Help needed with column mode editing
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Thank you for reading and thanks in advance for the help. I am having an issue where column mode editing does not seem to be working. I have tried to select multiple lines either with ‘alt’ + click or by using ‘alt’ + ‘shift’ + arrow keys. Each time the text is selected in the standard mode. Is there a setting that has been turned on (or off) to make this happen? What other information might be useful here?
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What other information might be useful here?
Used windows and npp version (menu ?->debug-info) is a good starting point.
Depending on your installation you might give it a try to rename the
%APPDATA%\notepad++ directory, which should get recreated on npp startup.Cheers
Claudia
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Thanks Claudia. I did try starting fresh with the %APPDATA% folder. I also un-installed and reinstalled and it doesn’t seem to work. I still can’t make ‘column mode’ selections. Any additional guidance would be appreciated.
Here is my debug information:
Notepad++ v7.5.1 (32-bit)
Build time : Aug 29 2017 - 02:35:41
Path : C:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\notepad++.exe
Admin mode : OFF
Local Conf mode : OFF
OS : Windows 10 (64-bit)
Plugins : mimeTools.dll NppConverter.dll NppExport.dll NppFTP.dll
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I did try starting fresh with the %APPDATA% folder.
just to be sure, did you check whether notepad++ directory has been recreated
once you started npp?Would you mind test the zipped version? Just download, unpack to whatever folder you like and doubleclick notepad++.exe.
Cheers
Claudia
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Okay, so what exactly are you doing? “Alt+click” maybe isn’t descriptive enough for anyone to tell what is happening for you–it makes me think you aren’t dragging (see below), which is key to column-mode selection with the mouse. Also, “alt+shift+arrow” makes me think you might be doing this all one one line, which would make it not look like a column block, but just like a standard selection.
Try this to test mouse operation:
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Copy this text into a new editor window:
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
cccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc
dddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee -
Hold an Alt key down and Left-Click (and hold) on the third
a
in the first line -
Now (with Alt and the Left mouse button still down), drag the mouse down and to the right, and if you move down into the line of
e
characters, the result should be something like this:
The above is what a proper column block might look like–notice the first 2 columns of each line are NOT part of the block selection, nor are the non-highlighted columns to the right of the block.
Try this to test keyboard operation:
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Use the same text in the same editor buffer
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Use the arrow keys (alone) to get the caret (cursor) positioned in column 3 of line 1 (it will look like it is between the second and third
a
on the first line) -
You should have no highlighted selection at the moment
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Press and hold Shift+Alt while you press and release the down arrow key 4 times. You should obtain a “tall, skinny” caret/cursor…something like this (ignore the green–something specific to my setup, you won’t have it):
- Without doing anything else first (you should still be holding Shift+Alt), next press and release the right arrow key a number of times; here’s how it should look:
Okay, so that ends the column mode tutorial–report back if you don’t achieve the same results and we’ll try to help further.
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just to be sure, did you check whether notepad++ directory has been recreated
once you started npp?I did check, and yes, the directory was re-created.
Would you mind test the zipped version? Just download, unpack to whatever folder you like and doubleclick notepad++.exe.
I downloaded and tested the zipped version of the software. Still no dice.
@Scott-Sumner said:
Okay, so what exactly are you doing? “Alt+click” maybe isn’t descriptive enough for anyone to tell what is happening for you–it makes me think you aren’t dragging (see below), which is key to column-mode selection with the mouse.
…
Okay, so that ends the column mode tutorial–report back if you don’t achieve the same results and we’ll try to help further.Thanks for the tutorial. I am endeavoring to use the feature correctly. On a previous computer on a previous project I used this feature all the time. I did try using both [alt] + [click] (and drag) as well as [alt] + [shift] + [arrow keys] to make selections. I am able to turn on “multiple editing” in the settings which enables [ctrl] + [click], but this is not as convenient for the blocks of text I am working on.
Thanks for your continued help.
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Have you checked the
Settings
>Shortcut Mapper
>Scintilla commands
, for the
I would expect to see
- SCI_LINEDOWNRECTEXTEND = Alt+Shift+Down
- SCI_LINEUPRECTEXTEND = Alt+Shift+Up
- SCI_CHARLEFTRECTEXTEND = Alt+Shift+Left
- SCI_CHARRIGHTRECTEXTEND = Alt+Shift+Right
with no shortcut conflicts found.
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@PeterJones said:
Have you checked the
Settings
>Shortcut Mapper
>Scintilla commands
, for the
I would expect to see- SCI_LINEDOWNRECTEXTEND = Alt+Shift+Down
- SCI_LINEUPRECTEXTEND = Alt+Shift+Up
- SCI_CHARLEFTRECTEXTEND = Alt+Shift+Left
- SCI_CHARRIGHTRECTEXTEND = Alt+Shift+Right
with no shortcut conflicts found.
Thanks for the suggestion. I can confirm that those shortcuts are correctly listed with no conflicts.
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really strange, does the alt key work anyway?
What if you press alt+end, does the cursor jump to the end of the line?Do you have some special mouse software in use (One which can configure different actions
for different mouse buttons)?Cheers
Claudia
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Hi, faced a similar problem. i got resolved only after a System restart