NppUISpy plugin for Notepad++

Builds for 32 and 64 bits Notepad++ installations available

Author: Andreas Heim, 2018 - 2024

Features

With this plugin you can explore the main menu structure and the toolbar of Notepad++ to figure out which menu command ids are assigned to menu items and toolbar buttons.

You can left-click on menu item and toolbar button entries to execute the related command. With a right-click to the items a context menu pops up where you can select to copy the item's icon, its text or its menu command id to the clipboard.

Both the menu item tree and the toolbar button list provide full-text search. Start typing while one of them is focused to make the first matching item getting highlighted.

For advanced searching in both trees you can use the search UI controls. Select the tree to search in by clicking on its header row or by checking the option box beneath the tree. The search term input field provides a search history.

When pressing the ALT key, the UI shows underlined characters that can be pressed together with the ALT key to control the UI by keyboard. Additionally, when the search term input field has input focus, you can press ENTER to search forwards and CTRL+ENTER to search backwards.

Manual installation

1. Download the latest release. If you run a 32 bits version of Notepad++ take the file NppUISpy_vX.X_UNI.zip. In case of a 64 bits version take the file NppUISpy_vX.X_x64.zip.
2. Unzip the downloaded file to a folder on your harddisk where you have write permissons.

The following steps depend on the version of Notepad++ you use.

Notepad++ versions prior to v7.6

1. Copy the file NppUISpy.dll to the plugins directory of your Notepad++ installation. You can find the plugins directory under the installation path of Notepad++.
2. Copy the file doc\NppUISpy.txt to the directory plugins\doc. If it doesn't exist create it.

Notepad++ version v7.6

1. Under %UserProfile%\AppData\Local\Notepad++\plugins create a directory NppUISpy and copy the file NppUISpy.dll to this directory.
2. Under %UserProfile%\AppData\Local\Notepad++\plugins\NppUISpy create a directory doc and copy the file doc\NppUISpy.txt to this directory.

Notepad++ versions v7.6.1 and v7.6.2

1. Under %ProgramData%\Notepad++\plugins create a directory NppUISpy and copy the file NppUISpy.dll to this directory.
2. Under %ProgramData%\Notepad++\plugins\NppUISpy create a directory doc and copy the file doc\NppUISpy.txt to this directory.

Notepad++ version v7.6.3 and higher

1. Under <Npp-install-dir>\plugins create a directory NppUISpy and copy the file NppUISpy.dll to this directory.
2. Under <Npp-install-dir>\plugins\NppUISpy create a directory doc and copy the file doc\NppUISpy.txt to this directory.

History

v1.2.1 - May 2024

• enhanced: Improved documentation for Notepad++ messages
• enhanced: Added new Notepad++ message constants up to v8.6.5
• enhanced: Added new Notepad++ menu command ids up to v8.6.5
• enhanced: Added new Scintilla constants up to v5.5.0

v1.2 - February 2023

• enhanced: Added advanced search capabilities for menu item text, toolbar button hint text and menu command id.
• enhanced: Added improved keyboard control capabilities using accelerator keys.

v1.1 - November 2022

• fixed: When plugin's dialog boxes are on screen but hidden by another application's window which has input focus, it is not possible to return to Notepad++ by clicking its taskbar icon.
• fixed: Wrong implementation of Notepad++ version comparison.
• enhanced: Added support for Dark Mode icons.
• enhanced: Added new Notepad++ message constants from v7.9.2 up to v8.4.7
• enhanced: Added new Notepad++ menu command ids from v7.9.6 up to v8.4.7
• enhanced: Added new Scintilla constants from v4.4.6 up to v5.3.1
• enhanced: Adapted to new Scintilla v5.3.1 API of Notepad++ v8.4.7

v1.0.4 - June 2019

• changed: Adapted to new Scintilla API v4.1.4 in Notepad++ v7.7

v1.0.3 - December 2018

• enhanced: The context menu of selected elements provides the ability to copy the element's icon.

v1.0.2 - December 2018

• enhanced: Added toolbar icon.

v1.0.1 - December 2018

• fixed: Sometimes Command Id column of menu entries tree shows invalid content.
• enhanced: Both menu item tree and toolbar button list provide a context menu to copy the selected element's text or menu command id to clipboard.

v1.0 - December 2018

• Initial version