Please use the </> button on the forum toolbar when you want to paste example text, and put the text where it says code_text when you do that. That way, your example text won’t be interpreted as “markdown”, so that we know that your example text is coming through the way you pasted it.

@MurraySobol said:
This question is for @guy038.

Why limit it, when anyone else with the knowledge can answer as well?

I don’t know if I have modified the shortcuts.xml file correctly,

You have not. The <Macro name=...>...</Macro> must be between <Macros> and </Macros>

here is my file contents:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<NotepadPlus>
    <InternalCommands />
        <Macro name="Global Search" Ctrl="no" Alt="no" Shift="no" Key="0">
            <Action type="3" message="1700" wParam="0" lParam="0" sParam="" />
            <Action type="3" message="1601" wParam="0" lParam="0" sParam="(?=\X)(.)|(?!\X)." />
            <Action type="3" message="1625" wParam="0" lParam="2" sParam="" />
            <Action type="3" message="1602" wParam="0" lParam="0" sParam="(?1\(\?=[[=$1=]]\)\\X)" />
            <Action type="3" message="1702" wParam="0" lParam="640" sParam="" />
            <Action type="3" message="1701" wParam="0" lParam="1609" sParam="" />
        </Macro>
    <Macros />
    <UserDefinedCommands>
        ...
    </UserDefinedCommands>
    <PluginCommands />
    <ScintillaKeys />
</NotepadPlus>

I was trying to find this line: the line containing </Macros> in shortcuts.xml but did not see it.

Looks like the updated XML libary that Notepad++ now uses is changing empty

    <Macros>
    </Macros>

into

    <Macros />

… which is valid XML, but annoying when people are trying to explain how to edit macros manually.

To follow @guy038’s instructions, you will have to change

    <Macros />

into

    <Macros>
    </Macros>

and then put the macro inside it, like:

    <Macros>
        <Macro name="Global Search" Ctrl="no" Alt="no" Shift="no" Key="0">
            <Action type="3" message="1700" wParam="0" lParam="0" sParam="" />
            <Action type="3" message="1601" wParam="0" lParam="0" sParam="(?=\X)(.)|(?!\X)." />
            <Action type="3" message="1625" wParam="0" lParam="2" sParam="" />
            <Action type="3" message="1602" wParam="0" lParam="0" sParam="(?1\(\?=[[=$1=]]\)\\X)" />
            <Action type="3" message="1702" wParam="0" lParam="640" sParam="" />
            <Action type="3" message="1701" wParam="0" lParam="1609" sParam="" />
        </Macro>
    </Macros>

I was trying to find this line: the line containing </Macros> in shortcuts.xml but did not see it.

I assume you are talking about this post by @guy038 . If you’re going to create a new topic based on instructions given in a different topic, the least you could do is link to it. (Or you could have just clicked “reply” on that post, as it would have auto-linked, and kept the discussion in one place rather than fracturing it)

I assume this was a typo??

The same post lists both shortcut.xml and shortcuts.xml, so the incorrect one was most likely a typo on @guy038’s part.

I was unable to create a shortcut for this Global Search,

It’s there for me. Is the macro in the Macro menu yet? If not, did you remember to save the shortcuts.xml file and then exit Notepad++ and restart, because Notepad++ doesn’t re-read that config file for new macros when you save it: you have to exit the app and launch it again to have it reload the config files.

update: Looking at @guy038 's original, he said,

Reminder :

• If you installed N++ with an installer package, your active shortcuts.xml file should be within the folder %AppData%\Notepad++

• If you installed N++ with a portable package, your active shortcuts.xml file should be along with the Notepad++.exe file, in your install folder

• You may also define a shortcut for this Global Search macro, by opening the Settings > Shortcut Mapper... > Macros tab and double-clicking on the Global Search line !

Now :

• Close and restart Notepad++

• Paste the French text, below, in a new tab ( I rewrote the same French text in different cases ! )

He should have had the Close and restart Notepad++ before the You may also define ... – he probably didn’t notice, when typing up the instructions, that it might cause confusion.

Having read my post, he will most likely fix his original, so that it has accurate instructions for future readers.