This guide has covered all about the Notepad app from the scratch like where you’ll find the Notepad app, how to open it, along with its features like Word Wrap, Find and Replace, Font customization, etc. All in all this guide is going to be really lengthy. So if you want to read a particular part in this whole guide then you can refer to the table of contents below. Let’s now dive into it. Also Read: How to Fix the Windows 0x0 Error
How to Open Notepad in Windows 10
Notepad is used in a lot of ways and it also serves a lot of flexibility to quickly note any piece of information. But there are many newbies who find it difficult to even find and open the Notepad in Windows 10. So, here are 5 different ways by which you can open the Notepad on your Windows 10 PC.
1. Open Notepad using Search
This is the simplest way to open the Notepad app. Just press the Windows key, type in Notepad in the search bar and open the Notepad app from the search results.
2. Open Notepad by Right-Clicking on Desktop or in a folder
The second method to open the Notepad app can be used to create and open a new Notepad file on the desktop or within any folder. Simply right-click anywhere, click on the New option and select Text Document.
3. Open Notepad from the Start menu
You can also use the Start Menu of the Windows 10 to open Notepad. Press the Windows key on the keyboard or click on the Windows icon from the bottom left of the taskbar. Now locate Windows Accessories, click on to expand, and click on Notepad to open it.
4. Open Notepad via the Run program
You can also use the Windows Run program to open Notepad. Press Win+R or right-click on the windows button and select Run to open the Run program. Now type Notepad and click on OK to open it.
5. Open Notepad using Command prompt or PowerShell
The fifth way to open the Notepad on Windows 10 is by using the command prompt (cmd) or the Windows PowerShell. Either of them can be used for the purpose and the process is also the same. In the search bar of Windows type cmd (command prompt) or Powershell to open either of these. Then type Notepad and hit enter. Your Notepad will be opened. Read More: Fix Connections To Bluetooth Audio Devices And Wireless Displays In Windows 10
How to Save, Save As, and Open File Within Notepad
Now when you have successfully opened Notepad and done with what you wanted to note it’s time to save that file. So here I am going to tell you how you can save a file, use the “Save As” option and open another/new Notepad file.
1. How to Save and “Save As” a Notepad file
First, let’s discuss how to save a file in a notepad. The simplest and quickest way to do so is by pressing the Crlt+S key combination. Alternately, you can also click on the File option from the top left and select Save. If you are saving the file for the first time, the Save As dialogue box will appear. Simply enter the name by which you want to save the file and click Save. After saving the file for the first time, pressing Ctrl+S will directly make changes to that previously saved file. And in order to save it as a new notepad file, you’ll have to use the Save As option. To use the Save As option press Ctlr+Shift+S or go to File from the top left corner and click on the Save As option. Now type a new name to the file and click on save.
2. How to Open another Notepad file
Notepad also allows you to open another notepad file while working on the current one. In order to do that click on File from the top left side and click on Open. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Ctlr+O to do the same. After that, you’ll be greeted with the Open dialog box. Navigate to the new notepad text file that you want to open, select the file and click on Open.
3. How to Open a new Notepad file
You can also open a new and fresh notepad window. Here, two cases arise. The first is if you want to open a new notepad file in the current window or want to retain the current window along with a new window for a new notepad file. Here’s how to do both these things. To open a new notepad file within the same window, go to File on the top left side and click on the New option. You can also press the Ctrl+N key combination to do the same. This will open a new fresh notepad workspace within the same window. But if you want to open a new notepad workspace in a completely new and separate window then again go to File and click on the New Window option. The Keyboard shortcut for this is Ctlr+Shift+N.
How to use Cut, Copy, Paste, Select All, Find/Find and Replace in Notepad
Now let’s also talk about some of the basic features that are provided in the Notepad and are of great use also. Those features are Cut, Copy, Paste, Select All, Find and Find and Replace. Let’s talk about them.
1. How to Cut, Copy, Paste and Select All text
You can easily Cut, Copy or Paste the text in Notepad via accessing these options from the Edit menu right next to the File menu on the top left corner. Simple select the text that you want to cut, copy, or paste and head over to Edit and choose the desired option. There are also really very simple keyboard shortcuts for these as well. And these shortcuts are a lot handier than selecting the options from the Edit menu. Here are the shortcuts:
2. How to use Find & Find and Replace
The Find & Find and Replace options are also available under the same Edit menu along with their respective keyboard shortcuts. To use the Find head over to Edit and select the option “Find…”. The keyboard shortcut for the Find feature is Ctrl+F. And the Find and Replace option is also available in the same Edit menu. Go to the Edit menu and select the Replace… option. The shortcut key for this Ctrl+H.
How to Word Wrap, Change Fonts, Font Style/Size in Notepad
There is no doubt that Notepad is all about dealing with text. And where there is text, there are going to be different fonts, font sizes, font styles, and features. Let’s talk about them.
1. How to Word Wrap in Notepad
Many times there are tons of words in a single line. So many that the length of the line exceeds the length of the window. And in order to read that out-spaced text horizontal scrolling is required which is a bit inconvenient. This is where the Word Wrap feature comes into play. By enabling Word Wrap, the out-spaced text automatically gets wrapped to the next line, eliminating the need for horizontal scrolling. To enable Word Wrap to click on the Format menu right next to the Edit menu and click on Word Wrap.
