Filename tabs
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I think the last one more or less exists right now. The floppy icon turns red when the file has been modified.
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Hello, Jeronymite and All,
Although, I’m “following” Notepad++, since seven years about, I’ve never heard, on forums, about this nice feature of N++, that I found out, a long time ago !
Indeed, you can, quite, change the order of the different tabs of your N++'s session, very easily :-). So, Jeronymite, this replies to your second question :-)
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FIRST, you must backup up your session.xml configuration file ( just in case you would like to get back your old specific tabs order ( or non ordered tabs ! )
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Click on the menu option Window - Windows…
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In that Windows opened dialog, click once or twice, on the header columns, to sort all your tabs, in normal or reverse order, by Name, Path or Type
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Then, just click on the Sort tabs button
=> At once, your tabs are displayed, according to the present list, of that dialog. Nice, isn’t it ?
Jonandr replied to your third question
Concerning the first one, I must admit it’s not very easy to move a tab, between two rows. As for me, I just select the tab, that I want to move, and, holding down the left mouse button, I try to aim the other tab, that I would like to be close to !
Best Regards,
guy038
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Hi Scott,
May be, as I’m French, I didn’t choose the right english words to explain this mouse gesture !
Personally, I only use three options, in the Tab bar part, in Settings - Preferences - General. These are :
- Multi-line
- Reduce
- Draw a coloured bar on active tab
The most important is that :
- The Multi-line option must be checked
- The Lock (no drag and drop) option must be UNCHECKED
Then, Scott, let’s suppose you have two tabs, among some others, named A and B, located in two different tab’s rows
So, first, I left click on the tab A. Then, holding down the left button, I move the mouse towards the tab B and, when the mouse pointer is located at the centrer of the tab B, I release the left mouse button
=> You should see the tab B, next to the tab A, on the lower row of tabs.
Sometimes, at the beginning, you’ll just get the tab B on the same row as the tab A, but with some others tabs between them. It never minds, as it’s quite easy to move a tab, on its own row !
Best Regards,
guy038
P.S. :
May be, are you surprised that I don’t use the Tabbar option Show close button on each tab, aren’t you ?
Well, when I want to close a tab, I just click, on that tab, with the MIDDLE mouse button ( mouse wheel ). To my mind, tab’s filenames are easier to read :-)
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@guy038 said:
Then, without holding down the left button, I move the mouse towards the tab B and, when the mouse pointer is located at the centrer of the tab B, I release the left mouse button
I still don’t understand, but I don’t think it is because you are French! :-)
First you say “without holding down the left button” you do some things, then you “release the left mouse button”. I’m at a loss as to how you can release it if it isn’t down.
I’m very curious about this now!
PS. I’m not surprised by you tab bar preference settings as mine are set the same way…except I add the “double click to close” one.
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Hi Scott,
You’re right ! I did the same mistake, in my two previous posts… Indeed, I wanted to mean, just, the opposite !
So the beginning of the phrase is " I left click on tab A. Then, holding down the left button…"
So, I re-edit my previous posts about that topic, to get the right phrase :-)
Sorry for that trouble !
Cheers,
guy038
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guy038,
It must not work the same for me. I am running N++ 6.7.5. If I have multiple tab bar rows (for example, 3 rows), when I click a tab in row 1 or row 2, it automatically gets moved to row 3. So it is not possible to left click only a tab in row 1 or 2 without changing its row to row 3. If I start with a tab in row three, and attempt your steps, all I seem to get is some nice jittery dancing video behavior on the tabs, but I can’t seem to make a tab in row three move up to row one or two.
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@Jeronymite Re: #3, in addition to the tab turning red when the file has not been saved, there is an asterisk in the title bar in front of the file name when that tab is selected. Another feature that helps me more clearly tell which files need to be saved is pressing Ctrl-Tab. Unsaved files in that list are highlighted in red.
@guy038 I must admit, moving tabs among rows is difficult. I certainly understood the aim at the other tab that I would like it to be close to comment, as that is what I generally do.
