Notepad++ is a Versatile Platform for Writers.

Build your Writer’s Database. [Tutorial – Beginner] [LONG READ]

As a budding or developed writer, you will often question how it is you structure your current and future works and if you could be doing that better? And it is here we introduce an unlikely contender to supplement that curiosity. Then offer insight as to navigating how one might implement its own offerings into their structuring complex refinery.

Introducing a veteran software of the coding world, built upon as it’s aged, but retuned into a more literary one – Notepad++, or as we’ll be abbreviating it as: N++. And it is here we’ll fashion and design a raw writer’s database, then pilot it like a pro.

Other Players in the Game:

Based on my research, N++ is definitely a dark horse amongst writers. I haven’t seen it mentioned once in recommendation. Could that be because it’s a hidden gem? Or perhaps it’s that bad? Let’s decide that after reviewing its features.

All these big names, that get brought up when writers alike come to enquire what others use to create their works of art. Titles like Scrivener, MS Word, Google Docs. Along with note taking apps like Notion, Obsidian and OneNote.

Scrivener seems to be the most recommended. I don’t think they even need to advertise. A plethora of little features. A one off payment. Features such as taking snap shots as a form of saving, this ‘corkboard’ big picture view, like putting all ideas on a big table and looking at them flat, and goal setting functions. It comes with more decorations than this article has icons.

Obsidian that grants users option of a complex mind map function to visualise relationships between notes. Or an omnidirectional canvas much like OneNote so your ideas aren’t so, Fortran, and can be instead, more, horizontally expanded. Has pricing options.

Other paid options exist like: Novelcrafter, Livingwriter, Dabble. Subscription platforms like Novelpad that offers ‘character tracking’, as to follow the story from a character’s perspective. Novlr, ‘built by writers, for writers’ claiming to be the only writer-owned creative writing platform. Or Metos, that also lets you build comprehensive character profiles using gages.

There’s Bibisco Novel Writing Software, that offers a free and premium version, self described as the ‘novelists’ go-to tool for organizing ideas, characters, and plots seamlessly’. Also lets users create mind maps of relationships, a built in tag system and with a built in questionnaire to help build even a character’s psychology.

As for the more budget friendly options alike N++ (which is free), there’s Scribus, free publishing software, a sort of early 2000’s version of Word. Along with Atomic Scribbler. Wavemaker that helps apply note cards to your writing that can be nicely organised, and act as a database. Novelwriter.io designed by a Linux user disappointed with the options of editors. With nice graphic user interface options, and easy ways to set up the stage of your book to help organise it.

And that’s me not even getting started on these ‘minimalist’ distraction free based writing apps some recommend, though, N++ has a distraction free function itself and if you truly wanted a minimalist experience, press Win+R and type ‘notepad.exe’.

Though admittedly in this feature, untested against applied screenwriting software, like that of Celtx. Or ‘Fade In’, that enables collaboration. These platforms can enable an automated flow of the project, rather than depending on manual control.

I’ve even come across people setting up their own Wiki for their book, that enables the settings, characters, and plot of their story. Or other world building platforms like World Anvil.

So here we are getting insight into what a writer themselves would personally want in a software. In my view, writing specific, what actually makes a writing software worth using is how you are able to organise and access your ideas efficiently, without distracting your mindset. That’s it. As for ‘idea generation assistance’, Things to help you think, you can just have a document that’s a questionnaire and run it side by side. The mind mapping and sprawling features are nice though, sometimes projects are so big and it is nice to see a picture view of everything rather than visualising it all. I discuss N++’s limitations at the end of the article.

Personal Writing App Experience

I’ve not given dedicated years to most of the aforementioned highlights. Other platforms with me have had their chance to be quite frank. Even in 2025, I discover design flaws in Notepad in Windows 11. Like having multiple tabs open, and then when you zoom in or out in one tab, it zooms them in and out in all of them at the same time. So if one is document is one size of text and another document is another size, frequently you are going to the new document and it’s super zoomed in or out. And yes this is a bug that can be simply fixed, but still to find these issues so easily, reassures me of my decision. Although a text document is handy to have on the side, just for a paste clip board such is my workflow. Much like with web browsers and N++, you can now close Notepad without saving, and open the document and it will restore your recent tab window.  

