Style/theme settings lost on every N++ update

Sander Bouwhuis

Every single time Notepad++ is updated, my changes to the ‘Style configurator’ settings are lost (I guess overwritten).

Is there a way to prevent this from happening?

PeterJones

I have never had that happen when updating using the builtin updater/installer. Notepad++'s installer is not supposed to overwrite existing configuration files in all the years that I have been using Notepad++.

Could you describe the exact process of how you are updating, and how you answer the various prompts you receive?

But, if you don’t want to help solve the problem for others, and just want to work around it for yourself: before updating, make a copy of %AppData%\Notepad++\stylers.xml, and then after the update, copy it back.

Either that, or copy your stylers.xml to %AppData%\Notepad++\themes\SanderBouwhuisTheme.xml, and then select that theme in Style Configurator. From then on, Notepad++ will use your theme. Since Notepad++ installer has no files named SanderBouwhuisTheme.xml, it will definitely not be overwritten. Even if it reverts to default theme, you then just have to select your custom theme again.

jasonlshelton

I know this topic is a year old, but I’m having this issue and wondered if anything came of this post? I’m just running the N++ updater, not doing anything special or different

PeterJones

@jasonlshelton said in Style/theme settings lost on every N++ update:

I know this topic is a year old, but I’m having this issue and wondered if anything came of this post? I’m just running the N++ updater, not doing anything special or different

Why would anything have come of this post? The original poster never came back to give more details. There was no confirmation of a problem by anyone else; no one ever submitted an official bug report to the bug tracker. What more would you have expected to happen?

With your own follow-up, you gave as few details as the original poster, and didn’t bother taking my response from a year ago to heart. You really should have supplied the extra information that I requested back then, or even tried the debug steps that I already provided back then, if you really wanted help. And beyond what I asked for, other useful information would be:

which version of Notepad++ you were using before your upgrade, and which version you upgraded to (the ?-menu’s Debug Info would be most helpful in this regard).
which theme are you using?

Kaya Tilakkhana

@Sander-Bouwhuis same with me. I ended up dumping N++ for about a year because I hate having to spend a couple hours reconfiguring templates after each update.

PeterJones

@Kaya-Tilakkhana said in Style/theme settings lost on every N++ update:

@Sander-Bouwhuis same with me.

And just like @jasonlshelton , you gave as few details as the original poster or as @jasonlshelton, and you didn’t bother taking my response from a year ago or a month ago to heart. You really should have supplied the extra information that I requested back then, or even tried the debug steps that I already provided back then, if you really wanted help.

Kaya Tilakkhana

@PeterJones Last time was about a year ago. I got a notice for updating. I pushed the OK button, restarted N++ and all my custom-designed formatting was destroyed…working in Windows 10.

I use(d) N++ mostly for editing .r and .rmd files (and a little C++). My custom template for .rmd in particular took some effort to create because there really wasn’t a satisfactory one available that I could find.

Kaya Tilakkhana

@PeterJones OK. I think I was able to recover my templates. Pardon me if I don’t have all the technical language correct, but there are a lot of moving parts, I worked through the details several years ago, and have not really thought about it since then.

What I think happened:

I modified originally modified the solarized-light theme so it would do what I wanted for .rmd files
I updated N++ after getting a popup window saying update was available
I opened an .r or .rmd file in the updated version, and it opened with Choco theme, which doesn’t work for me.
today, at your urging I was able to hunt down the theme I was originally using (after checking a half dozen or so, “Solarized” seemed to ring a bell), and the modifications I wanted had indeed been saved. I just needed to find them and re-attach them.

Deklatis

So I finally updated mine, I think it was 8.4.8. I don’t usually update cause it’s always open. I took all the defaults, just kept clicking, then it opens to blinding white. I sort of started to panic because I haven’t changed or even checked my settings in a very long time. I didn’t even know what theme I was using. I looked in AppData location and themes and found the one that had been the most recently modified (2020), and it seems to be the one (I hope). Still it was quite a shock lol.

peter vasil

I just had this issue, but I found what I think is the issue and solution everyone here had and wanted to help future users. notepad ++ doesn’t import the themes after updating (don’t know why for other but for me it is due to the fact I use the no %appdata% mode ) but they still exist and you just have to move them around to where they should be for it to work. this fixed it for me

PeterJones

@peter-vasil said in Style/theme settings lost on every N++ update:

I just had this issue, but I found what I think is the issue and solution everyone here had and wanted to help future users. notepad ++ doesn’t import the themes after updating (don’t know why for other but for me it is due to the fact I use the no %appdata% mode ) but they still exist and you just have to move them around to where they should be for it to work. this fixed it for me

Specifically, Notepad++ doesn’t overwrite any of your existing themes so that your customizations don’t get overwritten; this logic is to prevent the “style/theme settings lost on every N++ update”.

If it worked for you, great. But in general, people shouldn’t be surprised if they follow your advice of copying the theme data from somewhere else on top of their own customized version of the theme, they will lose their customizations.

mpheath

@peter-vasil

The install directory is handled similar with the installer whether Don't use %AppData% is checked or unchecked. The main difference is the doLocalConf.xml existence which impacts how notepad++.exe saves to the xml files. When notepad++.exe saves to the install directory, then a risk exists when using the installer to upgrade which can overwrite customized xml files.

Information from install logs:

Files	Install	Upgrade	Minimalist
`doLocalConf.xml`	extract	extract	extract
`autoCompletion\*.xml`	extract	skip
`functionList\*.xml`	extract	extract
`overrideMap.xml`	extract	skip
`gup.xml`	extract	extract
`contextMenu.xml`	extract	skip	skip
`tabContextMenu_example.xml`	extract	skip	skip
`toolbarButtonsConf_example.xml`	extract	skip	skip
`toolbarIcons.xml`	extract	skip	skip
`langs.model.xml`	extract	extract	extract
`stylers.model.xml`	extract	extract	extract
`shortcuts.xml`	extract	skip	skip
`nppLogNulContentCorruptionIssue.xml`	extract	skip	skip
`markdown._preinstalled.udl.xml`	extract	extract	extract
`markdown._preinstalled_DM.udl.xml`	extract	extract	extract
`DarkModeDefault.xml`	extract	extract	extract
`themes\*.xml`	extract	extract

Theme modifications in the install directory can be overwritten by the upgrade as that is what extract does.

If Don't use %AppData% is checked:

The default Custom type of upgrade install will extract many xml files so to keep customizations, may need to backup before install and merge after install.
The Minimalist type of upgrade install will extract the least amount of xml files so is probably the safest to keep customized xml files.

If Don't use %AppData% is unchecked:

Modified xml files are saved to %AppData% so are safe.