FAQ

The Questions

  1. Interface
    1. My dockable window (ASCII, Clipboard, ...) has moved from the right. How do I put it back?
    2. Why would I want a dockable window to float?
    3. How do I find out what a particular hotkey does?
    4. How to set file Tabs across the bottom?
    5. Which icon is for gray checkbox in 3-way checkbox? [0] or [X]?
    6. Under Program Settings > Files and Dirs > Save work, there are 3 settings. What is the difference?
    7. Show Color is missing under menu HTML, like Help file says. Put in Color Dialog?
    8. Can user set size of Project Tree? Seems too wide for me.
    9. How do I maximize all windows after I've looked at them in restore mode?
    10. How do I eliminate the grey thin line crossing the text area?
    11. How do I change just one of the button icons?
    12. How do I fix language of the graphical user interface?
  2. Editor
    1. What is Swap Line?
    2. What is Paste as HTML?
    3. How can I delete empty lines?
    4. How can I join lines?
    5. Add Cr+Lf: Each time file is saved?
    6. Could anyone explain me Reformat, and what are the differences between blank line and short line?
    7. Undo all the way back to first edit of active file will NOT reset marker of File Modified. So it will still prompt you to save on exit.
    8. If you undo all the way back to the file where it was not modified, shouldn't the editor not prompt you to save? Or should'nt the little red corner on the tap disapear too?
    9. Line wrapping behaves weird. It often misplaces the cursor after inserting or deleting text in a line.
    10. Weird undo behaviour and weird paste behavior.
    11. I can not use the Word Wrap function, neither in the Toolbar nor via menu.
    12. I am sick of copying a file path or web address to the clipboard just to open it. Is there a way to open the selected text?
    13. What is the difference between Tab width and Indent width?
  3. Search
    1. How to find text?
    2. What are Regular Expressions (RegExp)?
    3. Find/Replace vs. Find/Replace in Files? What's the difference?
    4. Search and replace didn't work as expected.
    5. Can i use RegExp for search/replace in multiple files or for multi-line search/replace?
  4. Tools
    1. What is Clip Board Monitor?
    2. What is Code Explorer? Mine seems broken.
    3. How to set external programs?
    4. How to: "Open Active File in External Program"? The icon Button should have a pull down triangle to the right of icon.
    5. Internal web browser with Apache web server support... What does that mean?
    6. Can I run HTML or Javascript through other browser like Mozilla Firefox beside IE to see the script result?
    7. How can I make PSPad the default source code viewer for Firefox/Mozilla?
  5. Scripts
    1. How do I use PSPad Extensions?
  6. Highlighter/Clips
    1. Is there any way to setup more then 5 user highlighters?
    2. Multihighlighter for Embedded Clips?
    3. What are "variables" that get highlighted? The variables that I create in Perl are NOT highlighted. But a few built-in vars are: $_ Oh, I see. "Identifies" are the variables I create.
    4. How to tear out a highlighter I have created?
    5. How can I change Filter Mask in Highlighter Settings / Filter?
    6. Is there a Glossary or Clips Library?
    7. Is AutoComplete (Ctrl+J or Tools / AutoComplete) like a glossary?
    8. What is "Repeat" in the HTML dialog box? (html Crtl+Space) Not in Help.
    9. Clips are hard. Can someone create a template to generate new Clips?
    10. What are User Variables?
  7. FTP
    1. Can I upload binary files like .ZIP or .CHM help files in PSPad's FTP client?
    2. In FTP client context menu of an active connection, what's the difference between: "Open as Text" and "Direct Edit in PSPad"?
    3. FTP Files are stored in temporary folder (structure): TEMP\PSPad\server\ftp_path\file (Is that under PSPad directory?)
    4. Why after save a file using ftp that has a uppercase name, it is converted to lowercase?
  8. General
    1. I want to create some tutorials. What do you need?
    2. I hate spam, and I do NOT want my email address published.
    3. Known BUG: Sometimes on opening program I get a Page Fault Error: in module USER.EXE at 001e:00001df6. Can happen several times in a row. Not sure how to reproduce.
    4. Where do I get a help file for a particular language?
    5. Maximum Line Length?
    6. menu File / Projects / Open Project seems the same as File / Projects / Project from Directory ... Are they the same?
    7. I miss a feature from an older build...
  9. Just don't know how to...
    1. Get column select or Alt+Drag working.
    2. Move cursor past last character.
    3. Set highlighter file size limit.

