Notepad++ Keyboard Shortcuts
Notepad++ has stayed close to traditional Windows application conventions throughout its life rather than chasing modern command-palette trends, which means its shortcuts feel instantly familiar to anyone who's used Windows software since the XP era — File menu shortcuts, Find/Replace dialogs, and straightforward Ctrl-based bindings rather than chorded sequences. Where it earns particular loyalty from longtime users is multi-document handling and its column/block selection mode, both covered below. It has never shipped an official Mac build, so there is no Cmd column to track here — Linux users mostly reach it through Wine, where the same Ctrl bindings carry over unchanged. Macros — a recorded sequence of keystrokes that you can play back on demand, and optionally tie to its own custom key combo — turn a repetitive multi-step edit, like reformatting one recurring data pattern across dozens of lines, into a single keypress instead of a scripted plugin. Because Notepad++ supports a wide range of syntax highlighting language definitions and can auto-detect file type from extension, its language-specific shortcuts (like code folding) function consistently across dozens of supported languages rather than being hand-tuned per language, a deliberate tradeoff of deep per-language IDE polish for shortcuts that behave the same no matter which of the dozens of supported languages you happen to be editing. Multi-cursor editing and case conversion round out the toolkit for anyone doing repetitive text cleanup on log files or pasted data, and both build on the same rectangular-selection philosophy as column mode — targeting a pattern across many lines at once rather than editing line by line, which is really the throughline connecting most of Notepad++'s more advanced editing shortcuts.
Editing
| Action | Windows | Mac | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duplicate current line | Ctrl+D | — | Copies the current line and inserts the duplicate directly below it, without needing a separate select-copy-paste sequence. |
| Delete current line | Ctrl+Shift+L (varies) or Ctrl+L | — | Removes the entire current line, including its line break, shifting everything below it up by one line. |
| Move line up/down | Ctrl+Shift+Up / Ctrl+Shift+Down | — | Physically relocates the current line one position up or down relative to its neighbors, useful for quick reordering without cut and paste. |
| Enter column (block) selection mode | Alt+drag, or Alt+Shift+Arrow keys | — | Selects a rectangular block of text spanning multiple lines at the same column position, rather than a normal linear text selection — useful for editing a consistent column of data like aligned values or removing a common prefix across several lines at once. |
| Start/stop recording a macro | Ctrl+Shift+R (varies) or Macro menu | — | Starts capturing every keystroke and command you perform from this point on, so a repetitive multi-step edit — reformatting a hundred similar lines, say — can be replayed on command instead of redone by hand each time. |
| Toggle bookmark on current line | Ctrl+F2 | — | Flags or unflags the current line as a bookmark, so you can hop between several marked spots in a big file without scrolling back and forth to relocate each one by eye. |
| Collapse/expand code fold | Alt+0 through Alt+9 (fold levels) or click margin icon | — | Collapses or expands a foldable code block based on indentation or syntax structure, working consistently across the wide range of language definitions Notepad++ supports rather than being hand-tuned per language. |
| Convert selection to upper/lowercase | Ctrl+Shift+U (upper) / Ctrl+U (lower) | — | Converts the selected text's case in place, useful for quickly normalizing inconsistent casing in log files or copied snippets without retyping anything. |
| Select all occurrences of current word | Ctrl+F2 (varies) or Ctrl+Alt+F2 | — | Selects every occurrence of the word under the cursor simultaneously for multi-cursor editing, letting you retype a repeated identifier everywhere at once rather than running a Find & Replace pass. |
Search Replace
| Action | Windows | Mac | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Find dialog | Ctrl+F | — | Opens the Find dialog for searching text within the current document, with options for regular expressions, match case, and whole word matching. |
| Open Find & Replace dialog | Ctrl+H | — | Opens the combined Find and Replace dialog, supporting replace-one and replace-all operations, including regex-based replacement patterns. |
| Find in Files | Ctrl+Shift+F | — | Searches across every file in a specified directory rather than just the currently open document, useful for locating a string across an entire project folder without opening each file individually. |
| Find next occurrence | F3 | — | Jumps to the next match of the current search term without reopening the Find dialog, letting you cycle through multiple matches quickly. |
| Go to specific line number | Ctrl+G | — | Opens a small dialog to jump directly to a specific line number, faster than scrolling through a long file when you already know roughly where in the file you need to be, such as from a compiler error message. |
Document Tabs
| Action | Windows | Mac | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| New document tab | Ctrl+N | — | Opens a new empty, unsaved document tab within the same Notepad++ window. |
| Switch to next document tab | Ctrl+Tab | — | Cycles to the next open document tab, useful when working across several related files simultaneously without using the mouse to click each tab. |
| Close all documents except current | No default binding — Window/File menu | — | Closing every tab except the active one requires the File or Window menu's 'Close All But Active Document' option, since this bulk action isn't bound to a default keyboard shortcut. |
| Close current document tab | Ctrl+W | — | Closes the currently active tab, prompting to save first if there are unsaved changes, standard behavior shared with most tabbed Windows applications. |
| Reopen last closed document | Ctrl+Shift+T | — | Brings back whichever tab you just closed, restoring its cursor position and unsaved-state history if session snapshot was enabled, the quick fix for an accidental Ctrl+W. |
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes column mode different from a normal text selection?
A normal selection follows the actual text flow, including wrapping to capture everything between a start and end point regardless of line length. Column mode instead selects a fixed rectangular region by column position across multiple lines, ignoring where each line's text actually ends — ideal for editing tabular or aligned data where you want the same horizontal slice from every selected line.
Why is there no Mac version of Notepad++?
Notepad++ is built directly on the Windows API (specifically the Scintilla editing component as used in a Windows-native shell) rather than a cross-platform toolkit, so it has never had an official Mac build; some users run it via Wine, but performance and integration aren't equivalent to native use.
Does Find in Files modify files automatically, or just locate them?
Find in Files only locates and lists matches by default, showing results in a dedicated results panel you can click through — it doesn't modify anything until you specifically open a result and apply a Replace action within that file, so the search itself is non-destructive.
Can I automate a repetitive editing task without writing a plugin?
Yes, recording a macro captures a sequence of keystrokes and commands that can be replayed later, and can even be assigned its own custom shortcut, letting repetitive multi-step tasks like reformatting a recurring data pattern be automated without needing to write an actual plugin or script.
Do bookmarks and code folding work the same across every supported language?
Yes, since Notepad++ applies these features generically based on line markers or indentation/syntax structure across its wide range of supported language definitions, rather than hand-tuning fold and bookmark behavior separately per language, trading some language-specific IDE polish for broad, consistent coverage.
Are macros saved permanently, or do they disappear when I close the program?
Recorded macros can be saved and assigned a permanent shortcut through the Macro menu's management options, persisting across sessions rather than disappearing once Notepad++ is closed, though a macro recorded but not explicitly saved is generally lost when the session ends.
Can Notepad++ be extended with plugins for additional functionality?
Yes, Notepad++ has an extensive plugin ecosystem accessible through its Plugin Admin manager, letting users add features like FTP syncing, JSON viewers, or additional language support beyond what ships by default.
Does Notepad++ automatically save my open tabs if it crashes or I forget to save?
Yes, by default Notepad++ maintains a backup session file that restores your previously open tabs (including unsaved changes in many cases) the next time it starts, a safety net particularly useful given how often it's left open for days with dozens of scratch/unsaved tabs rather than being closed and reopened cleanly each session.