Is there a way to manage tabs efficiently in Notepad++?

Question

Is there a way to group tabs in Notepad++?

I frequently end up with 30 or more tabs (files) open, and it's becoming quite hard to figure out which tab I want to switch to.

If I could group them per affinity (one tab-bar per group?), that would be a good start.

score 49 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 17 '22 at 15:25

49

How about Document List?

As of 2022 the Document List panel has a button on the toolbar

-- Previous Solution moved below - JBH Edit --

Go to Settings > Preferences... > General and under the Document List Panel heading, select the Show checkbox.

A vertical list of all open tabs opens on the left. I'm talking about Notepad++ version 6.3. Don't know about earlier.

edited Feb 17 '22 at 15:25

JB Hurteaux

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answered Oct 17 '13 at 12:55

Pavel Tankov

606

score 15 · Answer 2 · edited Dec 29 '15 at 13:06

15

Notepad++ has session management built-in;

Feature to save tab sessions.

EDIT: as of NppV6.5.4, Session Manager Plugin needs to be downloaded from Plugin Manager. It does not have a tool bar button and needs to be activated from Plugin -> Session Manager after install

edited Dec 29 '15 at 13:06

user13267

1,873

answered Feb 14 '13 at 14:16

matt_

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score 11 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 04 '15 at 18:00

11

Go to Settigs > Preferences > General > Tab Bar check the multiline box to show your tabs in multiple lines.

answered Nov 04 '15 at 18:00

user517879

111

score 10 · Answer 4 · edited Aug 19 '13 at 12:56

10

View -> Project -> Project panel #

works for me. You can add projects with their own files and directories as you like.

This makes it a lot easier to work with a lot of files from a lot of different folders from a lot of different projects.

edited Aug 19 '13 at 12:56

Jawa

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answered Aug 19 '13 at 12:29

hOSHI

101

score 7 · Answer 5 · edited Jun 12 '20 at 13:48

The File Switcher plugin may (or may not) suit your needs. It presents a sortable list, and has partial-title quick-search...

You can find it here: Directory for Notepad++ plugins

Here is a summary from the Plugins page:
"... a little plugin that switches between files, by entering any part of the filename. It's handy if you don't like taking your hands off the keyboard to switch files. Formerly known as Keyboard File Switcher."

score 7 · Answer 6 · edited Feb 14 '13 at 16:00

I found the perfect solution here: Notepad++ Tips and Tricks

Create new tab group: Similar to Visual Studio's New Vertical Tab Group, you can view documents (or tabbed groups of documents) side-by-side using View > Move/Clone Current Document > Move to Other View. F8 then toggles between these views. Choosing to Clone effectively implements split screen and any changes made to one view of the document will be replicated in the other.

Pulse · Answer 7 · 2010-06-16T08:41:37.240

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Not really an answer because I'm not aware of any specific tab management plug-ins, but it might be worth looking at. It's a plug-ib for NPP called Window Manager, it allows a slightly different view of open documents via a dockable window.

I have it installed in NPP and it's useful when there are multiple tabs open. It can be found at the bottom of the NPP plugins page

edited Jun 16 '10 at 08:41

answered Jun 16 '10 at 08:26

Pulse

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score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Feb 17 '22 at 05:37

1

Sort the files or tabs in alphabetical order in notepad++

Click on Document list on the toolbar,
A small window is opened to the left side.
Click on Name to get the sorted list alphabetically.

answered Feb 17 '22 at 05:37

Manikanta

11

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Feb 01 '22 at 18:10

0

This may suit your needs too: as of Notepad 8.1.9 (Oct 2021), I just selected View -> Document List (which can be sorted).

answered Feb 01 '22 at 18:10

Emmanuel

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Oleksii Maryshchenko · Answer 10 · 2022-05-13T15:08:12.973

I can recommend my own plugin NavigateTo. More information: https://github.com/young-developer/nppNavigateTo/blob/master/README.md

Navigate To is a new and efficient way to quickly navigate between tabs(files) in your Notepad++. It allows you to search for a symbol or filename, filepath by matching against a keyword you type in, and get a real time preview while going through the search results by Shift key. And YES indeed you can uncheck the Multi-line option, in the Preferences > General > Tab Bar zone because you don’t need the multi-lines tab feature anymore :)

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Jul 21 '23 at 06:29

0

If you want to see all the multiple tabs opened without scrolling the tab, there is a multi-line option in settings. Settings -> Preference -> General -> Tab Bar -->> enable Multi-line (see image)

answered Jul 21 '23 at 06:29

Lokesh Purohit

121

score 0 · Answer 12 · answered Jan 23 '25 at 06:36

Not a direct solution but you can try below one

To stack tabs above and below in Notepad++, follow these steps:

To enable multi-line tabs in Notepad++:

Go to Settings > Preferences.
Click General.
Under Tab Bar group, check Multi-line.

This will enable the multi-line tab bar, allowing tabs to stack above and below, which can be especially helpful when working with many open files so that your actual window size isn't captured through document map yet you can see all tabs.

Is there a way to manage tabs efficiently in Notepad++?

12 Answers12

-- Previous Solution moved below - JBH Edit --

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