Enhancement to portable app

Monospace-V

When installing the portable version of N++ from a zip or 7z file, everything is fully functional. However, updating notepad tries to download and run the installer rather than the portable.
I ask for two enhancements:

A portable installation from the updater whenever the pre-existing app is portable
Installing portable shouldn’t change the settings.
This can be done in two ways. Either make the updater from point 1 such that it doesn’t edit settings, or do not have a settings file in the application folder by default, let it get created whenever the app is run and a settings file isn’t detected (this is the way music application LMMS does it). That way, if there is already a settings file, it will not get replaced when a portable is updated or run.

If there is already a way to easily and safely update a portable (ideally from within-app) without losing settings, please let me know of it.

Alan Kilborn

@Monospace-V

Updating the portable version is more of a manual process.
In theory you can just get the zip of the portable, open it and copy the notepad++.exe file over your older version.

However, sometimes that way you can miss out on new things in other files. I like to do a compare of the zip of the old portable and the new, and merge in (manually) any changes to my customized old portable.

I do understand what you’re looking for. You’re just not going to find it. Sorry.

Monospace-V

Gotcha, @Alan-Kilborn. In that case, will copying the config directory and replacing everything else work? Or are there any other folders/files with user-defined settings that also need to be kept?
Is it likely this feature to safely and easily update portables be introduced anytime soon?
Thanks for your response!

Alan Kilborn

@Monospace-V said in Enhancement to portable app:

In that case, will copying the config directory and replacing everything else work?

If I’m understanding you correctly, the answer is “I think so”. You should make a backup before experimenting, until you are comfortable with how it works.

Is it likely this feature to safely and easily update portables be introduced anytime soon?

I’d doubt it. I don’t know if there is an open feature request for this. If you want, you can open one.

Monospace-V

There doesn’t seem to be an open feature request as such, only people like me asking how it’s done.
How and where do I open a feature request?

Alan Kilborn

@Monospace-V said in Enhancement to portable app:

How and where do I open a feature request?

I should have pointed you HERE before.

Be aware that there are a limited number of developers on Notepad++, and such a feature IMO might not get a lot of traction when compared to other text-editing related feature requests. There’s some sophisticated-user expectation when the portable version is used.