Orange line next to anything I type now, cant seem to figure out how to turn it off.

Wayne Ledford

@Terry-R Perfect!! Phew! Thank you that resolved it.

Alan Kilborn

is there a “Change history” button which is currently ticked. if so, untick it and see if it goes away.

Perfect!! Phew! Thank you that resolved it.

OMG, you just turned off one of the best (new) reasons to use N++.
I’m glad you feel good about doing this.
Better would have been to wonder what possible new benefit N++ was giving you, but, well, I guess not…

Terry R

@Alan-Kilborn said in Orange line next to anything I type now, cant seem to figure out how to turn it off.:

OMG, you just turned off one of the best (new) reasons to use N++.

I have to admit that if I was upgrading and was suddenly confronted with a new feature that was already turned on, it might be a negative for me. Then not being able to identify where it came from would ramp up the negativity. Then even though it had been explained (as I did for @Wayne-Ledford) I might still react negatively and turn it off.

I’m all for new features but turning them on by default is I think a bit confronting and might induce this negative response.

my 2c worth
Terry

Michal Litecký

@Alan-Kilborn This would pretty much exactly be one of the reasons rather to stop using it. I just don’t want it there.

Anyway thanks, this thread saved me, I was searching for this for nearly 15 mins.

Paul Wormer

@Alan-Kilborn Can one find the changes (orange ticked lines)? For instance at the end of an edit session to inspect what one has done?

Alan Kilborn

@Paul-Wormer said in Orange line next to anything I type now, cant seem to figure out how to turn it off.:

Can one find the changes (orange ticked lines)? For instance at the end of an edit session to inspect what one has done?

Not yet, but something like that is coming to Notepad++ soon as an additional feature.

So, for now, change history is a purely visual feature.

Alan Kilborn

@Michal-Litecký said :

I was searching for this for nearly 15 mins.

The 15 minutes might have been better spent learning about the new feature, and seeing the benefits; but that might not be possible for some people.

I just don’t want it there.

I bet if people with that attitude would just leave it sitting there, rather than diving to turn it off, eventually a lightbulb would go on that Notepad++ is trying to help you by giving you more information about your editing. I mean, if you’re not going to embrace the help, then why are you using Notepad++; can go back to notepad.exe.

Alan Kilborn

@Terry-R said:

I have to admit that if I was upgrading and was suddenly confronted with a new feature that was already turned on, it might be a negative for me. Then not being able to identify where it came from would ramp up the negativity. Then even though it had been explained I might still react negatively and turn it off.

I’m all for new features but turning them on by default is I think a bit confronting and might induce this negative response.

Then nobody would ever even know that new features had been added. Really, if people aren’t interested in new features, why would they even upgrade? New bugs tend to pop up in new versions, so, if you’ve got something that works relatively bug-free for you, and you aren’t interested in new features, WHY would you upgrade?

I’m in the camp that new features should (mostly) be enabled by default, so that users can learn about them. Especially one like change-history, that is SO valuable and otherwise (and thus-far) harmless.

Now, sure, if a new feature is going to introduce a revolutionary new way of doing things, I certainly wouldn’t advocate having that on as a default.

Terry R

@Alan-Kilborn said in Orange line next to anything I type now, cant seem to figure out how to turn it off.:

Then nobody would ever even know that new features had been added.

Firstly, I think those wanting a new feature will already know it’s coming because they are interested and will be reading the forum posts, announcements etc.

The majority of NPP users however don’t tend to push many of the boundaries and when confronted with something new as happened here, have a negative response and no matter how much others may wish to influence them, the initial reaction speaks loudly.

We only have to look at NPP history of user feedback from new features, the most controversial of all is the backup system. I had spoken of this before but think it does need airing again. Having the backup system turned on was I think a bad move. Users sort of knew about it, but many didn’t follow through with reading up on it, and also didn’t set the preferences to their own needs. Later they would suffer some calamity and complain that their “not named” tabs in NPP were missing. As much as the seasoned forum members tried to help, inevitably most lost at least some, if not all of their “ïnvaluable data”. Now as far as issues go, nothing is worse than that.

I would go as far as to suggest a lot of NPP users only join the forum to post their bad experience with some (new) feature of NPP. In spite of help from forum members a lot disappear again with a bad taste in their mouth. That isn’t a great marketing idea.

How many times do we need to remind new members to read the “READ ME FIRST” posts or the “FAQ” posts as we (mostly @PeterJones) try to provide that info if ONLY they would search for it. But no it’s far easier to post on the forum. Mostly people are just lazy, and I’m not trying to be derogatory, just facing facts.

Personally, I’m not concerned when a new feature (such as change history) suddenly appears as if by magic. But then I spend a fair amount of time reading most of the posts and can understand most of what is about to occur. When it does, it only helps to solidify that association, such as happened here.

Now stepping down from soap box
Terry

Alan Kilborn

@Terry-R

You definitely have some good points in there, I certainly won’t take the time or space to comment on each one.

