Where Notepad++ Stores Session and Backup Files — How to Recover
Notepad++ is an excellent text editor — an advanced Notepad for programmers and anyone who works with text files a bit more than usual.
If you haven’t tried Notepad++ yet, I recommend it!
Sometimes, after a hard reboot or after “cleaner” programs wipe temporary files, unsaved tabs in Notepad++ don’t come back — everything that wasn’t saved disappears.
I often keep temporary notes in Notepad++ and sort them into proper folders later, so until I save them, the information is at risk.
Recently it happened: Windows installed updates and rebooted without waiting, and Notepad++ opened clean and empty.
Luckily I have shadow copies :-), so recovery was easy.
Where Notepad++ keeps its session and backups
The session file session.xml (the list of open tabs) is in:
C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming\Notepad++ |
On old Windows versions it may be here:
C:\Documents and Settings\<user name>\Local Settings\Temp\N++RECOV |
The backup copies of unsaved tabs are in:
C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming\Notepad++\backup |
Quick way to open it: press Win+R and type %AppData%\Notepad++\backup.
How I restored everything
I took the previous version of the Notepad++ folder from a shadow copy (folder properties → Previous Versions) and replaced the current folder with it. I started the editor — and everything was back as it was the day before.
Tip: make sure Settings → Preferences → Backup → Enable session snapshot and periodic backup is on, and close Notepad++ before restoring files into its folder.
