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There are situations where you need to open plain-text files (where the file type is not registered in your system, or the file has NO extension at all) using Notepad or any other text editor. Usually, you use the Open With dialog and select Notepad from the list. If Notepad is not available in the list, you browse to Notepad.exe in the Windows folder and add it to the dialog.
Adding the Open with Notepad option in the context menu will save you a couple of mouse clicks.
Note: After implementing the changes mentioned in this article, the Open with Notepad option will appear when you right-click on any file type in Explorer. Be aware that opening binary files (For example: .exe, .dll, .com and so forth..) using Notepad and saving them would corrupt the file and may no longer run. Use this Open with Notepad only for files containing text content.
To add the Open with Notepad command in the context menu for all file types, we need to create new registry keys/values under this branch:
Note that the * above is not a Wildcard, but an explicit asterisk. (*)
1. Download openwithnotepad.zip and save it to your Desktop
2. Unzip the contents (two .reg files) to a folder
3. Right-click the file openwithnotepad.reg and then choose Merge
UNDO INFORMATION
To remove the Open With Notepad option, right-click on the undo-openwithnotepad.reg file and choose Merge.
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Neither one works on my fresh install of XP Pro. This does:
http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&=&q=add+edit+with+notepad+to+context+menu&btnG=Google+Search
The shorter and “safer” method:
1. Right click on “Notepad.exe” in the windows folder and select “Send to desktop”.
2. On the desktop, change the name of the shortcut to “Notepad”.
3. Move this shortcut to the “SendTo” folder for default user[C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\SendTo].
And you are done!
Thanks for sharing this with us. Thanks for your reg file, I found out how I could attach some of my visual basic programs I made with extensions. This makes it possible to skip many steps at once!