Notepad++ is a one of the powerful text editor used by developers, writers, and other professionals to edit text and code. One of the features of Notepad++ is its ability to customize the appearance and layout to suit your personal preferences and workflow.
You to change theme, font, style, and color and also customize toolbar, context menu, keyboard shortcuts, enable syntax highlighting, etc. It enables efficient arrangement of tools, lessens eye strain with adjustable themes and fonts, and grows with your evolving needs.
Personalizing Notepad++
By personalizing Notepad++, you can significantly elevate your productivity and augment your user experience.
This is achieved through a variety of means:
- Personalization: Customization allows you to tailor the application according to your individual preferences, which can make it more enjoyable to use.
- Efficiency: By customizing the layout, you can arrange tools and features in a way that suits your workflow. This can save time and make your work more efficient.
- Ease of Use: Customizing the interface can make it easier to find and use the features you need. For instance, highlighting syntax in your coding language of choice can make code easier to read and debug.
- Reduced Eye Strain: Adjusting settings like theme, font size, and color can make the screen easier on your eyes, especially during long work sessions.
- Adaptability: As your skills and needs evolve, you might find that different settings become more useful to you. Customization allows Notepad++ to grow and change with you.
In this blog post, we will cover some of the ways you can customize the appearance and layout of Notepad++.
1. Customizing the Theme in Notepad++
The first thing you may want to do is change the theme of Notepad++. The default theme is a white background with black text, but you may prefer a darker background for coding at night or to reduce eye strain.
Notepad++ provides several built-in themes like Blackboard, Choco, Deep Black, Ruby Blue, etc. that you can use, or you can create your own.
To change the theme of Notepad++, go to “Settings” > “Style Configurator”. In the “Select Theme” dropdown menu, choose from several pre-installed themes.
If you are not happy with built-in themes, you can download and install custom ones e.g. Dracula – Dark theme for Notepad++.
To add the Dracula theme to Notepad++, simply download the theme from this location. Copy it to the Notepad++ themes folder. Restart Notepad++. The new theme should be available under Style Configurator Menu.
From the same interface, you can adjust the font size, style, and color of various elements, such as text, background, selection, and line numbers.
2. Customizing the Toolbar in Notepad++
The toolbar in Notepad++ contains various buttons that allow you to perform common tasks quickly, such as opening files, saving files, and searching for text. Notepad++ allows you to customize the toolbar to add or remove buttons, change the order of buttons, and adjust the size and position of the toolbar using Customize Toolbar Plugin.
Go to Plugins Admin and search and install customize toolbar plugin.
To customize the toolbar in Notepad++, go to Plugins Menu and select “Customize Toolbar”. From here, you can drag and drop buttons to add or remove them, as well as move them around to change the order.
3. Customizing the Popup Context Menu in Notepad++
The context menu in Notepad++ provides access to many of the features and functions of the text editor. Just right click and you should see below menu which provides options like cut, copy and paste, etc.
Notepad++ allows you to customize the menu to add or remove items, change the order of items, and create custom submenus.
To customize the menu in Notepad++, go to “Settings” > “Edit Popup ContextMenu”. This opens the contextMenu.xml file as shown below. This file contain entry for each submenu
From here, you can add or remove items from the menu, as well as create custom submenus. You can also change the order of items by dragging them around.
4. Customizing Keyboard Shortcuts in Notepad++
Keyboard shortcuts are a quick and efficient way to perform common tasks in Notepad++. Notepad++ allows you to customize the keyboard shortcuts to suit your workflow and preferences.
To customize the keyboard shortcuts in Notepad++, go to “Settings” > “Shortcut Mapper”. From here, you can search for a specific function and assign a new keyboard shortcut to it.
You can also add new keyboard shortcuts for custom functions.
Conclusion
Customizing the appearance and layout of Notepad++ can help you work more efficiently and comfortably. By changing the theme, customizing the toolbar and menu, and assigning keyboard shortcuts, you can tailor Notepad++ to your workflow and preferences.
Notepad++ is a versatile text editor that is highly customizable, and these are just a few of the ways you can customize it to suit your needs.