Never really used Microsoft Word for this kind of big styled work. That’s more for work meant for PDFs and actual final products. Word, a tried and tested vet in its own right, has that formatting ability. Bit too clunky for me. I like to have over 30 documents open at once. And I don’t like that being a messy or cumbersome experience

Tried doing Linux Leafpad in 2015. Opening documents to them just being blank, self-deleting. That was fun. Wouldn’t recommend ever.  

I used to use Evernote back in 2011 for a couple of years. Very much enjoyed it. The problem was it was just too slow. And eventually they went cloud based and charge a subscription. I’m surprised it wasn’t mentioned much during my research.

With OneNote. It’s free. And it’s pretty good. I used to be hesitant to use it because the text is just basically text boxes and not purely aligned. And that means it’s not going to be purely near like the structure of a Notepad.txt or the text boxes overlap and look messy. But, I got past that discomfort. Migrated parts of my database onto OneNote fairly recently. And I’m enjoying it and will come with a review of applying a ToDo List system put to article.

I encourage everyone to use Notepad++, or at least try it. Even if you already come from a coding background you may not have particularly enjoyed and have horrifying memories debugging C++. I hope you can use this article to fight your inner demons and bring out your inner writer in its place. Here I’m giving you my best tips on how to structure your writing database and manipulate/navigate the software.

Just starting off with an external concept. You may want to include some ASCII Art in your documentation.

Standing for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. I don’t know. Some 20^th century thing. A more simpler time. I recommend and use ASCIIART.EU. Very easy. Type the word you want. It appears at the bottom, and just hit the copy button, and paste it in the document.  

The big blocks of words are good because when you are sifting through the document quickly, in the blur of text, you can notice these big shapes, and that can make you think you’ve hit the correct place. You can adjust how long the words can be before they start going on top of each other as a new line. I like the default, because when you make your text document split half the screen, it still fits nicely without messing up the format of the text.

The squares is just stacked equal signs ‘=========’. Notice the lines down after it says ‘Chapter 2’. This is because of the tab function required in the making of the text art that declares the start of a new line. To remove this, as shown in ‘Chapter 1’, simply add a nice hyphen line under it to clear any relies to start on a further indented line.  

As for troubleshooting, you may encounter an issue of vertical line spacing:  

.

Good: 

Bad:  

Notice in the orange ANSCII art text, the spaces between each line are bigger, warping the readability.

To fix, we go to Settings -> Style Configurator (language) Global Styles -> (Style) Default Style -> font size. Try increasing it to 20.  Then you’ll need to zoom out. (Ctrl + Mouse wheel). And this will now be true for your current theme.  Or if you’re still having trouble, visit the ‘Global Override’ just above ‘Default Style’.

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We assume you know how to install the software. Let’s get started on explaining some of the great features of this software that makes it useful for writers.

Select Word wrap if not already selected.  View -> Word Wrap.

Then, under ‘Encoding’ you can select ANSI or other forms like UTF-8. If you choose ANSI, then typing other foreign to English characters like: ‘样本中文’ will result in ‘????’. If you want to include other characters of other languages, perhaps as a decoration or tag or someone’s name if you don’t use that human language, then you would need to consider the Encoding.  

Fix Tabbing

Another slightly annoying feature for a writer but not a coder N++’s factory settings is related to tab indenting. As a writer would use to start a new paragraph, the line after the indented paragraph, would return to the start. However in N++, when a line is intended, then all text starts at that newly intended line. 

So as you can see, in this example, after the indent, all text reaching a new line becomes indented. I actually lived with this for years. And instead of indenting, put a full stop at the start, then indented. Because I was too afraid to dip my head into the settings encase I messed it all up beyond repair.  

But don’t be afraid. The fix is very easy. In settings -> preferences -> editing -> ‘Line Wrap’ -> Default 

Install Spell Checker

Plugins -> Plugins Admin -> Available -> DSpellCheck by Sergey Semushin.

Make sure you go to the ‘Library’ in the spell checker settings and change it to Windows for it to have an effect: 

Text-Speech app

Plugins -> Plugins Admin -> Available -> SpeechPlugin by Jim Xochellis.  

Adds Microsoft Sam styled robot voice. Accessed by going to Plugins -> Speech -> Speak Selection. Handy to have.  

You can select your theme:  Settings -> Style Configurator… -> Select theme

I’ve gone for a DarkModeDefault. But if you are feeling particularly, abstract, why not try the ‘Hello Kitty’?  

Ahh my eyes!  Too bright!

