I've written about my love of TextPad before here. I just thought I'd post a couple quick tips about how to configure TextPad to view documents the way you like it.

  1. Enabling Word Wrap by default

    Click on Configure > Preferences. Under "Document Classes" on the left, click the '+' button and then choose "Default". You should see the default preferences for files show in the right-side of the pane. Make sure "Word wrap long lines" is checked and hit "Ok".

    Now whenever you open a document, TextPad will automatically wrap long lines at the word boundaries.

  2. Enabling Line Numbers by default

    Click on Configure > Preferences. On the left, click "View", you should see the various View Options on the right. Make sure "Line Numbers" is checked and hit "Ok".

    Now every file that is opened will automatically show line numbers in grey on the left.

  3. Adding A New Document Type

    Let's say you want to add SVG as a new document type to TextPad so syntax highlighting for SVG elements and keywords will be present.

    • First, ensure that SVG is not a recognized doc type within TextPad already: Configure > Preferences and click the '+' beside "Document Classes" on the left. If you have a XML doc type, select it and ensure that the *.SVG extension is not present in the "Files in class XML" section on the right. Close all instances of TextPad
    • Go here and scroll to "Scalable Vector Graphics". Download the syntax zip file and unzip it into your TextPad system folder (mine is C:\Program Files\TextPad 4\system).
    • Start TextPad and go to Configure > New Document Class. Type "SVG" for the Document class name. Next, type "*.svg" for the Class memebers. Next, check the box "Enable syntax highlighting" and choose the "svg.syn" file from the "Syntax definition file" pulldown box. Next, click Finish.
    • Open a SVG file in TextPad to verify that syntax highlighting is present.

    Optionally, you may also want to associate the TextPad program with the SVG file type (this is done via Windows, not by TextPad), but what's nice about TextPad is that it is always an option when you right-click a file in Windows (in Windows XP you may have to click Send To > TextPad).

§117 · July 8, 2005 · Software, Technology, Tips · · [Print]

8 Comments to “Tweaking TextPad – A Few Tips”

  1. Scott Vodicka says:

    Thanks for the tips. I’ve been wondering about the auto wrap and just did not take the time to search for it. I knew it had to be there. You saved me some time.

    Scott Vodicka

    Cary, NC

  2. […] One problem that I encountered and have been dealing with is the fact (or so I thought) that you couldn’t turn on word wrap by default. There’s a little button on the toolbar that does it, but I always had to click on that to enable word wrap. But then I found this link that said, “Click on Configure > Preferences. Under ‘Document Classes’ on the left, click the ‘+’ button and then choose ‘Default’. You should see the default preferences for files show in the right-side of the pane. Make sure ‘Word wrap long lines’ is checked and hit ‘Ok’.” I tried it and it sort of worked, but I fooled around with it and found that if you make sure that the box is checked for each of the document types, it’ll work all the time. So that’s what I did and it worked great. [ Mon, 09 Jan 2006 @ 22:23:58 | Tech/Computers ] No Comments Leave a comment […]

  3. Yordan Georgiev says:

    The whole trick with TexPad is to able to have all the executables + syntax files + batch + regs in order to get it fully portable even on machines you might not be allow to install it .

    For me it takes painfull long to configure all the perl , java , html syntax highliting and this is a small project I have do some day, but let me know if somebody else cleverer has done it already – I do not like to reinvent the wheel ….

  4. Jeff Schiller says:

    You’re right! A Portable TextPad deployable on a USB flash drive would be great!

  5. @echo off

    REM This tool makes a complete backup of all your TextPad settings
    REM in the Windows Registry.
    REM The area of useage is quite wide. You can make custom “workspaces”
    REM trough launching different .reg-files. Also, you may set the “prompt for parameters”
    REM checkbox in textpad. Also, “Capture output” & “supress until…” sould be checked.
    REM
    REM In the “Parameters” textfield you can type in the deafult name for a
    REM backup. ex: “texpad.reg” or “c:\textpad.reg”
    REM
    REM As the “initial folder” you can type in a default value, leave it blank or use $FileDir
    REM © 2002 Rasmus Andersson [flajm.com / rasmusandersson.com]

    REM Dim vars
    set KEYPATH=HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Helios\TextPad 4
    set BUFILENAME=tps__%date%.reg

    REM check for errors
    :DOCHECK
    if “%BUFILENAME%”==”” goto :REPORTERROR

    :DOBACKUP
    REG EXPORT “%KEYPATH%” “%BUFILENAME%”

    REM Report success
    :SUCCESS
    echo Registry backup of “%KEYPATH%”
    echo successfully saved to “%BUFILENAME%”
    goto :ENDBAT

    REM reports an error
    :REPORTERROR
    echo You must specify an output filename for the
    echo backup.
    echo Example: c:\appbackup.reg, textpad.reg, \\computer\folder\backup.reg

    REM Exits and quits
    :ENDBAT
    EXIT
    ::TODO ADD THE FILECOPYING of syntax and spelling files in C:\Program Files\TextPad 4\*.*

  6. Rosie says:

    I thank you for your comment.

  7. Robin says:

    Turning on word wrap every time I open a document was getting incredibly old. Thanks so much for the hint on where to look to set this!

  8. Hey, that was interesting,

    Thanks for the help and infomation that your article has offered on for tweaking text pad..

    Keep up the great work,

    Thanks for bringing this up