I don’t think Notepad++ has suffered a black eye from enabling new features by default or has left users with a “bad taste”. I doubt anybody, even the OP of this thread, is going to get super upset with his favorite editor over something like this. He got what he wanted (even if what he wanted was dumb – to each their own), disabled the feature and moved on with his (now
less-productive) life.

Speaking specifically about change-history, it is something that today’s premier editors offer, out of the box, enabled. It makes sense to offer it in Notepad++ that way also.

As I said, I think most other new features should be offered that way as well, for the stated reason. The author of Notepad++ typically leans the other way, and that’s fine, it is his product.

Perhaps in the future if a new feature is to be defaulted on, the quick instructions for turning it off could be offered in the release-notes, and complainers only need to be linked there (if they can’t bear making the effort to read the notes beforehand).

Clint Ringgold

@Terry-R

I have a slightly different question. I see where you turned off the “new feature” but I would like to know how I can just get Notepad++ to “not print” the orange background even if there is a change. I just don’t want to waste ink. Is this possible? I keep files open and just add things as they show up before I print it and to take the printout with me. Like just a daily list. Nothing I want/need to keep but just print out to have maybe for errands or todo list.

Terry R

@Clint-Ringgold said in Orange line next to anything I type now, cant seem to figure out how to turn it off.:

@Terry-R
I have a slightly different question. I see where you turned off the “new feature” but I would like to know how I can just get Notepad++ to “not print” the orange background even if there is a change.

I don’t know, frankly. And as it’s a new feature I doubt many others have had a chance to delve into it much. But I do hear what you are saying and I for one would suggest this is (maybe) an oversight by the developer.

There is a way to submit a bug on this, but it’s not here. Read the FAQ posts (Feature Request or Bug Report) and follow the instructions there. Or since it’s new feature, post under the announcements section, right under the new feature posts.

In the meantime maybe just turn off the new feature prior to printing, then turn it back on again afterwards.

Terry

Alan Kilborn

@Clint-Ringgold

Sounds a lot like THIS.

PeterJones

@Clint-Ringgold ,

Alternately to toggling the setting (which requires restarting Notepad++ to turn it back on), you could instead save the file, close it (File > Close or equivalent, defaults to Ctrl+W), and use File > Restore Recent Closed File (defaults to Ctrl+Shift+T) – when it comes back, since it’s fresh, it won’t have any changed or saved-since-changed lines, so there won’t be a margin color; when a freshly-loaded file is printed, there aren’t any background-color issues (for me). And since Ctrl+S, Ctrl+W, Ctrl+Shift+T is a pretty simple sequence, you could either use that directly, or record it as a macro.

Ahh, I tried recording the macro: unfortunately, Restore Recent Closed File appears to not be macro-recordable. Fortunately, it is macro-usable, so

        <Macro name="ResetHistory" Ctrl="yes" Alt="no" Shift="yes" Key="72">
            <Action type="2" message="0" wParam="41006" lParam="0" sParam="" />
            <Action type="2" message="0" wParam="41003" lParam="0" sParam="" />
            <Action type="2" message="0" wParam="41021" lParam="0" sParam="" />
        </Macro>

is the correct macro. Edit %AppData%\shortcuts.xml, add that macro to the list of macros, save, and restart Notepad++. After you do that, Ctrl+Shift+H will reset the history for the active file

Clint Ringgold

@PeterJones
LOL - no easy button…Aw man. Ok. Well, I did see that if I just close the app and open it again the files are there with no marks as well. Just kind of a pain. By all means, thank you for the response(s).

PeterJones

@Clint-Ringgold said in Orange line next to anything I type now, cant seem to figure out how to turn it off.:

no easy button

But it only takes editing shortcuts.xml once to give you the Easy Button™. I already described how, so I recommend you try it.

Alan Kilborn

@Clint-Ringgold said in Orange line next to anything I type now, cant seem to figure out how to turn it off.:

Just kind of a pain

Change History is a big new feature. With all such things, there will be some “growing pains” and unanticipated consequences. This is one. It will be corrected, but in the meantime, follow the advice of Peter and lessen your pain, but if your Notepad++ restarts quickly (mine doesn’t) then that is certainly workable as well.

Clint Ringgold

@PeterJones
I think I found it. I had to edit it just a little for me: %AppData%\Roaming\Notepad++\shortcuts.xml but it works like a champ! Thank you!

PeterJones

@Clint-Ringgold said in Orange line next to anything I type now, cant seem to figure out how to turn it off.:

%AppData%\Roaming\Notepad++\shortcuts.xml

No, I am quite certain that %AppData%\Notepad++\shortcuts.xml is the correct Windows variable substitution. If you ignore the percent signs, then yes, the path you went to was ...<something>...\AppData\Roaming\notepad++, but if you actually used the percent signs, you did not have to manually enter the Roaming.

Clint Ringgold

@PeterJones

Understood. Thank you again. It works great.