[Feature Request] Option to not have full file name in tab

[robdjohansen]

My apologies if this has been discussed, I did a search and didn’t see anything.

We have log files with very long file names (contains GUIDs). Even set at 1080p, multiple open files results in just 2 file tabs visible at once.
I realize that we can enable multi-line tab bar, but this can also result in many, many lines. I would really rather have truncated file names with ellipsis, with a popup-hint showing the full file name.
If at all possible, I could really see 2 different options depending on the situation:

• An option (toolbar toggle button?) to show all tabs, shrinking them as much as necessary to fit all in 1 line
• An optional maximum tab width that will auto-trim the file name if that length would be exceeded.

[Gogo Neatza]

Did you know that Notepad++ can display in a tab a filename of at least one hundred characters ?
Did you know that for a screen resolution of 1920 by 1080 Notepad++ can display at least two such large tabs ?

If you look under “Preferences” - “Recent Files History” - Display - In Submenu area you might find
the very useful “Customize Maximum Length” option. Did you use it ?

Good luck with your request!

[NippurDeLagash]

@Gogo-Neatza said:

If you look under “Preferences” - “Recent Files History” - Display - In Submenu area you might find
the very useful “Customize Maximum Length” option. Did you use it ?

That setting does not do what @robdjohansen is asking for.

If the requested feature is badly needed right now, I would suggest using the PsPad editor, which lets you customize the maximum length of the file name shown on each tab.

[cipher-1024]

Does enabling the doc switcher (Preferences->General) suit you? Depending on your monitor layout you could dock it at the top and see the whole name, or dock it on the side and when you hover, it shows the whole name of the file.

[robdjohansen]

Not the most ideal solution, but certainly better than nothing. Not sure why it’s buried under preferences and does not have a direct menu item or toolbar button. Document Map does. Makes it much less usable without it (or am I missing it somewhere?). Thanks for pointing it out. So many features, hard to know them all. :)

[Gogo Neatza]

I have activated the “Customize Maximum Length” option and
created a new file called “qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq.txt”.
(a bit longer than one hundred characters - a lot more than what an average user will need )
My 7.5 version of Notepad++ was happy to display this long filename in one tag.

@NippurDeLagash What did you do to test the “Customize Maximum Length” option ?

[NippurDeLagash]

@Gogo-Neatza said:

@NippurDeLagash What did you do to test the “Customize Maximum Length” option ?

I use Notepad++ 7.4.2.

To test it: I created three files, name length = 85 characters, and set “Customize Maximum Length” to 20 characters.

Then I opened the three files, and the three tabs display the full name, with all their 85 characters perfectly visible, not what @robdjohansen needs. The desired effect is that each tab displays only the first 20 characters.

If you look at the Recent Files list, all the file names are limited to the first 20 characters. That’s because “Customize Maximum Length” applies only to the file names in the “Recent Files History”, not to the file names shown in the tabs.

[Gogo Neatza]

FYI the version 7.5 is happy to display the very long filename in the “Recent” files list as well.
It might be the time to upgrade to 7.5 to see it for yourself. ;)

[PeterJones]

You two seem to be talking at cross purposes.

I created three (empty) text files:

one_56789_123456789_123456789_1234567890.txt
two_56789_123456789_123456789_1234567890.txt
three_789_123456789_123456789_1234567890.txt

I opened them all in a fresh portable-unzip of Notepad++ (7.5.1 64bit), then closed three_789_123456789_123456789_1234567890.txt, so that three_789_123456789_123456789_1234567890.txt would be in the MRU.

I took two screenshots of the File Menu’s Most Recently Used (MRU) list, one with Settings > Preferences > Recent Files History > ☑ Customize Maximum Length = 30 and one with ☑ Full File Name Path: This is the behavior that @Gogo-Neatza’s suggestion will change:

I then took two screenshots of the file name tabs, under the same two conditions: This behavior does not change with that option.

@Gogo-Neatza, please notice how that option does not affect the tab list: it still shows the full file name in the tab title list, whether or not the option is set. @robdjohansen requested an option to be able to shorten the filenames in the tab title list, and @NippurDeLagash keeps trying to explain to you that your suggestion does not address that request.

FYI: I also tried the same experiment in my normal installation of 7.4.2 32bit, with the same results (not shown). It’s not a difference between 7.4.2 and 7.5.1. The “Recent Files History” settings just don’t affect the names listed on the tab bar: as @robdjohansen requested, there really needs to be a separate option for the tab-bar names – probably in the Settings > Preferences > General > Tab Bar area.

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Future Reference: when asking for or providing help, it is often helpful to provide screenshots, as I have done here. This avoids ambiguity, by showing exactly what you see. To embed an image, use syntax like ![](https://i.imgur.com/nPcjTWV.png). (This, and other Markdown help, can be found at the link provided in the COMPOSE � link at the top-right of the forum’s post-editing window.)

For taking pictures within Windows, the modern tool SnippingTool, or the ancient friend Alt+PrintScreen, will take a snapshot of the current window, and you can paste that into mspaint.exe (or similar) for easy editing (useful for combining screenshots, like I did, or for blacking out personal information). If you want to be able to include a menu (like I did for the File menu screenshots), you can HOLD DOWN Alt, then type the F for File Menu, let go of the F, then hit the PrintScreen (while never having let go of Alt). After that’s done, you can finally let go of Alt+PrintScreen together, and then paste into mspaint.exe as normal. You can then upload the image to a public server (such as https://imgur.com or similar), and make sure your embed-syntax goes to the actual picture (https://imgur.com/nPcjTWV.png) rather than to the post (https://imgur.com/nPcjTWV)

[robdjohansen]

Thank you Peter! That is exactly right and the screen shots show it perfect. And thank you NippueDeLagash for your support as well.