Notepad++ Multi-View HOWTO

Author : Peter Shute

As well as having a tabbed display Notepad++ can display two files side by side or one above the other, or show two parts of the same file.

If you have two files open, you can right-click on one of the tabs and select "Go to another view" (or select View/"Go to another view"). Now both files will be shown at once, one above the other. What you have now is like two instances of Notepad++ running in one window. Each "view" has its own set of tabs - if you have a tab in the bottom window selected and open another file, its tab will go to the bottom view; if you have a top tab selected, newly opened files will get a tab in the top view.

You can arrange them side by side by right-clicking on the separator bar and selecting one of the rotate options (see image), and you can adjust the position of the separator bar by dragging it. There is also a tiny arrow at each end of the view separator. Clicking on them moves the separator to the very edge, making one view fill the window. When this has been done, you can still drag the separator back to the middle.

You can move tabs between views by right clicking on their tab and selecting "Go to another view". When you move the last tab in a view to the other view, that view disappears.

You can show the *same* file in both views by selecting View/"Clone to another view". Editing done in one view is reflected in the other, making this a handy feature if you need to refer to two parts of the same file at once. You can also select View/Synchronise Vertical/Horizontal Scrolling to keep them aligned that way if you wish. This is useful if you need to keep some column headings visible while editing fixed width columns of data further down the file, or keep row headings visible while editing the end of a data file too wide for your screen. Note that each view can have its own font size, so you may wish to make them the same, particularly with cloned views.