You’ll see the top tabs are still dark and not matching the electrifying pink. That’s from my ‘Dark mode’ I’ve got enabled. Find it in Settings -> Preferences -> Dark Mode

Summary Report:

View -> Summary

Use to make sure you are meeting those pointless words per day writing targets writing noobs set themselves. Boasting word count (especially to yourself) is meaningless other than to delude you. But this is still handy to know.  Controlling document size.

Document List

One of the massive advantages to using N++, is that you can keep all your files open at once, neatly. And can also open and close all of them easily. Let’s look at navigating this with ‘document list’.

Turn on ‘Document list’: View -> Document List 

This creates a list of all the open documents in this window/project. And then can open and close N++ and immediately return to your whole work session. Instead of having to individually open up the documents you want. Excellent if you have 20+ word dumps for ideas and can quickly store it.  

From here, you can then ‘group save’ your selected windowed opened tabs. Even though by default N++ automatically opens the previous work session as it was whether you saved it or not, still showing if it was unsaved by a little pencil beside the name. Under File -> ‘Save session’. Then you can quickly open all the files you normally want open, encase something happens. Like you close the main session down, and have another session open, and then it opens up the most recent session open which isn’t your main session. And unlike web browsers, there isn’t an option to view history of opened tabs and select closed entire windows of tabs. Like with any threat of loss of progress, It’s not just loss in a file like corrupt data. Also it’s possible to lose the infrastructure, the set up of your work station, and if you do accidentally close all windows and can’t get it back some how. It is going to be disheartening and that’s costly. So make sure to always have a backup of your session. Perhaps include that in your Sunday.ToDo.  

This similar effect can be achieved with the ‘Workspace Function’. Accessed by View -> Project Panel. However, this isn’t something I use, and instead, use divider files in a singular file index.  

Different work spaces can mean different groups of files open at once. And you can go back to your previous on so it’s not lost.  

In my own system, when it comes to file structure, I use ‘Divider Files’

A divider file is simply a text document, with a patterned name, nothing else. And that patterned name is placed in a section of the file hierarchy in the Document List as to then show a different project or break it up a bit for readability.  

These files named ‘———–‘ have no text in them, and serve the purpose of separating file group types. You can easily click and drag to move files in the files tab section at the top.

Auto Backup.

In preferences, remember your backup just to be safe. Settings -> Preferences:

No special back up is save normally. Simple backup is keeps one previous version. And Verbose backup, keeps making new copies, more secure, but more data consuming and messy (though they do get named appropriately)

Also for ‘security saves’, why not also install a plugin?

plugins -> plugins manager -> Available -> AutoSave by Franco Stellari.

(This picture shows it installed, you’ll find it in Available as the first tab)

This is the settings accessed by Plugins -> Autosave -> Options. You can even auto-save when you switch tabs.  

Colour Code Your Files.

Right click the file in the Document List, and then Apply Colour to Tab:

Easily Locate File Origin.

You can quickly access where that file is stored.

Also works on the tab bar. 

Set Data / Time.

As it comes, N++ doesn’t offer a simple print of F5 for the current time and date. We have to make it ourselves, but it’s still possible.

By default, ‘Run’ is on F5. We don’t have use for that as writers. Can change it.  Settings -> Shortcut Mapper…

Then you can just press F5 and it prints the date and time.

Tab Control

If you are using the ‘Document List’ in View -> Document List as recommended. You don’t really need tabs, but it’s personal choice. You could hide them. But doing so makes clicking and dragging to organise the tabs difficult, as document list doesn’t allow this.  

Ticking ‘multi-line’ will allow more tabs to appear at the top than just a single row of them: 

Auto-Complete Text

By default, in Preferences –> Auto Completion, it will present a drop down after you nearly finish a word for a word that is the same already written. Not like predictive text towards an entire dictionary. I didn’t like this when first using N++ but grew accustomed it it. Handy for searching quickly specific names or correct spelling. To disable, uncheck ‘Enable auto-completion on each input’. 

Quick Internet Searches

Choose which search engine you want, then when you highlight text, right click and select ‘Search on Internet’, it will use that search engine in your default browser. 

Top Tier Find / Replace Function

Another amazing feature of N++ is the advanced ‘Find’ function (Ctrl + F)  

I can slot the find function, at the bottom of half the screen as the file I’m emptying. And quickly fire them into their allocated sections on a different window. So in the below example. I’ve located Idea5,,, and now those ideas are going to be cut (ctrl + x) and pasted (ctrl + v) into the file Idea5. Still working out a method to automate this, that would have saved me YEARS!! Perhaps I’ll review Macro recording for a solution.

