How Do I Customize the Toolbar?

Troglo37

I was told to install the Customize Toolbar plugin. I did that. I’m currently using ‘Fluent UI: Large’ because the ‘Standard Icons: Small’, is tiny. I can barely see the icons.

I added icons to the current configuration using the plugin. But I don’t see a way to make the icons larger (via Settings > Preferences) using the icons that are in ‘Standard Icons: Small’, or, in the plugins section.

PeterJones

@troglo37 ,

There are two ways to customize the toolbar.

The first (with a much longer history) as you were told, is to use the CustomizeToolbar plugin. It comes with instructions on how to replace the icons for actions on the toolbar.

The second is a built-in method new to Notepad++ v8.4.2. The documentation has been updated in GitHub to explain how that works, and that will make its way to the npp-user-manual.org website in the near future.

Also, the official v8.4.2 release news page gives instructions on how to get the “old big legacy icons” in one fell swoop – just make sure you pick one of the “large” options in settings, because otherwise it will shrink them back to small.

If you loaded with a “small” selected and then switch to “large”, they may appear klunky at first. Restart Notepad++, and they will use the full 32x32 icon resolution, and will no longer be klunky: After unzipping that pack, mine was still selecting “small”, so they looked like:

(which was fine, but small). So then I selected a “large” option, and it make it big, but klunky:

I left it on “large”, then exited and restarted Notepad++. Now it shows up as full resolution large icons:

(if the embedded screenshot is too small to see the difference, click on it and your browser should show you the full image rather than the scaled image that the forum shows you; there’s irony in the fact that a discussion about the resolution of icons in Notepad++ was marred by a resolution artifact caused by the forum)

Troglo37

@peterjones I DL the zip file. It’s located in my Downloads folder on my “C” drive. The instructions say “…unzip it into %APPDATA%\Notepad++\ folder if you installed Notepad++ with the installer…”

I used the installer for Notepad++. How do I go about doing that? Will it automatically unzip to that folder, or do I have to first move the zip file to a particular folder before unzipping?

I have 7zip installed. Would using the Windows version make it automatically unzip to that folder?

Or would I have to manually search for the folder after starting the unzipping process regardless of which program I use?

Alan Kilborn

@troglo37

Hmm, we’re not a site for teaching the basics of using a zip program and Explorer, but…

Nothing will automatically find the correct folder for you.
Unzip to any temporary folder.
The important part is to take the results of the unzip (the files) and copy them to the %APPDATA%\Notepad++\ folder.
Find this folder by putting %APPDATA%\Notepad++ in the address bar of Windows Explorer:

Then press Enter and you’ll be taken to the appropriate folder.

More about %APPDATA% (if that is a hangup for you) is HERE.

PeterJones

@troglo37 ,

Alternately to @Alan-Kilborn’s suggestion of using a temporary folder

Download the zipfile into your downloads folder.
Use Windows Explorer to copy that zipfile
Type %AppData%\Notepad++ into Windows Explorer’s bar (similar to Alan’s instructions)
Paste the zipfile in that folder
Unzip the zipfile in that folder
Optionally delete the zipfile

Whether you follow Alan’s steps or mine, in the end, you will have a file as %AppData%\Notepad++\toolbarIcons.xml, and a folder hierarchy called %AppData%\Notepad++\toolbarIcons\ with subfolders for each icon set that was included in the bundle you downloaded – which matches the instructions that I pointed you to in the github version of the user manual…

Alan Kilborn

Warning: OT to N++ discussion:

@peterjones said in How Do I Customize the Toolbar?:

Unzip the zipfile in that folder

It’s ok for the case at hand, but normally I don’t like doing it this way, because I inevitably pollute a folder of other existing files with an extraction that I really wanted to be in a subfolder of where I’m unzipping. And then I have to go on a mission to remove the new files and leave the old…annoying. The temp folder approach (when you aren’t 100% sure what you’re going to get) gives me the most comfortable result. :-)

And yes, there are ways around this, so nobody needs to go further OT and point them out. I was merely trying to provide a base method for someone that appears to be a zipping noob (can’t really tell if that is what they are noobish about in this).

PeterJones

Earlier, I said,

they may appear klunky at first.

Going back to my instructions about the klunky/pixelated icons in “large icon” mode for the custom icon set: I was surprised enough by that behavior when I figured it out last night that I did a last-minute edit of the usermanual section to make it clear that you might have to restart Notepad++ after switching from “small” to “large” with custom 32x32 icons defined. Which meant that I was glad that Don has delayed in releasing the most recent usermanual, even though I’ve pinged him multiple times and he’s even said he will release it.

