Notepad no longer sorts tabs?

Joan Strahler

Hi… I have a few hundred text files I open in notepad. Previously, I could sort them by name and then close each one in alphabetical order. Then the next one pops up. Although the sort still seems to work, when I activate the first tab (say it begins with A) and then close it, notepad doesn’t take me to the next file in alphabetical order. It either goes to the last file, or sometimes some other random sort order. Is there a way to sort by file name and then once I close the first tab, the next tab is the one that is the next by alphabet. So if I have files named:, a,b,c,d,e,f,… once I close a, I want b to be visible, not one of the others. TIA.

Alan Kilborn

@Joan-Strahler:

Probably check this setting on the MISC. subpage in the Preferences, and untick it if it is ticked:

It is a sort of global control that does a few things, one of them being what happens when you close a tab.

MRU=Most Recently Used

So in the “ticked” case what happens when you close a tab is it will activate the one (of the remaining) that you were in most-recently.

gstavi

@Joan-Strahler said in Notepad no longer sorts tabs?:

Hi… I have a few hundred text files I open in notepad

How do few hundreds of tabs look like? How much of the screen do they take?

Wouldn’t it be simpler for you to manage the opened files with:
Window -> Windows …
From there you can:

Sort by file name.
Close multiple tabs, using multi selection: ctrl-click or shift-click.
Activate the tab you want with double click or Enter.

Alan Kilborn

@gstavi

OP said:

I have a few hundred text files I open in notepad…

We hear this A LOT!
We always ask how practical it is, and no one ever explains it.

Wouldn’t it be simpler for you to manage the opened files with:

Window -> Windows …

In my answer I inferred that OP was already using Window > Window… menu in order to sort tabs, because how else could you do it?

Activate the tab you want with double click or Enter.

OP is wanting auto-selection of a “reasonable” tab after closing one – clearly if OP wanted to click on a tab they would just do it (and wouldn’t have posted a question).

BUT… your information is good for other readers that may come here in the future looking for answers (and don’t know about Window > Window… menu).