But yes, the find function of N++ is the best in the business. Excellent when working with very big documents.  

Sometimes during turn based games or when things are getting loaded up, I’d put on transparency as I work, then I can see when it’s my turn and flip back to the game. 

There is hidden practicality to the replace feature. Common examples of replace are mass changing an incorrect spelling. But what if you are copying text from a PDF? For the purposes of selective quotation of course. And the PDF format on plane text has wonky formatting:

You can use the search and replace function to fix that.

Ctrl + H opens Find & Replace.

In “Find what” type: \r\n. Then in “Replace with”, type: a space

Apply Book Marks to Lines

You could create a search tag, to show points of interest like this [!]. Easy to find in Ctrl + F.. Or also try the N++ blue circle. You can just click on the line number and it creates a blue dot on that line. Also note the orange vertical line. That shows what hasn’t been saved. Green when saved. These are officially called ‘bookmarks’.   

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Now we’re going to ‘make our language’. What that is, at least to us writers, is just adding colour codes to the text, and enabling us to fold text. Lets work through each section of the UDL interface and customise our language.

UDL: Folders & Default  

This comes with It a very useful feature, that allows us to ‘fold’ or collapse a designated text. The text doesn’t disappear entrely, just the lines the text are on are skipped until the space is expanded. In our example, we use ‘[+]’ to open the space for folding, and [-] at the end, to close everything that is folded. We can decorate our tags for opening and closing.  

This feature is handy because if allows us to shut off large sections of a document, which makes navigating it significantly easier. However if you are searching a word, and that word is within side a folded section, it will automatically expand to present to you the location of the found word.  

In the Folding in Code 1 Style ‘styler’ box, you can select the size of the ‘[+]’, the font – which can include ‘Webbings’ if you want to be that creative, or of course, change the colour 

Inside the ‘Default style’ box’s ‘Styler’, is the default style of the whole language. So this is what your characters will default to, in this example if you’ve noticed in the pictures, is orange.  

If you tick ‘Fold compact (fold empty lines too), that means everything after the [-] that is empty also gets folded. Not very useful unless you add a lot of page breaks to separate ideas.  

Here is an example of the Folding tag in comments. The tag is set to appear as yellow. But this is only in comments.  

In our example, we aren’t going to focus on the Folding in Code 2 Style (Separator’s needed). But it will be wise to just set it to the same as point 1 just encase you use separators in the future. The separators needed part means your fold markers must be separated from other text by spaces or delimiters or it won’t be recognized.  

Here is an example of the text not folded inside folding parameters:

And here it is folded: (Observe the lines 258 skipping to 267. The text isn’t deleted. Just hidden.  

A similar effect without folding parameters, can be created with ‘hide lines’. Simply highlight the text, and right click, and then at the bottom it says in the drop down ‘Hide Lines’.  

Here is the lines hidden: 

Also, you can look at View -> ‘Fold All’ (alt+0) or ‘Unfold all’ (alt+shift+0) to fold or expand all sections that can be folded. Handy if you want to scroll through the document quickly. Also remember to ‘Word Wrap’ so the text isn’t coming off the page.

UDL: Keywords Lists

User Defined Language -> Keywords Lists section. You will see a list of boxes that have 1st group. 2nd group. And also Suffix.  

The prefix mode means any word after the tag entered will become highlighted. So if your tag was ‘Great’, Prefix mode will highlight ‘Greater’ because it contains the prefix ‘Great’. Were as it won’t if off prefix mode. Separate tags with a space.  

You could use it to style your brackets  

Or perhaps create a tag to strike attention, here, I even changed the font of the ‘!!’ to help it stand out: 

Maybe there is a list of key phrases you want highlighted throughout your document? Observe the use of “” that enables  phrases to become used as keywords. ‘Chapter 3’ serves as an example of when it’s not included. The 3 is considered a number in its own right 

Use this section to highlight your tags so they can be easily seen, or personalise your structuring experience. Maybe adding character’s names or highlighting various forms of punctuation.  

When using it for tags, make sure to add each variation of how you might write a tag, since it is case sensitive. Sometimes in the moment, you might not apply how it is correctly addressed, though wouldn’t really matter in a search.  

