Change the default encoding for saving files with Notepad++

Question

That's it . I want to open all the files in once (to make replacements). But notepad++ opens them all in ANSI and I have to go through each file and change the encoding to UTF-8.

Recent

Have you looked for any config files within its installation folder? – Repercussion

Answer 1

In Notepad++ 5.9 there is an option in Settings -> Preferences -> New Document/Default Directory to automatically convert ANSI files to UTF-8 without BOM on open

Diffident

Finally a working solutin, thanks a lot. PS: From v6.1 it is called Encoding → • UTF-8 without BOM → [x] Apply to opened ANSI files – Shuddering

This isn't working as expected for me. When I open an ANSI file with this setting turned on, some characters don't convert correctly and I see a lot of 'x92', 'x94', etc black squares in place of certain characters. When I turn the setting off and open the same file, it remains in the ANSI encoding and properly displays: ’ and ” characters (single-quote and double-quote). Then I manually do: Encoding > Convert to UTF-8 and it converts correctly. Is there some subtlety here that is causing the conversion not to work when the setting is turned on? – Handiness

This doesn't work for me in the sense that if I do: npp newfile.c (where npp is just running n++ executable) in terminal - n++ asks me if it should create the non-existing file, I click on yes, and it's opened... as ANSI. But if I just click on "new file" in n++, it opens as UTF-8. – Sesquialtera

Answer 2

Settings -> Preferences -> New Document/Default Directory -> UTF-8

Sedda

this works only for new documents.. but if you opened an existing document it will not affect it – Recent

True that. If you're feeling adventurous, you could starting looking for the default encoding in the source and recompile it. – Sedda

svn.tuxfamily.org/viewvc.cgi/notepadplus_repository/trunk/… – Sedda

Answer 3

I believe you can change this in config.model.xml. I'm not sure if it is setting an unknown type as the default type, however, but it might be worth altering NewDocDefaultSettings

<GUIConfig name="NewDocDefaultSettings" format="0" encoding="0" lang="0" />

to

<GUIConfig name="NewDocDefaultSettings" format="0" encoding="4" lang="0" />

I think at worse case you might be able to record a Macro to automate this process.

Hauser

Note that it should be renamed to (and overwrite) config.xml, the model file is just there as a starting point. – Mona

Thanks, sorry I forgot to mention that! – Hauser

The config.xml is actually found in %userprofile%\%appdata%\Notepad++. My entry looks like <GUIConfig name="NewDocDefaultSettings" format="0" encoding="4" lang="0" codepage="850" openAnsiAsUTF8="no" /> – Conventional

Answer 4

Late but for new Users,i had faced a similar problem

Step 1:
Settings -> Preferences -> New Document ->[Encodng] UTF-8 without BOM (check Apply to opened ANSI files)

but any how it hadn't solved mine , i searched out and found that its a bug!

Notepad++ v6.4.5 bug fixes:

1. Fix a crash issue while there's missing tag in functionList.xml. Fix

2. UTF-8 (w/o BOM) detection bug.

Step 2: That's all have an update to >= v6.4.5 and follow Step 1

Illbred

True, step 1 alone did not work for me. Yet, just updated to V6.6.6 latest, Jun 2014 but still same issue. Even though I selected utf-8 without boom check opened ANSI files in settings-> preferences. Any thoughts? Thanks. – Intercrop

Answer 5

look here to change default UTF8 settings for notepad ( new text documents ) - http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_programs/default-utf-8-encoding-for-new-notepad-documents/525f0ae7-121e-4eac-a6c2-cfe6b498712c

Glosseme

-1. Question is about Notepad++. This answer is about Notepad. – Tungstite