Given the clear limitations of Windows’ default text editor (Notepad), many users working with text files (both ANSI and OEM) such as programmers, may find TextPad to be the simple yet comprehensive utility they need. This TXT editor comes with all the features present in Notepad and then more – file comparison, keystroke macros, a tabbed interface for simultaneous files, and configurable syntax highlighting, among others.
Designed following the Windows user interface guidelines, Windows users will find its overall design suspiciously familiar. Its tabbed interface will let you open and work simultaneously with as many text files as you need and even open each file twice if required, a feature that also comes very handy when comparing files. In terms of editing, it comes with all the usual suspects – search, replace, cut, paste, do, redo, etc. – and with features that Notepad can only dream of.
Together with the file comparison feature, its spelling checker (with support for 10 languages) and the option to create and execute macros are probably the program’s main assets. Macros are a really useful tool to perform bulk corrections or modifications in long and complex files, such as code files. They are very easy to create and you can save up to 16 of them easily for future use.
Not so impressive and yet quite useful features that you can also find in TextPad are, for instance, its unlimited undo/redo capability, the possibility to sort lines, to start off exactly where you left it, add bookmarks to specific lines, or a built-in file manager for quick copying, deleting, and renaming of files, among other interesting functions.
TextPad is probably one of the most comprehensive text-only editors. It is not free, and its price tag is not precisely low, but its many features (with useful hints to programmers) may well be worth the cost for some companies, offering licenses for up to 500 users.
v5.4.2 [Oct 18, 2010]
- Numeric sorts now use 64-bit integers.
- Windows 7/Vista Open and Save As dialog boxes, when running on
those operating systems.
- Increased size of visible spaces for monitor widths greater than
1024 pixels.
- Scale the user interface fonts when the display DPI is set
greater than the default 96.
- Improved the appearance of checkboxes and radio buttons in
preference property lists.
- Toolbar for macros.
- Breaking change: user tools now appear on the toolbar in the
same order as on the Tools menu.
- The Send command now detects the default MAPI email server.
- Italian user interface.
- Checkboxes and radio buttons in Preferences lists were not
displayed correctly on XP with the Windows Classic Theme.
- Read Only and Selection Only checkboxes on the Open and Save As
dialog boxes were not displayed correctly on XP with the Windows
Classic Theme.
- The context menu for Search Results and Tool Output sometimes
acted on the active document.
- Crash when Search Results not dockable, Find in Files active,
and Close All command executed.
- Crash when right clicking a line of 10 or more characters, ending in "<".
- Line numbers missing in split views on Windows 7.
- Missed leading "http:" for URLs starting with "www".
- The Synchronize Scrolling command was disabled when document
tabs were in use.
- Clicking at the beginning of an indented, wrapped line did not
place the cursor there.
- When activated by a right click in a docked window, the context
menu commands were applied to the active MDI window.
- Print Previewing Search Results or Tool Output windows cleared
their contents.
- Intermittent file sharing error when opening files.
- In the Japanese user interface, user tools appeared on both the
Tools main and submenus.
- The Startup folder was incorrectly set to \windows\system if
specified one does not exist.
- Screen flashing when opening multiple files.