Or maybe you just want to add lots of colours, and every time in your writing you add the word ‘the’, it comes blue, and ‘if’ comes green. World’s your oyster.  

UDL: Comment & Number

In ‘User Defined Languages’ -> Comment & Number section.  

Design the style of number you have. In Number Style -> Styler.  

In my example, I set numbers to being a lime green. Observe the other aspects of Number Style, like suffix and extras. We are going to ignore that. These are just items that change a number from being a number. So if you add a decimal point, the computer will realise it’s a number rather than a full stop in Extras etc.

If you want, in the Suffix section, you can add “st nd rd th” And then 1^st will be considered a number and be your number style, rather than be considered a word. But also will 2st. But oh well.  

Observe the // comment // Anything in there would be assigned to that pink. As shown in the first ‘Comment Line Style’ box of the screenshot above. This is for single line comments. Any line with a // will include pink as set by the style of the ‘Comment Line Style’ and can be deactivated by another // as set shown in the picture, or by hitting enter for a page break.  

UDL: Operators & Delimiters

These are character combinations that set the start and end of attributes given to what’s between.

Everything inside the && becomes blue and highlighted, unless ??  

Can use to highlight important issues.  

Perhaps to apply text effect, like bold, italics, or underlined. Observe a tag simply will not work, it only addresses the start of the word. Not useful. Almost as if we are limited. We need a delimiter.  

You could perhaps be bold. And use it to change the colour of the titles you create with ANSCII art.   This wouldn’t be from your tags menu. But instead, the ‘Delimiter’ ‘Operator’s and Delimiters.  

| _ / \ ( ) { } < > , . –  ‘ ‘ and copying these codes, including the ‘ ‘ twice. 

 

But this will paint all other ( ) as that title colour.

Other ideas for an example if you wanted to be creative with colour, you could make the starting and closing each Shift+Number. !! Red !! “” Blue “” ££ Green ££ %%Yellow%%.  And then when you want to highlight something, just remember to yourself open and close a section with a double shift number for a set colour.  

We could also create tags to set titles to organise our documents.

We made a title style out of delimiters. Underlined and big using ‘++’ as the ‘activator’. But notice it changed the line spacing, that will alter our ASNCII art, so you have to choose what kind of title method you want, and if you want the title to be bigger in text. But this is how we would use bold, italics and underline. Rather than just Ctrl B for bold. Which instead is by default: 

File Management / Document Structure Strategy

A big question I have asked myself throughout my years writing is how to go about an actual project? Everything in one document? Or all spread out into little documents?  

 It’s difficult for me to say, because I lean on both sides back and forth. You need to think about efficiency, as you are going to be working on projects for a while, you will need to factor time saving things. As if you have aspects in your design that take up little bits of time, be it pressing CTRL + F and it taking 2 seconds to load the finder in a big file which is enough time for your mind to drift and lose focus which is then energy spent regaining, or wondering which file has what note in it, that over time is going to cost you in time and precious motivation. 

 Our job here is to lay the foundation of our workflow strategy to tidy up these blockages and technically boost efficiency. The reason I flip back and forth is because my projects tend to grow beyond 500,000 words. And that’s a lot to manage. And having one file to manage that becomes bothersome, as in your mind, you will think sometimes ‘X’ idea is located at ¾ of the file down, but if the file scroll is so big, then you still misclick elsewhere. Or maybe when searching, start searching other ideas/words related to the idea you’re searching, and that also becomes a time chew.  

So, to actually choose, what I generally do is if a book format eventually, I’ll make chapters there own section. And then I have to link together with a master index. Saying what idea is located where, and that does need ‘manually updating’, which is a flaw. But as a programmer will tell you, you forget things, and that’s why comments are used. Well this is the writer database equivalent of that. The benefit to that is, that you can then take full advantage of the search function to locate specific talking points for when motivation in that department strikes (and it can do at any time). Although, base in mind, given that we are using N++, this means that we have easy access to all files we need. So it can become experimental preference.  

Document Formatting 

Inside these big documents. You are going to need some structure that sadly, requires ‘upkeep’. This structure includes reference tags at the bottom including actual reference tags (explanation momentarily). And also at the top, writing what core ideas and themes are used. Just so you can keep track. So often is it when going off your motivation, an example that could link to two ideas, will link particularly better to one than the other. But you working with such a big file, might just reuse the same idea not knowing you used it 4 months ago. That’s bad because it attacks your motivation and wastes your time. So you can put these pointers at the top to guide you. And it’s really just a few words you remember to associate with that idea.  