Troglo37

@Alan-Kilborn, @peterjones

I guess I’m mistaken, but I thought that in the past I’ve run across a couple of zip files that automatically extracted the needed files into the correct location. On a few occasions, I’ve had serious problems with trying to unzip files into an installed program. Some programs are very adverse to having something installed/added via unzipping. So that’s why I try to steer clear of that if at all possible. I prefer to use an installer.

I frequently use zip files, but that’s because the video clips I DL are in that format. And of course, there is no danger of corrupting a program.

I followed the instructions on the Notepad++ v8.4.2 release page that says, “Relaunch Notepad++ then you will see the old legacy icons appear.” Nothing happened. The icons are exactly the same. I don’t see an option for ‘Standard Icons: Large", or any other option to make the standard icons larger.

I also see no way in the plugins section to make them larger or anything about the old Legacy icons.

I still have some new icons on the toolbar that I added via the plugin from yesterday.

PeterJones

@troglo37 said in How Do I Customize the Toolbar?:

I followed the instructions on the Notepad++ v8.4.2 release page that says, “Relaunch Notepad++ then you will see the old legacy icons appear.” Nothing happened. The icons are exactly the same.

The instructions on the Notepad++ v8.4.2 release page work as written. I tried it myself. Those instructions, of course, require Notepad++ v8.4.2 to work.

Debugging:

Please share your ?-menu’s Debug Info with us
Could you show us the directory listing for your %AppData%\Notepad++ directory?
Could you show us the contents of your %AppData%\Notepad++\toolbarIcons.xml file?
Could you show us the directory listing for the %AppData%\Notepad++\toolbarIcons\ folder and any subfolders it has?

I don’t see an option for ‘Standard Icons: Large", or any other option to make the standard icons larger.

The instructions never say there is. If you have properly put the XML and folders in the directories where you were told to put them, then if you exit Notepad++ and restart, Notepad++ will automatically, no matter what, select those custom icons as pointed to by the toolbarIcons.xml file and the appropriate %AppData%\Notepad++\toolbarIcons\______\ subfolder. If the icons are still small, then use the Settings > Preferencs > General to select any of the : large toolbar choices (so either Fluent UI: large or Filled Fluent UI: large), and the toolbar will use the big version of the custom icons. If it looks too pixelated, exit Notepad++ and restart, and they should be the full resolution 32x32pixel icons.

The screenshots I made were from Notepad++ v8.4.2 without the CustomizeToolbar plugin, made following the instructions as described in the release page and as I clarified in the usermanual updates, and as I’ve described in this topic. The final screenshot, with the big clear icons, are exactly what I saw after following all the instructions.

I also see no way in the plugins section to make them larger or anything about the old Legacy icons.
I still have some new icons on the toolbar that I added via the plugin from yesterday.

Please keep in mind: the CustomizeToolbar plugin is a completely separate entity from the new v8.4.2 icon customization. Don’t convolute the two. There are no settings in the CustomizeToolbar plugin that affect the new v8.4.2 toolbarIcons customization.

Troglo37

@peterjones

Please share your ?-menu’s Debug Info with us

Notepad++ v8.4.2 (64-bit)
Build time : May 29 2022 - 16:47:30
Path : C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe
Command Line : $COMMAND_LINE_PLACEHOLDER$
Admin mode : OFF
Local Conf mode : OFF
Cloud Config : OFF
OS Name : Windows 10 Home (64-bit)
OS Version : 21H2
OS Build : 19044.1706
Current ANSI codepage : 1252
Plugins :
mimeTools (2.8)
NppConverter (4.4)
NppExport (0.4)
_CustomizeToolbar (5.3)

Could you show us the directory listing for your %AppData%\Notepad++ directory?

THE FOLDERS ARE
backup
nppLegacyIconSet
plugins
themes
userDefineLangs
THE XML FILES ARE
config
contextMenu
langs
nppLogNulContentCorruptionIssue
session
shortcuts
stylers

Could you show us the contents of your %AppData%\Notepad++\toolbarIcons.xml file?

The following contents of the %AppData%\Notepad++\toolbarIcons.xml file is in the folder nppLegacyIconSet.

I had to remove the contents because a notice popped up saying that my post was flagged for spam. It’s basically the directions for manually customizing the toolbar.

Could you show us the directory listing for the %AppData%\Notepad++\toolbarIcons\ folder and any subfolders it has?

It’s in the nppLegacyIconSet folder. The subfolders are as follows:
kidsIcons
message
message2
nppLegacyIcons

Just in case it matters, the core directory path is my Username/AppData/Roaming/Notepad++

PeterJones

@troglo37 ,

the %AppData%\Notepad++\toolbarIcons.xml file is in the folder nppLegacyIconSet.

