Notepad++ Cheat Sheet

What Is a Notepad++ Cheat Sheet

A Notepad++ cheat sheet is a quick reference for the keyboard shortcuts, menu commands, and plugin actions built into the Notepad++ text editor. As of version 8.9.6.4, the current stable release, that reference stays organized by task instead of by menu.

Don Ho started the project in September 2003, and it still runs under the GNU General Public License 3.0 as free, open source software.

What it typically includes:

• File and tab controls: opening, saving, and switching between documents

• Editing commands: duplicating, deleting, and moving lines

• Search tools: Find, Replace, and regex-based pattern matching

• Navigation aids: bookmarks, Go to Line, and the Function List panel

Notepad++ placed third among development environments in Stack Overflow's 2025 Developer Survey, trailing only Visual Studio Code and Visual Studio.

That ranking makes sense once you compare builds. Knowing what VSCode ships with by default explains the gap: a full extension ecosystem and built-in debugging that Notepad++ deliberately skips to stay lighter. Against other longtime lightweight editors, the gap narrows: see Notepad++ vs UltraEdit and Notepad++ vs TextPad for how it stacks up against two editors built on the same "stay small" philosophy. The complete, always-current shortcut list lives in Notepad++'s own technical documentation, updated with every release.

Notepad++ File and Window Management Shortcuts

Notepad++ groups its most-used file and tab commands under Ctrl-based combinations that mirror what most Windows programs already use. Learning eight or nine of them removes most mouse trips to the toolbar.

File Shortcuts

Action	Shortcut
New File	Ctrl+N
Open File	Ctrl+O
Save / Save As	Ctrl+S / Ctrl+Alt+S
Close Document	Ctrl+W

Ctrl+Shift+S saves every open tab at once, which matters most mid-edit across a dozen config files. Notepad++ also keeps its own backup copies of unsaved tabs running in the background; see where Notepad++ saves temp files if a crash ever leaves you hunting for recovered work.

Tab and Window Shortcuts

Tab management in Notepad++ doesn't require touching the tab bar once you know a handful of combinations.

• Next / previous document: Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab

• Jump to a specific tab: Ctrl+Numpad 1 through Ctrl+Numpad 9

• Move a tab's position: Ctrl+Shift+Page Up or Page Down

• Split view: View > Clone to Other View for side-by-side editing

Per Notepad++'s default Shortcut Mapper settings, tab numbers stop at nine. Anything further needs Ctrl+Page Down instead.

Notepad++ Basic Editing Shortcuts

Notepad++'s core editing shortcuts work on whole lines at once, skipping the step of selecting text first. A 2005 study by Lane on Microsoft Word found shortcut-based commands running half a second to three times that much faster per action than the equivalent toolbar or menu clicks, a gap that holds across most Windows text editors.

• Copy, cut, paste: Ctrl+C, Ctrl+X, and Ctrl+V work exactly as they do in every other Windows program

• Duplicate line: Ctrl+D copies the current line, or the selected text, directly below itself

• Delete line: Ctrl+L removes the entire line under the cursor

• Move line up or down: Ctrl+Shift+Up or Ctrl+Shift+Down repositions a line without cut and paste

• Undo / redo: Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y step backward and forward through changes

These five cover most of what happens during ordinary software development work, from cleaning up duplicate config lines to reordering array entries — small edits like these show up in nearly every stage of the process, as the 7 phases of SDLC lay out in more detail.

Notepad++ Search and Replace Shortcuts

Four dialogs handle every search task in Notepad++, and they share the same keyboard-first design.

Each one opens in the same floating window, just on a different tab, so switching between finding and replacing text takes one keystroke.

• Ctrl+F opens Find

• Ctrl+H opens Replace

• Ctrl+Shift+F opens Find in Files, searching an entire folder at once

• Ctrl+M marks every match in the document without replacing anything, a fast way to highlight text in Notepad++ before deciding what to do with it

Turning on the regular expression option inside that dialog switches plain text search into full pattern matching, which is where keeping a regex quick reference nearby pays off, especially for removing extra spaces, clearing out empty lines, or tracking down special characters buried in a reformatted log file.

Before version 8.1.3, pressing Ctrl+F, Ctrl+H, or Ctrl+Shift+F a second time only re-centered the same open dialog instead of switching tabs, a quirk long-time users still remember.

Notepad++ Selection and Column Mode Shortcuts

Notepad++ offers two different ways to edit multiple spots in a file at once, and people mix them up constantly. Column mode reshapes a rectangular block of text, while multi-cursor editing types the same change in several places at once.

