The open-source text editor Notepad++ is marking its 20th anniversary with a new release packed with exciting new features.
The 238th release since 2003, titled Notepad++ 8.6, introduces additions to its robust feature set with an enhanced multi-edit feature, specifically for its Windows-based code tool.
While I’m not a developer myself, with my coding experience being limited to a bit of basic PHP for specific sites occasionally, the utility of this feature might elude me. It’s also hard for me to compare this feature to the ones available in previous versions of the app.
Some third-party plugins for Notepad++ have offered similar features for a while now. One such example is BetterMultiSelection. The inclusion of this feature in the native app was spurred by a bug report requesting functionality to “transform the column mode to multi-caret on HOME/END/Arrow keys”.
Here’s an animated GIF of Notepad++ multi-edit in action:
Multi-edit in Notepad++ 8.6 in action
Notepad++ 8.6 is also able to ‘remember inaccessible files across the sessions, by using empty & read-only documents as placeholders’. To enable, head to Preferences > Backup and enabled the ‘Remember inaccessible files from past session’ option.
These and other changes in Notepad++ 8.6:
- Multi-edit
- Session inaccessible files now remembered
- Customise multi-select background & caret colours
- Scintilla & Lexilla updated to v5.3.8
- 3 line operation (delete, copy & cut) shortcuts
- Find/Replace shows extra info in status bar to avoid PEBKAC
- Misc bug & crash fixes
Notepad++ is a free and open-source software that has been specifically developed for Windows. It is available for download as either a standard installer or a portable version.
Download it from the software’s official website or from GitHub.
Although it was designed to be used on Windows, don’t be fooled: you can also use Notepad++ on Linux!
You can simply install Notepad++ on Ubuntu directly from the Ubuntu Software/App Center (since it’s available on the Snap Store). Alternatively, you can run the Windows version using WINE/CrossOver, or if you have the skills, you can manually build it from the source code.