2. How to change Font, Font style and Font size
The notepad app from Mircosoft is the most basic text and note-taking software and there is not a whole lot of customization options. But still, there are options like changing fonts, font styles, and font size. Here’s how to do these things. In the same Format menu, there is an option called Font… below the Word Wrap option. Click on it and the Font dialogue box will appear. There you’ll get the option to choose between different fonts, different font styles like Bold, Italic, Underline, etc., and the Font Size. There will be a Sample section also where you will be able to see the live Font changes.
How to Add/Remove Status Bar, Zoom In and Zoom Out in Notepad
The Notepad status bar and Zoom in/out are some of the most underrated features of Notepad and many people don’t use them. But here’s how these features can be enabled and used.
1. How to enable or disable the Status Bar in Notepad
The Notepad consists of a tiny bar at the bottom of the window that shows the basic info of the current notepad text file. And here’s how to enable or disable it. The Status Bar option will be available under the View menu, located right next to the Format menu. Click on View and click on the Status Bar option. If there is a tick before the Status Bar option then the status bar is enabled and if the tick is absent, the status bar is disabled.
2. How to Zoom in and out
If the text in the Notepad file is not of proper size then you can zoom in and zoom out accordingly. To locate the Zoom in and out options, go to the View menu and click on Zoom. There will be three options namely, Zoom In, Zoom Out, and Restore Default Zoom. Here are the keyboard shortcuts for these three options. Read More: How To Fix VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE (Atikmpag.Sys) Error
How To Change Page Setup and Print In Notepad
Getting a printout of the content that you have written on the notepad file and setting up the page before executing the printout is very important. In this section, I am going to teach you how to set up a page for printing and how to print that page in a notepad.
1. How to Change Page Setup
The Page Setup option in notepad serves you the flexibility to modify the physical copy of the notepad file before printing. To access the Page Setup option in notepad, go to the File menu and click on the Page Setup option. The Notepad Page Setup dialogue box will appear where you will be able to change various things like margins, paper size, source of the paper, the orientation of the paper, etc. along with a live preview of how the actual printout will look like. Once you are done setting up the page click on OK.
2. How to Print in Notepad
The Print option is located right below the Page Setup option in the File menu. But windows have a very popular and standard keyboard shortcut for that i.e. Ctrl+P.
How To Create A Log File And Add Time And Date In Notepad
The Notepad on Windows 10 allows you to create an automatic log file that will automatically add the new time and date whenever you edit that notepad file. You can also add the Date and Time manually in notepad and in this section of the guide I am to discuss how you can create a log file and add Time/Date in the notepad file. Actually, it is very simple. Add the .log text at the starting of the notepad file in which you are working. And from now onwards the notepad file will automatically add a new Time and Date whenever you’ll open the file to edit it. You can also add the time and date manually whenever you want. To do that head over to the Edit menu and click on the Time/Date option. Alternately, you can also press the f5 key on the keyboard to do that.
How To Change Encoding In Notepad
Notepad by default works and saves the files in the UTF-8 encoding format. This is the most basic and widely used text file encoding format. But for the geeks who want to change and save the text file in a different encoding like UTF-16 LE, UTF-16 BE, etc. Here’s how to do that. To save the file in a different encoding format, press the Ctlr+Shift+S to open the Save As dialogue box, type in the name by which you want to save the file, and before clicking on the Save button select the encoding type from the dropdown menu located to the left of the Save button.
How To Spell Check In Notepad
As I have told you that the Notepad is a very basic text file generator and hence it doesn’t come with any built-in spell checker. But Windows 10 does. Windows 10 allows the user to activate the spell check and word suggestion across the whole operating system including our beloved Notepad. So, here’s how to do that. Step 1: Open the Settings. Step 2: Go to Devices and select Typing from the left. Step 3: Now, under the Hardware Keyboard section toggle the “Autocorrect misspelt words I type” and “Show text suggestions as I type” options ON. This will enable the spell checker and word suggestion in Notepad and the rest of the apps. Read More: How To Fix Application Has Been Blocked From Accessing Graphics Hardware
How To Create XML File Using Notepad
The notepad text file is also a really very convenient way to create XML files on windows. And here in this section, I am going to teach you how to do that. Step 1: Open your notepad and enter your XML code there. Step 2: Now open the Save As dialog box by pressing Ctrl+Shift+S. The Save As dialogue box will appear. Step 3: Now name your XML file as per your requirement and add .xml in the end. Also, make sure that the complete name including the .xml term is all completely enclosed in double-quotes. Step 4: Now finally click on the Save button and you are done with the process. You have successfully created an XML file using Notepad.
How To Create HTML File Using Notepad
Just like you create an XML file, the Notepad on Windows 10 can also be used to create the HTML document file. Here’s how to do that. Step 1: Open the notepad and type the HTML code. You can use the following code for a trial that I am using.
How to create HTML file using Notepad
- Open notepad and type the html code. You can use the this code for trial that I am using.
- Now open the Save As dialogue box by pressing Ctrl+Shift+S. The Save As dialogue box will appear.
- Now name the file as per your convenience and add .html or .htm at the end of the file name. Also, enclose the complete name including the .hmt/.html term in the double quotes.
- Finally, click on Save.
