Had you ever noticed how much of text editing tend to quickly fall into repetitive action? Got to end of line, delete that unwanted line break, repeat, repeat, repeat…It really dumbs down the process, but not really time consuming enough to step away and do research on how to complete it faster.
One of the most used Notepad++ features for is how its macro functionality allows to deal with repetitive actions on the fly.
What it does
Basically Notepad++ can quickly and conveniently record keys you are pressing and then repeat them (set number of times, in quick succession if necessary).
Controls have their own Macro entry in menu and are duplicated as toolbar buttons for even quicker access.
notepadpp_macro
- Hit Start Recording
- Do what you need
- Hit Stop Recording
- Run once or multiple times or until file ends
Hints
When your macro involves moving around from line to line it is best to throw in keys like Home or End to be sure your cursor is really where you want it to be.
Also even if you run macro multiple times Undo ( Ctrl+Z ) will roll back results as single action. So even if you don’t nail it on first try it only takes second to cancel changes and start over.
Overall
While not a replacement for complex text-processing tools macro in Notepad++ is very useful and important feature, because its immediate availability. It takes no “go spend time looking for solution” and saves seconds and nerves that would be most certainly lost otherwise.