it later.]

Usually this is not a intense undertaking, but it can be if you let several versions go by without updating.

Loren Schoepke

@Ekopalypse

Thanks. This worked great!!!

Loren Schoepke

@Prahlad-Makwana4145

Didn’t have a “Notepad++” folder". Not sure, but I think this gets created if you do an install. I just used ZIP file.

PeterJones

@Loren-Schoepke said in Updating Notepad++ Using Zip File:

Didn’t have a “Notepad++” folder". Not sure, but I think this gets created if you do an install. I just used ZIP file.

You are correct. By default, an installer-version will use %AppData%\Notepad++ for storing configuration files and a zip (“portable”) version will just use the zip directory (because that’s part of what makes it “portable”).

If you would like to maintain a separate %AppData%\Notepad++ but use the zip version, you can delete the doLocalConf.xml from the Notepad+±unzip directory; after that, the next time you run Notepad++, the %AppData%\Notepad++ folder will be created and populated; however, it might* not use the same settings that were in your zipfolder before. (*: caveat = I’ve only tried the deletion of doLocalConf.xml to auto-populate %AppData%\Notepad++ once, and wasn’t specifically looking for this feature, so I didn’t store it in long-term memory; I know it created the folder properly; my memory says that it used default config files, not copies of what’s in your zipfolder, but I could be wrong.)