How to Edit files Using Notepad A one page summary of all you need to know about how to use the Notepad program.
Notepad is a simple text editor. Just as you use a notepad on your desk, you can use Notepad to take notes onscreen while working in other Windows applications. There are better text editors. One of my favorite Windows text editors is TextPad (http://www.textpad.com/). However, Notepad is simple, uses little memory and is useful for editing text you want to copy into a Windows or DOS application that lacks editing capability.
[WinPack does have a built-in editor, but Notepad is perhaps more versitile.]
Notepad retrieves and saves files in text format. This makes Notepad a convenient editor for creating and altering text-based files. Because Notepad stores files in text format, almost all word processing applications can retrieve Notepad's files. However, if you want the capability of formatting your documents, you'll need a true word processor.
To start Notepad, open the Start menu and choose Programs-->Accessories-->Notepad . Notepad starts up and displays a blank document in the Notepad window. You can begin typing.
You can open an existing file using the File menu.
See the notes below about saving your file when you are finished editing.
The Insertion Point is the "I-Beam" symbol you see on the editing screen. The insertion point is where the next character you type will be entered. You can move the insertion point by using either the mouse or the keyboard. You can not move the insertion point beyond the last character in the file.
Limited formatting is available from the File --> Page Setup command. You can change margins and add a header or footer, but you cannot format characters or paragraphs in any way. You also can use the Tab, Spacebar, and Backspace keys to align text. Tab stops are preset at every eight characters.
With the commands on Notepad's Edit menu, you can cut, copy, and move text from one place in a file to another. Text that you cut or copy is stored in the Clipboard. When you paste text, the contents of the Clipboard is copied from the Clipboard to the document at the location of the insertion point. The contents of the Clipboard are available until replaced by another copy or cut action.
Text in Notepad normally is not wrapped. This means that long lines of text will run beyond the right side of the Notepad window. In order to cause the text to wrap to the size of the window, click on Word Wrap on the Edit menu. Note that this has no effect on the way the text will be printed. [or sent in WinPack]
You select and edit text in Notepad the same way you select and edit text in many other Windows applications.
To enter text, you place the insertion point wherever you want to add text and begin typing.
To delete characters, press Backspace (to delete characters to the left) or Delete (to delete characters to the right).
When you need to work with larger blocks of text, such as words, sentences, or paragraphs, you can use your mouse to select the text using one of the techniques listed below:
| Selection | Action |
|---|---|
| One word | Double-click the word. |
| Several words | Double-click the first word and drag to the end of the last word. |
| Any amount of text | Hold down the mouse button and drag from the beginning to the end of the text. |
| Between two points | Move the insertion point to the beginning, click, move to the second point, press and hold down Shift, and click at the second point. |
To select text with the keyboard, position the insertion point at the beginning of the text you want to select, hold down the Shift key, and move the insertion point to the end of the text using the arrow keys. To move the selection a word at a time, hold down the Shift and Ctrl keys as you press the arrow keys. You can select all the way to the end of a line by pressing the Shift and End keys.
After you have selected a block of text, you can delete it using the Delete or Backspace keys. To move or copy the selected text, use the Edit-->Cut or Edit-->Copy keys, as described in Moving and Copying Text.
If you start typing when text is selected, the selected text is replaced with whatever you type. This can be both a blessing and a curse.
You can move or copy text using either the menu commands or the mouse. To move or copy text with the menu commands, follow these steps:
While other editing programs permit you to edit by selecting and dragging with the mouse, you can't do that with Notepad.
You can also copy text to and from a Notepad document from or into documents in many other applications. [For example, you can copy text from WinPack into a Notepad document, although not the other way.] To simplify this operation, place the two application windows side by side before you move or copy the text. Alternatly, keep Notepad minimized until you are ready to use it, and then find it on the Taskbar. For example, if you use Notepad in conjunction with a browser, you can minimize Notepad to the task bar, highlight and copy what you want in the browser, click on Notepad on the taskbar and paste the text into it.
Another method for switching between applications is to use the ALT+Tab keyboard shortcut. Using the keyboard only, select text in WinPack, press Ctrl+C to copy it, press Alt+Tab to switch to Notepad, press Ctrl-V to paste the text into the Notepad file.
Notepad has a Find command but unfortunately does not have a Replace command. The Find command enables you to find a character or string of text, and if you want, to replace the found text with new text.
To find a string of text, follow these steps:
Even after you close the Find dialog box, you can repeat the last find operation by choosing Search--> Find Next or by pressing F3.
To find and replace a text string, follow these steps:
When you are finished editing the file, and periodically during your editing session, you should save your work back to disk.
If the file is new and hasn't been previously saved, you must click File on the Notepad menubar, and then Save As. When the associated dialog box opens, select a location using the Save in text box, enter a name for the file in the File name box, and click the Save button.
If the file has previously been saved, so that it has a name and a saved location, you click File-->Save.
Notepad can open binary files. Although most of what you see when you open a binary file is unreadable, you can sometimes find helpful information in the header of the binary file. This is a good reason to keep Notepad on your computer, even if you have a word processor is more suitable for most tasks.
Notepad is limited in the size of files it can edit. If you try to edit a file that is too large, Windows will inform you that the file is too large and ask if you would rather use WordPad.
Continue to some more notes and tricks for Notepad.
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