How can i have Edit With Notepad++ in both new and old context menu on windows 11?

Sozi Salad

For context I’m on the latest windows 11 version (23h2) and latest notepad++ version (v8.5.8) today i updated notepad++ from a yrs old version to a new one, and the edit with notepad++ is gone from the older context menu,(and added to the new context menu which is nice) but this really messes up my work flow, ik there’re some hacky ways to add it to the old context menu (with regedit) but wondering if there’s an official way.

PeterJones

@Sozi-Salad ,

Microsoft thinks it knows better than you the “right” way to do things, and it makes application developers jump through higher and tighter hoops to continue doing things the same way that people have liked for years.

The installers aren’t really given an easy option by Microsoft to enable entries in both the new Win11 Right Click and the old-style menu now accessed through the extra menu or separate keystroke. Notepad++ developers chose to use the “new Win11” location, because that’s where the vast majority of users expect it to be.

You are the outlier, rather than the norm, in that you know enough to be able to access both menus, and have made accessing the old-style menu as your “work flow”; as an outlier, it means you have to put a little more overhead than the “for the masses installation process” will give you. Since your installation of Notepad++ puts the entry in the “new Win11” location, I think you should be able to follow the Manual “Edit with Notepad++” Action instructions found in the Online User Manual, which I believe will still put it in the “old” menu on Windows 11.

Sozi Salad

@PeterJones really appreciate your well written response, i will do it through the registry editor, i just wanted to make sure if there was any “official” way to do it via the app itself.

At this point, i think i should just use open shell now that i think about it.

xomx

The new NppShell is cleverly designed to work in both the new Win11 menu and at the same time in the old classic one. Implementation details:
https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/nppShell/commit/8f26080a71594f4f24de43d06ee1c906a8bc0b1d

I can use both in my Win11 after the usual installation. No need for additional Registry hacks.