As for ‘actual references’. You don’t just want to be splashing your notes out whenever because you’ve got so much motivation to spill out you don’t have the typing speed to match the flow. In your text document, more or less you do want to be tidying as you go. It’s the 5 minute rule except highlighted for 10 second jobs. If you can do it in 10 seconds, do it now. Get it out the way. Don’t leave it festering as ‘something to get around to’ and that mind weight. And also trying to make the thing you create, be the final product as much as possible (even though you later on will probably come to rewrite it better). And by placing actual references with would be something like, here is a fact about a fact[1]. And then at the bottom of the document. Put [1] [FACT SOURCE | SOURCE TITLE | SOURCE AUTHOR | SOURCE LINK] Whatever it is, usually on scientific studies websites you are able to ‘cite’ a document and it basically copies the appropriate text for reference. You need this to have any ground and sustenance when making an argument.  

Tag System

As previously stated, one of the best things about N++ for writers is its search system. You should further the creation of your ‘language’, by designing some ‘tags’ to quickly navigate around your document. Tags of course you can add to your UDL: Keywords Lists for decorative purposes. Though before we get into it, the most obvious tag one might use, has it’s own plugin! ‘ToDo’ tag.

Task List by ‘blitowitz’ if you don’t want something more manual. Creates a pane at the other side. And with the tag TODO: on that line, will show what is after that tag. And can just click to the tag and zip to it.

As for the tag and search system I’ve got going on, you’ll notice in some examples, an ellipses of commas,,,. This is the search tag. It can’t be a normal ellipses because full stops are disallowed in names. Remember you may be searching file names, or words or phrases in a file. And two comma could work too. But it just means if I have a name. Let’s say you’re writing a story about cars. Maybe you could choose a unique name for the story, and call it Bobcar. Something that won’t appear in a word. That’s a good idea. But whenever that word is used, and you’re searching for it in a big document, it’ll come up. So if you’re writing a story about cars. And use the tag, as ‘car’. But any other word with car in it, carb, carer, scar. So the workaround is choosing a unique word, or using a ,,, system for searching. Or if searching multiple files at once. You might write about your experience writing something else in the journal, and that’ll search Bobcar.  Sometimes I’ve got tags of the same thing and I search them both. Yes it’s less efficient, just not got around to forcing myself to go with one.  

{

[X] – Not the main backup file, therefore, do not add to this, add to a separate document, and then then, add that document in later. 

WTU,,, – ‘Words to use’, means I’ve found an interesting word I’ll store for use later. A tag used in the Dump.  

Unsure,,, / notsure,,,  – In a project, something’s not making sense. Maybe research too complex and requires another reivew, or maybe an idea just isn’t that strong. Unsure,,, tag at the end of the title. Usually followed by a ToDo,,,, tag.  

N2S,,, Note2self,,, – Reminders of interesting points.  Could be used for comment instead.

Todo,,, – Work that still requires completion.  

[P] – Personal information I wouldn’t want published. 

##here – if a document is super big and I need to go to a different point in the document real quick and then jump back. Sometimes have ###here / ####here because I forget to clean them up

<-> – If you have pieces of an idea that has potential but busy doing something else. Idea1 <-> Idea2, as to find the link later  

TOW,,, – Stands for ‘Thought of When’, for future reference, when I think of an idea, what inspired that idea encase I need to ‘step into that mindset’ again in the future. Though obviously won’t be as an effective experience.  

%F – ‘Finished’. If you are running multiple files, add to a name to say that it’s done. Remove if a note is added to that file’s dump.  

QM – Question mark (used in file titles since ? Is not allowed in names) 

Mot,,, – Keeping a note that inspired motivation.  

[!] – Important.  
}

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We should also factor the setbacks as to what Notepad++ doesn’t have. Which then may require extra work to mediate compensation when applied as a operating system for your writing.

Ideas References % Dump Storages

Notepad++ in a way is very ‘manual’. So if one file is related to another, you have to edit both of them. Rather than, say, a storyline function, or you have to monitor your own word frequency. Or if a writing software had a character tied to it in file, and you changed the character’s name for example, and then that change reflected throughout the works automatically. And also then doesn’t have, perhaps personalised attributes, ways you could connect documents based on say, character relationships, and instead, has to be done more, noetically. But you know, there’s something to that. Though that could just be my inexperience, with a follow up more advanced tutorial.