The Answers

  1. Interface
    1. My dockable window (ASCII, Clipboard, ...) has moved from the right. How do I put it back?

      Grab the title bar of the mobile window. Drag it over the right scroll bar or right border and drop it when you see it snap in place. Any of the windows on the right are "dockable", meaning you can drag them free to float anywhere on the screen. Or you can dock them to the left or right. TIP: You can drag your FTP or Links window to the right and then even close them, but any time you restart PSPad, they will be returned to the Project Tree on the left.

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    2. Why would I want a dockable window to float?

      You might want to keep up, say the ASCII table, but not take away space from the editor window. So you float it. Or switch sides. As long as your Project Tree is showing, you might want your Clipboard Monitor docked in there, rather than taking up more room on the right.

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    3. How do I find out what a particular hotkey does?

      Examine .\PSPad\KeyMap.INI to look up a particular hotkey. Or look through Program Settings / Key Mapping.

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    4. How to set file Tabs across the bottom?

      Program settings / Program / [ ] File panel on top (un-check)

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    5. Which icon is for gray checkbox in 3-way checkbox? [0] or [X]?

      [X] is black check. [0] is gray check. [ ] is unchecked. I forgot about non-WinXP users :-(. Maybe if we change color of [0] in Help to gray it will help user.

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    6. Under Program Settings > Files and Dirs > Save work, there are 3 settings. What is the difference?

      Two modes. Restore all files (gray check) restores all open files from last PSPad state. Restores only files opened in PSPad: You edit some files in PSPad. Exit PSPad, run it again, files are back. Now exit PSPad, open some file from TotalCommander in PSPad, exit PSPad. Than run PSPad again. Back are files you previously edited, but not files you opened from Total Commander or with double click in Windows Explorer. See Save desktop.

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    7. Show Color is missing under menu HTML, like Help file says. Put in Color Dialog?

      I moved it under Tools. "Show color" works not only for HTML. And name was changed to "Color Selector" (or possibly Color Translator)

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    8. Can user set size of Project Tree? Seems too wide for me.

      Resize it with mouse. Simply drag right edge of project. Width is remembered.

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    9. How do I maximize all windows after I've looked at them in restore mode?

      Maximize any of them and they all maximize.

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    10. How do I eliminate the grey thin line crossing the text area?

      Settings > Program Settings > Editor - Settings > set "Position of right edge" to 0

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    11. How do I change just one of the button icons?

      Additional tool button icon sets are stored in the Skin (.\PSPad\Skin) folder. Using you favorite graphics editor, make whatever changes you wish and be sure to save your changes. Open PSPad and select the updated icon set from Program Settings > Program - Look > Tool button icon set. Click OK.

      If you would like to edit the default skin but cannot find it in the Skin folder you may need to extract it using a resource editor.

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    12. How do I fix language of the graphical user interface?

      PSPad does not need a typical installation process: no registry entries etc. But it assumes a certain folder structure in the folder from which it is run. The PSPad.exe binary will run from anywhere with no auxiliary files, but only in its default language, which is Czech.

      If you want PSPad in your native language and PSPad's advanced functionalities, you should have a folder structure like this:

      PSPad.exe
      PSPad.ini
      -Lang (folder)
      --English.ini
      --Deutsch.ini
      --Francais.ini
      -Script (folder)
      --JScript (folder) 
      ---YourScript.js
      --VBScript (folder)
      -(etc.)

      The installer will create all these folders for you. If for some reason you do not want an installer for PSPad, you can choose to download an archived version, which is basically all these folders compressed into one large file. This file will have a name that is similar to PSPad12345.cab.

      You must uncompress this archive file with the option "preserve subfolders" (or similar) enabled. Good programs to get this done are IZArc (http://www.izarc.org/) or 7-Zip (http://7-zip.org/). Just uncompress PSPad with "preserve subfolders" option checked, and everything will be fine.

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  2. Editor
    1. What is Swap Line?

      It will swap lines with the line below it. Now called, "Swap with Line Below" Right click on a line, select Special / Swap Lines.

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    2. What is Paste as HTML?

      It works with M$ product. E.g. if you copy to clipboard from IE, you can paste it into PSPad as HTML source, not only as plain text. You can use it as paste from Word too, if you don't mind Word's HTML jungle (dirty HTML).

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    3. How can I delete empty lines?

      Select Edit > Lines manipulation > Remove Blank Lines | Remove Redundant Blank Lines

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    4. How can I join lines?

