What is NotNotepad?
A very simple text editor, to edit plain text files (e.g. settings files, code, text files, etc.).
Inspired by an article about a former Windows developer recreating Windows Notepad without the AI or the bloat added in recent years, Simon thought he'd try to do the same, to see how long it'd take to recreate Notepad. Ended up taking more than an afternoon (although still not long at all to get basics working).
Along way he's added a few extras, e.g. syntax highlighting for particular files (as there's a text editor component for this so not much work to do), toolbar, "search web" option, etc.
The aim is that you are initially presented with something resembling classic Notepad as closely as possible... then you decide if you want any of the extras. While other text editors usually go in the other direction of showing you every possible option!
Who its for?
Ideal for situations where you need to edit or handle plain text files, for example...
- People requiring a plain text editor.
- Developers, coders, etc.
- Web designers needing to view/edit code.
- People working with text on a day-to-day basis.
- Admins needing to change settings files.
- Writing temporary notes or ideas.
- Working with unformatted text.
Need any help?
A basic help file describing the software is included.
If you encounter any problems or have any feedback, e-mail: simon@libraryplayer.co.uk
Find NotNotepad useful? Buy Simon a coffee!
What are the extras?
Options in NotNotepad that are not in the original Windows Notepad...
- Syntax highlighting for particular files, e.g. code, etc.
- Tabbed editing - while Windows 11 notepad has tabbed editing, still considered an extra, as not something associated with classic Notepad! Tabbed editing is optional (if not enabled from Options menu, only one file is open at a time).
- Redo as well as Undo
- Additional file filters when opening/saving files in the open/save dialog.
- Line numbers sidebar available in Options menu.
- Insert contents of another file into current file - ideal if you have templates you wish to insert in a document, sample code, etc.
- Select an item and search the web for that text (e.g. if you have code, word you want to look up, etc.).
- Copy and paste (or just paste) text into a new tab.
- Change selected text to lower case, uppercase or sentence case.
- Indent and unindent lines.
- Remove trailing spaces from the file - i.e. any blank spaces at the end of lines. Using this option removes trailing space from every line of the file (rather than just the selected text or current line).
- Reset layout option, to restore to the default Notepad style layout.
- Developer layout option - basically the opposite of "Reset Layout" by showing all the optional toolbars, etc.
- Optional top toolbar.
- Optional sidebar, including a file bar, history, etc.
- File history (ideal if working with files regularly, multiple files, etc.)
- File bar list (ideal if working with multiple files, although remember there's no tabbed text editing!)
The aim was to add additional tools, while keeping the feeling of the original Windows Notepad (and not overwhelming you like a lot of other plain text editors can end up doing).
NotNotepad will continue to be developed, so if there's anything you'd like to see included to help you with editing text, e-mail
simon@libraryplayer.co.uk
Available for free!
NotNotepad is available free of charge. No catches, no adverts, no expiry dates, no registrations and you don't even need to provide an e-mail address.
Currently available for Windows desktop and laptop computers - if there is enough interest we may look at making NotNotepad available for other systems in the future!