Another downside of this system applying N++ is that doesn’t allow a sort of ‘free’ environment, like that of Evernote, that you can just copy entire websites and it’ll give you the structure of. Notepad++ is a realm bound by characters and not pictures. You start at the top and read to bottom. This means that any picture or video you have in your notes as an example, will have to be referenced to with a hyperlink from inside your computer, to that video. Which then also means consistent paths.  Rather than making lovely visually pleasing notes in a note based software.

Then you would need to think about your file structure. You can either, ‘dump it all in one big location’ or, as you go, sort it. 

What would seem practical and be organised-like, is to tidy as you go and have all your video references were you need them. So this picture of a castle, being stored in folder: writing -> book -> [medieval theme story name]. However, I’m here to tell you that may not be the best idea. Why? Just due to the fleeting nature of motivation, and the method of idea build up. It’s just not going to be that relevant 10 years down the line, and you’ll be sorting so many different ideas, it’ll be exhausting and time consuming. It’s better to just dump it all in one big file, can name a directory if you want. Or can just give it a random number by pressing multiple number keys at once ‘342284942389298’. Something that you won’t accidentally type again and create an annoying conflict between two files named the same. And then use that as a number reference beside the idea. However, you will also need to name these super dumps. And add that name beside the reference tag. So for example 342284942389298 SD1. Because you will likely be storing your backups across multiple drives. And your Super Dump may get so big it exceeds a whole hard drive. Therefore you will need a different one, and in your reference, you’ll need to know which SD you are referring to that has the code of that reference.  

The the flaw of this Super Dump method, is that it’s quite long to actually look at all the files. Individually searching them. However, you should really only be doing that when you are making that particular project your main project. Which, you may just be doing if you want to focus on a project for a week at a time, though I wouldn’t recommend that. ‘Getting up to speed’ with things, can be a procrastination and energy sapping task over time. What you want to be doing, is working on a project, and it won’t be just pure fun. There will be long boring research elements to it, that you will need to just ‘muscle through’ and ‘get on with it’. And getting up to speed with that research as well can be overtime exhausting if you do not see. And also you should think inside your mind, how you think you will be motivated. You might be treating your stored cache of inspiration as a ‘break glass encase of emergency’ when it comes to motivation, but honestly, I think I speak for most it just won’t work that way. What you want to be doing, is storing ideas in bottles whilst they exist, and then, referencing the origin of that stored idea later if needed. Like during actual construction of the project the idea is for.  

If you also wish to save websites as a dump. Then that should be a different dump opposed to the media. As websites have lots of little folders and files and it’s good to keep that organised. Saving webpages can be handy if you don’t have frequent access to the internet or if you think a webpage will go offline or be taken down. Remember there’s a difference between saving a web page (Ctrl + S) on the web page, and saving an entire website, which will require software, and probably all night. In the past I’ve used HTTrack website copier to ‘mirror’ a website. It was good. However I realised copying the websites I copied wasn’t as practical as I thought it would be. You should always be careful of your inner data hoarder. As it can result in saving a lot of stuff you don’t need creating a kind of baggage in your mind worrying about losing it, and costing you money in hard drives.  

No Calendar function

I don’t really use a calendar based system. Most people, like for birthday reminders, just have social media. I personally would have it written down too. It’s a similar kind of thing like, why wear a watch when you’ve got the time on your phone? Just to be a bit more organised and smart.  But if you have many meetings an appointments, I would integrate an actual calendar into your workings.

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And that is why I recommend Notepad++ as a tool for writers. Very dependable. Very efficient. Very customisable. And definitely inspired me to go through some of the plugins, and as suggested, try the macro function to integrate that into my writing operations for perhaps a part 2. Some things I did not include. I saw an Open AI plugin, seems like the newest plugin because some of them in the description says ‘works with Windows XP’. Didn’t try it, but I’m going to. Other things excluded like using FTP with N++ might be included in there too, but will be mentioned on the next article about also integrating OneNote into how you go about your writing. Exploring more on file management, and also applied ToDo lists. A somewhat artful craft to actually make them work.

Lastly, I’d like to take a moment and suggest if you do use and enjoy Notepad++, to make a donation. https://notepad-plus-plus.org/donate/

The designers are clearly cooking up something nefarious and I can’t wait to see what it is.

I hope Notepad++ gives as much efficiency and practicality to your writings as it has me over the years.

Thanks for reading.