Documentation

Birchpad is a free, open-source text editor for Windows, macOS and Linux. It follows Notepad++’s features and habits, so most of what you know about Notepad++ works here too: the same menus, keyboard shortcuts, command-line options, themes, macros and user defined languages.

Alpha

Birchpad moves fast, and this documentation describes its latest version. If something works differently from what is written here, please report it in GitHub Issues.

Getting started

• Installing — which file to pick, portable mode, verifying a download.
• Switching from Notepad++ — what is the same, what differs, and how to bring over themes, sessions and projects.

Working with text

• Editing — tabs, split view, multiple carets, columns, line operations.
• Encodings and line endings — “Encode in” and “Convert to”, ANSI, DOS and EBCDIC.
• Search and replace — search modes, regular expressions, Find in Files, marks.
• Side panels — Function List, Document Map, Folder as Workspace, projects.
• Sessions and backups — why Birchpad never loses unsaved work.
• Languages — which languages are highlighted and how a file’s language is chosen.

Customization

• Settings — where the files are and what each settings.toml key means.
• Themes and styles — built-in themes, Notepad++ themes, your own theme file.
• Keyboard shortcuts — the full table for Windows, Linux and macOS.
• Macros, Run and Tools — recording, running programs, hashes and encodings.
• User languages and auto-completion — Notepad++ UDL and API files.

Reference

• Command line
• Updates and the network
• For administrators — MSI, policies, defaults for every user.
• Building from source