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There is no TextFX menu in the menu bar in my Notepad++ installation.

How do I add it?

There is nothing in Plugins -> Plugin Manager -> Show Plugin Manager -> Available tab

I reinstalled as Dave recommended in his answer (https://stackoverflow.com/a/12699834/362951), but nothing changed.

Peter Mortensen
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AWE
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    Curious why would this question be migrated *from* superuser.com? Don't get me wrong I'd rather my questions be here too because they're more likely to get answered (and answered by a programmer which I generally prefer) but I'm just surprised. – User Dec 14 '12 at 19:09

5 Answers5

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It should usually work using the method Dave described in his answer. (I can confirm seeing "TextFX Characters" in the Available tab in Plugin Manager.)

If it does not, you can try downloading the zip file from here and put its contents (it's one file called NppTextFX.dll) inside the plugins folder where Notepad++ is installed. I suggest doing this while Notepad++ itself is not running.

Dave
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Isxek
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    I downloaded it from [here](http://www.dllme.com/dll/files/npptextfx_dll.html) and put it to the `plugins` directory. No need to extract. Thanks. – AWE Oct 03 '12 at 09:48
  • Sorry, it looks like I forgot to add the link where you can get the TextFX plugin. Glad you were able to find a workaround, though. – Isxek Oct 03 '12 at 21:52
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    I am afraid this one is for 32 bits platform, it will not work with Notepad++ 64 bits executable – Junior Mayhé Apr 14 '17 at 19:37
  • is this plugin is available for 64-bit version ? – Daniyal Nasir Apr 09 '18 at 10:21
  • I accidentally downvoted this answer and I can't remove the vote. This is a note to myself that this is in fact the answer that solved my problem. – AndreKR Dec 07 '18 at 22:17
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    @DaniyalNasir , not officially. The source is available on github and there are alpha builds of 64-bit. It's in this answer below: https://stackoverflow.com/a/52672000/5326885 – PeterFnet Jan 14 '19 at 15:58
  • This doesn't work for current versions, try the answer from @Voicu below – Bas Aug 24 '23 at 12:23
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For 32 bit Notepad++ only

Plugins -> Plugin Manager -> Show Plugin Manager -> Available tab -> TextFX Characters -> Install.

It was removed from the default installation as it caused issues with certain configurations, and there's no maintainer.

Dave
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  • Plugin Manager says: No new plugins available. – AWE Oct 02 '12 at 10:20
  • Neither in `Updates`. `Installed` contains `Converter`, `NppExport`, `NppFTP`, `Plugin Manager` and `Spell-Checker`. – AWE Oct 02 '12 at 15:11
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    @AWE For me it was a firewall issue and no amount of re-installs fixed the problem. I amended the firewall rules for Notepad++ and the 'Plugin Manager' then displayed the full list of downloadable plugins under the 'Available' tab. I hope this helps. – Anthony Walsh Feb 04 '13 at 13:10
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    Is "TextFX Characters" the same thing as "TextFX"? I find this confusing. If I'm not mistaken it was simply titled "TextFX" when you went to the Plugin Manager and then Available tab (or Installed or Updated tab in case you already have it installed). Have they renamed it? Anyway! Installing *the* "TextFX Characters" brought back the TextFX menu for me. I'm using version 6.5.4 freshly released and installed on a new computer. – Samir Mar 01 '14 at 19:43
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    @sammyg Yes, they *are* the same. I used the Updates Manager and installed "TextFX Characters" plugin. After updating, I compared it to the zipped DLL downloaded from SF, and the DLL's match in size (224 KB) and name "NppTextFX.dll" – Lizz Feb 05 '15 at 21:39
  • I don't see this in the list of plugins – endolith Aug 04 '22 at 19:22
  • Updated to v8.5.3 (32 bit version), and lost TextFX plugin, to get it back it had the same name as suggested for the 64-bit version - NppTextFX – Peter Nimmo Jun 10 '23 at 12:35
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For Notepad++ 64-bit:

There is an unreleased 64-bit version of this plugin. You can download the DLL from here, drop it under Notepad++/plugins/NppTextFX directory and restart Notepad++. You will need to create the NppTextFX directory first though.

As per this GitHub issue, there might be some bugs lurking around. If you run into any, feel free to raise a GitHub ticket for each, as the author (HQJaTu) is recommending. As per the author, the code behind this binary is found on this branch.

enter image description here

Tested on Notepad++ v7.5.8 (64-bit, Build time: Jul 23 2018)

Voicu
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    Virus detected in that download link. – sirdodger Nov 21 '18 at 20:36
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    Yep. That's a trojan. – thargenediad Nov 26 '18 at 13:51
  • @sirdodger: So is it a virus or a trojan? Can you include the definition name and the application that raised the warning? This could be a false positive. The paranoid can always build from the sources found on [this](https://github.com/HQJaTu/NPPTextFX/tree/VS2017-x64) branch after reviewing the code. – Voicu Nov 26 '18 at 17:22
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    [Here](https://www.virustotal.com/#/file/5954a0741d4c38913af3ea7e4e2f97695c174b9dba437db5b4ecb3d1a1b9c092/detection) is an online malware analysis of that .dll after being scanned with 66 different tools. No malware was found. – Voicu Nov 26 '18 at 17:41
  • Sorry, a trojan. The definition triggered was Trojan:Win32/Spursint.F!cl – sirdodger Nov 27 '18 at 19:27
  • I accidentally upvoted this answer and I can't remove the vote. This is a note to myself that the standard Notepad++ download is 32 bit. – AndreKR Dec 07 '18 at 22:19
  • Was able to get it working on my 7.6.2 installation. Did run into a blocking issue with it waiting on lync.exe for some reason (found through Resource Monitor). Had to close Skype for Business, then Notepad++ continued launching. Skype could launch again afterwords. Goofy, but something to keep on eye on – PeterFnet Jan 14 '19 at 15:59
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    Not wanting to take the risk after the comments above, I recompiled the x64 bit version from source myself, available [here](http://phdesign.com.au/programming/notepadpp-textfx-64bit/) – phdesign May 02 '19 at 12:41
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    The binary in my GitHub repository, is definitely not a trojan. False positive, but no malware. – Jari Turkia Aug 13 '19 at 19:18
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    7.7.1 the x64 no longer works when dropped in the plugin folder. – tim.newport Sep 12 '19 at 03:16
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    It must be a subfolder named for the plugin. See https://stackoverflow.com/a/58657419/871821 – user3673 Nov 12 '19 at 16:46
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    @Voicu: Please include the hint with the subfolder named "NppTextFX" in your reply – Florian Straub Mar 07 '20 at 15:52
  • NppTextFX64/NppTextFX64.dll worked for me. – Andrew Dennison Aug 30 '22 at 18:13
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A lot of the old TextFX operations like removing empty lines and sorting are available under:

Menu Edit → Line Operations

user489998
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Plugins -> Plugin Manager -> Show Plugin Manager -> Setting -> Check mark On Force HTTP instead of HTTPS for downloading Plugin List & Use development plugin list (may contain untested, unvalidated or un-installable plugins). -> OK.

jrbedard
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Fosco Clayhangzo
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