@Scott-Sumner, as I’m reading your post, I think a clarification needs to be made: the active tab is always on the bottom row (when you have 3 rows, the 3rd row). So when you click on a tab in row 1, it moves to row 3. However, the tabs generally stay in the same order, so the other tabs in row 1 also move to row 3, and generally, tabs in rows 2 & 3 move up to rows 1 & 2. So now that you have the tab you want to move in row 3, it is sometimes possible to move it to another row (possibly not the one you wanted to move it to, but it usually goes to a different row).
A couple of other tips:
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Particularly when the file names vary greatly in length, sometimes moving a tab to the end of the row, then trying to move it up or down can help
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Usually when I have multiple rows of tabs, I have documents in both views. Near the top/bottom of the dividing bar between the two views are arrows pointing to the left/right. Clicking on one of those or dragging the bar to the left/right changes the arrangement of tabs and often helps me be able to move tabs where desired.
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If all else fails, I save the session, exit N++, reorder them in the session file, and then re-open that session.
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I wrote: Is it possible to have a marker in the tab (maybe an asterisk?) that shows if the file has been changed since last saved and therefore needs saving (or discarding) when closing?
@glennfromiowa wrote: Another feature that helps me more clearly tell which files need to be saved is pressing Ctrl-Tab. Unsaved files in that list are highlighted in red.
Thanks for the suggestion. The disk icon appears red or blue(-ish) in the tabs and Ctrl-Tab at times … but it does not definitively follow that the files with red icons are UNsaved. I have tried specifically saving individual files with red icons and Save All – the red remains. Is this expected behaviour … or a bug?
Thanks!
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I would be very very happy if the file names on the tabs had much more contrasting color. Current “grey text” on a “little bit lighter grey background” is mutilating my sight badly.
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Hello Evaldas,
You can, easily, change the colour of, both, foreground and background of the inactive tabs !
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Select Settings - Style Configurator… option of N++
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On the left of the window, select, if necessary, the Global Styles language
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In the next Style : drop-down list, select the bottom entry Inactive tabs
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Then, on the right, just choose the foreground and, eventually, the background colour, by clicking on the coloured squares, and, perhaps, on the More Colours… button
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Click on the the Save & Close button, to save your new settings and close the Style Configurator window
I, personally chose the black colour for filename text (
#000000) and a light grey colour for the background (#D0D0D0or, in RGB mode,208,208,208)Best Regards,
guy038
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@Jeronymite I have seen that behavior since the Session snapshot and periodic backup functionality came about. I think that if it can no longer see the original file for some of the files (disconnected network drive, removable media, etc.), it keeps the disk icon colored for any unsaved files, until all files are either saved to the original path or a new path or are closed. Possibly a bug, but since It only persists for me until I re-connect to the network, I haven’t reported it.
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Responding to this old thread.
@Scott-Sumner said:
It must not work the same for me. I am running N++ 6.7.5. If I have multiple tab bar rows (for example, 3 rows), when I click a tab in row 1 or row 2, it automatically gets moved to row 3. So it is not possible to left click only a tab in row 1 or 2 without changing its row to row 3. If I start with a tab in row three, and attempt your steps, all I seem to get is some nice jittery dancing video behavior on the tabs, but I can’t seem to make a tab in row three move up to row one or two.
The same is true for me, using N++ 7.3.2 (32 bit).
The workarounds that @glennfromiowa suggested to move a tab from one row to another all do not work for me.
Only exception: Editing the session.xml does work – but this is way too much effort when you re-order individual tabs frequently. Moving tabs freely should be something you can do on the fly… It is weird and inconsistent that I can set virtually all configuration parameters of my N++ installation from within the GUI – but for moving tabs I have to close the application and edit some XML file…To me, it is unintuitive that tabs in a row stick together and that the row with the active tab always moves to the bottom.
Instead of tab rows forming some sort of unit I would rather think of multiline tabs as a long list of tabs that happens to line-wrap when reaching the end of the line…I guess one can get used to this behavior, but my productivity working with N++ would definitely improve by a more intuitive implementation of drag&drop for multiline tabs… Any improvements here would be greatly appreciated.