      Select Edit > Lines manipulation > Join Lines

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    5. Add Cr+Lf: Each time file is saved?

      No. After file is saved, one blank line is added to the end, unless one already exists. Blank lines don't keep adding up.

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    6. Could anyone explain me Reformat, and what are the differences between blank line and short line?

      Reformat delete line breaks and make new format of paragraph with right edge.

      paragraph=blank line: Its mean that paragraph end is blank line. All to blank line is taken as one paragraph.

      paragraph=short line: Paragraph end is sort line (about half of right edge).

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    7. Undo all the way back to first edit of active file will NOT reset marker of File Modified. So it will still prompt you to save on exit.

      And now imagine case, when you open file, make some changes, save it. Modified status is reset. Then you undo all your changes, even those before the save. PSPad makes it possible do UNDO even after file Save. (AFNAB)

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    8. If you undo all the way back to the file where it was not modified, shouldn't the editor not prompt you to save? Or should'nt the little red corner on the tap disapear too?

      PSPad base editor component hasn't this support. When new version of this component will be available, I try to add this functionality.

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    9. Line wrapping behaves weird. It often misplaces the cursor after inserting or deleting text in a line.

      Word wrap has a bug, it is a bug in the component SynEdit and the people now working on SynEdit to resolve this issue.

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    10. Weird undo behaviour and weird paste behavior.

      Don't use Word Wrap function when editing is required

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    11. I can not use the Word Wrap function, neither in the Toolbar nor via menu.

      If you have enabled Trim Trailing spaces, Word Wrap is disabled.

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    12. I am sick of copying a file path or web address to the clipboard just to open it. Is there a way to open the selected text?

      Selected the text (file path, url, email) > right-click on select text > Open file appointed by selection or Click File menu > Open Special > Open file appointed by selection. You may also press and hold Ctrl key and left click to launch a URL.

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    13. What is the difference between Tab width and Indent width?

      Tab Width means number of spaces when you press TAB. Where Indent Width means number of spaces when you use Indent block.

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  3. Search
    1. How to find text?

      There are several ways to find text:

      1. Ctrl+F or Select > Find
      2. F3 to find Next or Shift+F3 to find Previous
      3. Shift+Ctrl+Up or Shift+Ctrl+Down to quickly find current word or selected text
      4. Ctrl+E to do Incremental Search (see Statusbar Explained)

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    2. What are Regular Expressions (RegExp)?

      Very powerful addition to the Find command. I used: Caption=[A-Z]\w+ to find all lines with Caption followed by = and a Capitol Letter, followed by any letters and a space. Then F3 gave me the next. Learn them! (See Regular Expressions)

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    3. Find/Replace vs. Find/Replace in Files? What's the difference?

      Use Ctrl+H to Find/Replace text in active file. Alt-F is the key I assigned to Find/Replace in Files. Be careful. Use the List button to see proposed changes. Find/Replace in Files is very powerful, and thereby dangerous. Can change all occurrences in all files in a directory.

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    4. Search and replace didn't work as expected.

      Replace from the end of file, being sure to set direction appropriately to backwards. Its base component limitation.

      RegExp for multi-line search/replace may be performed with a script.

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    5. Can i use RegExp for search/replace in multiple files or for multi-line search/replace?

      The base component SynEdit doesn't support this yet.

      RegExp for multi-line search/replace may be performed with a script.

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  4. Tools
    1. What is Clip Board Monitor?

      After you start it, a window will show up to the right. This window will capture all of your Copy (to clipboard) commands, such as Ctrl+C, Ctrl+X and menu Edit / Copy. Then if you want to Paste one of them, you just double click on it in the Clip Board Monitor. Once open, you can: Start/Stop monitoring, Delete all items from list, Copy text to clipboard, Paste text to your document, or delete an item from the list.

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    2. What is Code Explorer? Mine seems broken.

      Code explorer only works with some environments at this time. Try it with your English.INI files. You will see headings followed by items for that heading. You may need to click the plus to expand. This was buggy, not allowing you to open it, close it and open it again. Being fixed in next version.

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    3. How to set external programs?

      Tools / Highlighter Settings / External Applications. These can be set independently for each language in the list on the left.

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    4. How to: "Open Active File in External Program"? The icon Button should have a pull down triangle to the right of icon.

      Every highlighter has space to set 5 external programs and one compiler. You can run it With hotkeys (F9 ...), from menu File / Open Special / Open With or from menu File / Compile. You can also show Control Toolbar (Menu View / Toolbars) or Right Click on Toolbar you have buttons on toolbar to run it.

