New to notepad ++

matso42

And I have some questions/Issues

The first one is that I can’t get notepad++ to start like I want.
I want notepad++ to start a new notepad++ when I click on the app. By default it doesn’t. If I set it to multi it will open a new notepad++ when i click on the app but instead it breaks the open with notepad ++ context menu option - I don’t wont that to open new notepad++ apps.

Editplus do behave the “right” way as an example. And while mentioning that editor - is there a way to make notepad++ to create a copy of a file before changing it?

PeterJones

@matso42 ,

I want notepad++ to start a new notepad++ when I click on the app.
Settings > Preferences > Backup and un-checkmark ☐ Remember current session for next launch. When you exit Notepad++, it will not save the current session (and it will prompt you to save any “new #” files); the next time you run Notepad++, it will start with a new file rather than defaulting to your old session.

is there a way to make notepad++ to create a copy of a file before changing it

No. But Backup On Save and/or the AutoSave plugin will make backup copies of your file when you do save, so it will always keep the previous version of your file along with your most recent changes.

matso42

@peterjones

Sorry but what’s not what I meant.

I want to start a new Notepad++ every time I click on the app in start menu. Hence if I click there three times I should get three notepad++ running. Today I will only get one regardless of how many times I click on it.

That’s why I tried multi that broke open with …

PeterJones

@matso42 said in New to notepad ++:

but what’s not what I meant.

If you create a new shortcut (or edit the normal one in the start menu) where it runs notepad++ with the command line arguments -multiInst -nosession then clicking on that shortcut (wherever it ends up) will start a new multi-instance window without the current session, without affecting the open-with-notepad++ behavior.

However, mixing non-multi-instance instances (from open-with) and multi-instance instances (from your shortcut) will confuse your settings, because depending on which one you exit last, it may save your settings in the state for the non-session/yes-mult-instance, which may or may not be what you want.

Eric Bloch

Open NPP and save an empty file where ever you want: example D:\Empty.txt

Make a batch:

Set C=0
Operator input how may files to start =N
Make following loop:
:_Begin
set /a C=%C%+1
rename D:\Empty.txt Empty%C%.txt
<start NPP> D:\Empty%C%.txt
if %C% LSS %N% goto _Begin
rename D:\Empty%C%.txt Empty.txt

Result should be NPP instances open with Empty#.txt

Eric Bloch

@eric-bloch
alternative to above is make a shortcut to run following command:

START “” “C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe” “%1” “%2” “%3” “%4” “%5” “%6” “%7” “%8” “%9”

Place shortcut in SendTo folder.

Then open windows file explorer to folder where your files reside and select the files (max 9) you want to add to NPP and right click and use "Send to > shortcut.

Carol Lawrence

In the start menu, you can make a new shortcut to notepad++ that runs it with the command line arguments -multiInst -nosession. When you click on that shortcut, it will open a new multi-instance window without the current session, but it won’t change the open-with-notepad++ behavior.

Non-multi-instance instances (like those opened with open-with) and those that open with a shortcut will confuse your settings, because depending on which one you exit last, it may save your settings in a state that doesn’t match what you want. This may or may not be what you want, though.