Feature	Column Mode	Multi-Cursor
Trigger	Alt+drag, or Alt+Shift+Arrow keys	Ctrl+click on each spot
What it does	Selects a rectangular block down the document	Places independent cursors at multiple points
Best for	Editing a fixed-width column across many lines	Renaming the same variable in scattered spots

Ctrl+F3 selects the word under the cursor and jumps straight to its next match, the fastest route to renaming one repeated variable without switching to full column mode.

Under the hood, Notepad++ runs column extension through Scintilla-level commands like SCI_LINEDOWNRECTEXTEND, which is why the behavior stays consistent even in very large files.

Notepad++ Navigation and Bookmark Shortcuts

Four shortcuts cover Notepad++'s navigation and bookmark tools entirely.

Action	Shortcut
Go to Line	Ctrl+G
Toggle Bookmark	Ctrl+F2
Next / Previous Bookmark	F2 / Shift+F2
Go to Matching Brace	Ctrl+B

Go to Matching Brace only works when the cursor sits directly on a bracket, parenthesis, or brace character, which trips up new users expecting it to jump from anywhere on the line.

Notepad++ Code Folding, Indentation, and Function List Shortcuts

Folding hides code blocks you're not working on, while the Function List shows every function or class in the current file as a clickable outline. Both cut down on scrolling in long files.

Folding and Indentation Commands

Folding works per block or across the whole file.

• Alt+0 folds every block in the document

• Alt+Shift+0 unfolds everything back open

• Clicking the small minus icon in the left margin folds just that one block

• Tab and Shift+Tab indent or outdent a selected block of lines

Folding state doesn't save with the file itself, so reopening a document resets every block to expanded unless session settings say otherwise.

Function List Navigation

The Function List panel reads the current file's language and builds a navigable outline of every function, class, or method it finds.

Opening it through the View menu adds a sidebar you can click through instead of scrolling, which matters most in files running several hundred lines long.

Since Notepad++ recognizes syntax across 78 programming languages, the Function List adapts its outline logic depending on which language mode the open file uses.

Notepad++ Auto-Completion and Snippet Shortcuts

Notepad++'s auto-complete doesn't run on an AI model. It pulls suggestions straight from the open document and from a language-specific keyword file loaded by the current lexer.

• Word and function suggestions: trigger automatically once you type past a set minimum length, adjustable in Preferences

• Function parameter hints: Ctrl+Shift+Space shows argument names between the parentheses of a function call

• Path completion: Ctrl+Alt+Space lists folder contents right after you type a drive letter

• Cycling multiple hints: Alt+Up and Alt+Down move between different hint definitions for the same function

• Auto-close pairs: brackets and quotes close automatically once enabled in Preferences > Auto-Completion

The suggestion list marks each entry with a different icon: an fx symbol for functions, a cube for other keywords, and no icon at all for plain word matches pulled from the document itself.

Notepad++ Macro Recording and Playback Shortcuts

94% of workers say they deal with repetitive, time-consuming tasks in their role, according to Zapier research. Notepad++ macros exist to eliminate exactly that kind of busywork inside a text file.

• Start recording: Macro menu, then Start Recording, default Ctrl+Shift+R

• Stop recording: same menu, Stop Recording

• Playback: reruns the last recorded macro exactly once

• Run Multiple Times: repeats a macro a set number of times, or until the file ends

Saved macros carry their own keyboard shortcut, assigned the moment you save them, so a five-step cleanup routine collapses into one keystroke.

Notepad++ Plugin Manager and Popular Plugins

Notepad++ ships thin by design and adds everything else through plugins.

Version 7.6 folded what used to be a separate download, Plugin Manager, into the core install and renamed it Plugin Admin.

Plugin	What It Does
JSON Viewer	Formats and validates JSON in a collapsible tree view
XML Tools	Validates XML against a schema and pretty-prints markup
NppFTP	Opens, edits, and saves files directly on a remote FTP or SFTP server
Compare	Highlights line-by-line differences between two open tabs

JSON Viewer and XML Tools are usually the first two plugins developers reach for — see how to format JSON in Notepad++ and how to format XML in Notepad++ for the exact steps once either one is installed.

Notepad++'s bundled plugin catalog runs past 140 entries, though not every plugin ships for both the 32-bit and 64-bit builds, so it's worth checking compatibility in Plugin Admin before installing.

Notepad++ File Comparison Commands

Code review runs at roughly 84% of companies, per a CodeGrip survey of more than 1,000 CxOs and developers, and most of that work comes down to reading a diff.

Notepad++ handles that through the Compare plugin, installed separately via Plugin Admin since it isn't bundled by default. For the setup steps, see how to compare two files in Notepad++.

• Compare two open tabs directly, no external files needed

• Navigate between detected differences one change at a time

• Distinct colors mark added, removed, and changed lines

• Works alongside version control diffs for a quick visual second opinion

It won't replace a full Git diff view for a large repository, but for two config files or two versions of the same script, it beats opening either one in a browser-based diff tool.

