Default font for UTF-8

[datatraveller1]

I’m just wondering which font Notepad++ uses for UTF-8.
I have found Settings - Style configurator - Language: Global Styles, Style: Global override, Font Style: Courier New but I don’t think Courier New is used for UTF-8?

[Alan Kilborn]

@datatraveller1 said in Default font for UTF-8:

but I don’t think Courier New is used for UTF-8?

What makes you think that?
In a virgin setup, it sure looks like Courier New to me.

[PeterJones]

@datatraveller1 said in Default font for UTF-8:

Language: Global Styles, Style: Global override

That isn’t the one you should be looking at, unless you enable global overrides without understanding things. This is not what sets the default font for normal text that is inherited by the other styles.

You should be looking at Language: Global Styles, Style: Default Style

This will be described better in the User Manual when it is next published.

[datatraveller1]

@Alan-Kilborn My doubt is that I’m not sure if Courier New can depict all Unicode characters like special emoji?

[datatraveller1]

@PeterJones Thank you, Peter!

[PeterJones]

@datatraveller1

My doubt is that I’m not sure if Courier New can depict all Unicode characters like special emoji?

That’s one of the places where the Settings > Preferences > Misc > Use DirectWrite checkbox comes in handy. When that’s enabled, Microsoft is allowed to use its behind-the-scenes table to look up alternate fonts for specific glyphs, if the font you are using doesn’t have a glyph for a given character. (And anecdotally, sometimes MS seems to be able to do that even when DirectWrite isn’t enabled.)

So yes, Notepad++ is still primarily using Courier New by default, as the Default Says it is, even if it’s showing you glyphs for characters not in Courier New.

(And you can use charmap.exe to see which characters are in Courier New)

But I tend to download DejaVu Sans Mono or other such truly-free fonts that have more characters available natively, and set those as the default font for Notepad++, so that DirectWrite doesn’t have to do as much work.

[datatraveller1]

@PeterJones Thank you again. Unfortunately, most times I still have to deal with ANSI files so Courier New is the best choice for me. For Unicode, I have personally had good experiences with Segoe UI.

[Alan Kilborn]

@datatraveller1 @PeterJones

If we’re switching over to font recommendation, I like Fira Code Retina. :-)