Ah, you misunderstood the instructions when you unzipped. There should not be a nppLegacyIconSet directory: you should have done an “Extract Here” rather than “Extract to nppLegacyIconSet”

When correctly unzipped, your directory hierarchy should be

%AppData%\Notepad++\
    config.xml
    ...<other>....xml
    toolbarIcons.xml
    toolbarIcons\
        kidsIcons\
        message\
        message2\
        nppLegacyIcons\

At this point, the easiest way to fix it

Close Notepad++ completely
In Windows Explorer: browse into %AppData%\Notepad++\nppLegacyIconSet\, and select the toolbarIcons.xml file and toolbarIcons\ folder, and CUT
In Windows Explorer: Then go up one directory (back into %AppData%\Notepad++\) and PASTE
Now your %AppData%\Notepad++\nppLegacyIconSet\ should be empty, so delete that in Windows Explorer
Your %AppData%\Notepad++\ hierarchy should match what I showed above.
Restart Notepad++. The nppLegacyIcons should now be used.

Troglo37

@peterjones You’re awesome!! Great instructions! The old large Legacy icons are there now. Thanks!

PeterJones

@peterjones said in How Do I Customize the Toolbar?:

The second is a built-in method new to Notepad++ v8.4.2. The documentation has been updated in GitHub to explain how that works, and that will make its way to the npp-user-manual.org website in the near future.

The updated npp-user-manual.org has been published: the Toolbar Icon Customization instructions are now available at
https://npp-user-manual.org/docs/config-files/#toolbar-icon-customization-toolbaricons-xml

Troglo37

I want to change the color of some items on the old Legacy toolbar. How do I go about doing that?

I want to change the color of the Save icon to green.
I want to change the color of the Undo icon to red, or possibly another color.
I want to change the color of the Find icon to green.

PeterJones

@Troglo37 ,

want to change the color of the XXX icon to CCC

The default icons are image files compiled into Notepad++ itself. The colors of icons are part of those image files. You cannot just change the color.

In Notepad++ v8.4.2-and-newer, there is a way to tell notepad++ to use an external .ico icon file instead. That link to the user manual explains how to name the icon files and where to place them, and how to tell Notepad++ to use them. (But it is up to you to find a way to create and save a .ico file of the appropriate size and with the image+colors you want. It is beyond the scope of a Notepad++ forum to go into the details of icon creation.)

If you have Notepad++ v8.4.1-or-earlier, you cannot change the built-in icons natively; however, the Customize Toolbar may give you the flexibility you want on the older Notepad++ versions.

edit: fixed link

ArkadiuszMichalski

@PeterJones said in How Do I Customize the Toolbar?:

If you have Notepad++ v8.4.1-or-earlier, you cannot change the built-in icons natively; however, the Customize Toolbar may give you the flexibility you want on the older Notepad++ versions.

Earlier versions have such possibility also with toolbarIcons.xml file:
http://web.archive.org/web/20190715193545/http://docs.notepad-plus-plus.org/index.php/Toolbar_Customisation

Except that this file had a slightly different syntax.
https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/blob/52e8c68f901e1dadaeb342bf38940779448277ec/PowerEditor/src/toolbarIcons.xml

Troglo37

I have a couple of questions.

The icons I found are all 128x128, but almost all of the old legacy icons are 32x32. Will this cause a problem?
Can I shortcut the process by simply deleting the original legacy icon, renaming the new icon to the old name, then putting it where the old one was?

PeterJones

@Troglo37

If they only have the 128x128, it will have to be scaled every time (internally to NPP), but it might work. OTOH, most large icon files have multiple sizes embedded in the file, so it might have the 32x32 already embedded.
As I said, the originals are compiled into the app, so there are no “old icon files” to delete or rename. Follow the instructions in the manual. (Unless you mean you downloaded the old “large standard set” as your starting point, in which case, yes, just overwrite the ones you want to replace)

@ArkadiuszMichalski , thanks, I had seen a comment that it could be done in ancient days, but I didn’t remember that it was documented in the old wiki (even though I still have a copy floating around on my hdd somewhere)

Troglo37

@PeterJones said in How Do I Customize the Toolbar?:

@Troglo37

If they only have the 128x128, it will have to be scaled every time (internally to NPP), but it might work. OTOH, most large icon files have multiple sizes embedded in the file, so it might have the 32x32 already embedded.

As I said, the originals are compiled into the app, so there are no “old icon files” to delete or rename. Follow the instructions in the manual. (Unless you mean you downloaded the old “large standard set” as your starting point, in which case, yes, just overwrite the ones you want to replace)

Fortunately, all of the icons worked. I just deleted, renamed, and replaced them.

And yes, I DL the Customize Toolbar plugin for the old Legacy Icons Set that’s in the folder nppLegacyIcons. You finished helping me with it about a month and a half ago.

Here’s what my toolbar looks like now. All of the green icons are the new ones I just put there. I typed something so the Undo icon is visible.

Notepad++ Old Legacy Toolbar with New Icons.png

Troglo37

This post is deleted!