Notepad++ Customization Shortcuts for Themes and Settings

Three dialogs control nearly everything about how Notepad++ looks and behaves.

• Style Configurator: changes theme, font, and color per language, reachable through the Settings menu

• Language menu: switches syntax highlighting for the current file without touching the file extension

• Preferences: controls tab behavior, word wrap, auto-save, and file associations — see how to wrap text in Notepad++ if long lines keep scrolling off-screen

• Shortcut Mapper: reassigns any default keyboard combination to something else

Stack Overflow's 2015 developer survey once summed up the typical stack in one line: JavaScript, written in Notepad++ on a Windows machine, theme set to dark.

Accessibility Shortcuts for Font Size and Zoom

Font size and zoom work independently of the Style Configurator's color settings.

• Zoom in / out: Ctrl+Numpad Plus and Ctrl+Numpad Minus resize text on the fly

• Reset zoom: Ctrl+Numpad Divide returns to the default size

These three run at the Scintilla level, so they work the same way in every file type, regardless of which language mode is active. For a permanent change instead of a temporary zoom, see how to increase font size in Notepad++.

Notepad++ Command Line Launch Parameters

Four launch switches cover most command-line use of Notepad++.

Switch	Effect
-multiInst	Opens a new instance instead of reusing the current window
-nosession	Skips restoring the previous session on startup
-l	Sets the syntax language for the file being opened
-x	Positions the cursor at a specific character offset on open

Of the four, -multiInst solves the most common complaint, since Notepad++ normally forces every file into one shared window.

70% of developers use the terminal daily as a primary tool, though only 19% call themselves experts, according to Warp's State of the CLI survey. Launch parameters matter precisely because that daily terminal habit rarely pauses just to open a text editor by hand.

FAQ on Notepad++

What is Notepad++ used for?

Notepad++ is a free text and source code editor for Windows, built for writing and editing code, config files, and plain text. Developers use it for edits, regex-based find and replace, and lightweight work that doesn't need a full IDE. New to it? This guide on how to use Notepad++ covers the basics, and what Notepad++ is goes deeper into its background.

Is Notepad++ free to use?

Yes. Notepad++ is free, open source software released under the GNU General Public License 3.0. There's no trial period, no premium tier, and no license to buy, for personal or commercial use alike. That same free, open-source model extends well past desktop editors, too — plenty of today's open source mobile app development software runs on the same licensing principle.

Is Notepad++ safe to use?

Notepad++ itself is safe. In February 2026, attackers briefly hijacked its update server, not the software's code. The issue is fixed since version 8.9.1. Keep Notepad++ updated to the latest release and you're protected.

Does Notepad++ work on Mac?

No. Notepad++ only runs natively on Windows. Mac users typically run it through Wine, a virtual machine, or switch to alternatives like Visual Studio Code or Sublime Text, which are cross-platform by design. The same Wine-based approach works on Linux, and how to install Notepad++ on Linux covers that setup in more detail.

What's the difference between Notepad and Notepad++?

Windows Notepad is a bare-bones text editor with no syntax highlighting. Notepad++ adds tabs, code folding, plugins, regex search, and support for 78 programming languages, aimed squarely at developers rather than casual note-taking. The full Notepad++ vs Notepad comparison breaks down every difference side by side.

How do I install plugins in Notepad++?

Open Plugins in the menu bar, then Plugin Admin. Browse or search the available list, check the box next to a plugin, and click Install. Notepad++ restarts automatically to finish loading it. For a walkthrough with screenshots, see how to install plugins in Notepad++.

Can Notepad++ compare two files?

Not by default. Installing the Compare plugin through Plugin Admin adds that function, highlighting added, removed, and changed lines between two open tabs side by side, without needing a separate diff tool. See how to compare files in Notepad++ for the setup steps.

How do I switch Notepad++ to dark mode?

Go to Settings, then Style Configurator, and pick a dark theme from the Select theme dropdown, or toggle Dark Mode directly in Preferences. Notepad++ has shipped built-in dark mode since version 8.0.

What's the shortcut to duplicate a line in Notepad++?

Ctrl+D duplicates the current line, or the selected text, directly beneath itself. It's one of the most-used editing shortcuts in Notepad++, alongside Ctrl+L for deleting a line and Ctrl+Z for undo.

Is Notepad++ better than Visual Studio Code?

Depends on the job. Notepad++ opens instantly and handles huge files without lag, while Visual Studio Code offers debugging, extensions, and IntelliSense. Many developers keep both installed and pick based on the task. For a closer look, see the full Notepad++ vs VS Code comparison, or, if Sublime Text is also on your shortlist, Sublime vs Notepad++ and VS Code vs Sublime Text.