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    5. Internal web browser with Apache web server support... What does that mean?

      If you have Apache installed, set correct HT Docs directory in Program Setting / Internet. If you use Shift+Ctrl+F10 instead F10, internal browser will browse from your Apache server, not from local file. You can see PHP results, CGI scripts run, ...

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    6. Can I run HTML or Javascript through other browser like Mozilla Firefox beside IE to see the script result?

      Download and Install Mozilla ActiveX control. Then you will be able to use Mozilla as the internal HTML preview (first button on toolbar switches between Mozilla and IE).

      You can assign any external browsers in Settings / Highlighter settings / HTML / External application.

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    7. How can I make PSPad the default source code viewer for Firefox/Mozilla?

      Use ViewSourceWith, available from dafizilla.sourceforge.net.

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  5. Scripts
    1. How do I use PSPad Extensions?

      PSPad Extensions are delivered as plain text files called scripts. Scripts have to be extracted into folders according to the scripting language they are written in (*.VBS into Script\VBScript, *.JS into Script\JScript, ...). Scripts are automatically compiled when PSPad opens. (See Script Menu)

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  6. Highlighter/Clips
    1. Is there any way to setup more then 5 user highlighters?

      No, currently on the todo list.

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    2. Multihighlighter for Embedded Clips?

      You can get different Clips (highlighting) when you are inside the JavaScript part of an HTML file. That is useful when you have, say, PHP or JavaScript embedded inside your HTML. Try it (Ctrl+Space) in HTML with PHP or JScript in Multihighlighter. You get a template for the specific part of code you are in. In PHP part, you get PHP template, in HTML part, you get HTML Clips. Clips can also be interactive (like most of HTML Clips are.)

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    3. What are "variables" that get highlighted? The variables that I create in Perl are NOT highlighted. But a few built-in vars are: $_ Oh, I see. "Identifies" are the variables I create.

      Jan: Already corrected (still in my comp). Some user from forum told me. In new version all variables in Perl will be highlighted.

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    4. How to tear out a highlighter I have created?

      If you mean user highlighter, go to Tools / Highlighter Settings / Filters. Click on your highlighter (one of the bold) and in list, click on blank line on top.

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    5. How can I change Filter Mask in Highlighter Settings / Filter?

      You can't modify the Filter Mask in Highlighter Settings / Filter for the User highlighters (bold font). Other highlighters are editable there. User highlighter Filter Mask you can edit in Tools / User highlighter

      If you are looking at a User Highlighter (bold font), then you must edit the File Filter mask in: menu Tools / User Highlighter / File types, comma delimited. However, all the others can be edited in Tools / Highlighter Settings. (Why? Seems unnecessarily difficult)

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    6. Is there a Glossary or Clips Library?

      First check out AutoCorrect: menu Tools / Spell Settings ... and enter some values for words you want replaced when you hit a space after you write them. For example, I put in my initials "sel" and my name "Steve LeBlanc". So anytime I type sel, followed by a space, it gets changed to "Steve LeBlanc". It was designed for fixing common typos, but works great for abbreviated entries. For more complex items, use Clips and User Clips. Follow the first few letters of the command (or tag) with Ctrl+Space. Or follow the full name with Shift+Space. Clips are predefined for the major languages, like C, HTML, PHP and Perl.

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    7. Is AutoComplete (Ctrl+J or Tools / AutoComplete) like a glossary?

      No, it is just a fast way to enter the rest of any single word you have started to write, a word which is already in the current document. It saves me little time. But I'm a pretty good typist. Some people love it.

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    8. What is "Repeat" in the HTML dialog box? (html Crtl+Space) Not in Help.

      It will repeat pasting template item without leaving it. e.g. when you need to add more of the same item in the list.

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    9. Clips are hard. Can someone create a template to generate new Clips?

      Sure, I think. It would have to go in the ???.DEF file.

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    10. What are User Variables?

      User variables are used in Clips (See Context Files) They are always surrounded by %percentsigns% and you may use predefined ones or add/edit/delete your own using User variables dialog box (See Menu - Settings).

      Clip variables are listed at top of context file. May are premade: HTML, Perl, PHP, INI, XML, JavaScript. If a For example, you define in User variables %PI%=3.141592654. In clip list you can write:
      [pi | Insert number value pi]
      %MyTestVariable%;

      To insert the value of PI into your document, press Ctrl+Space and select pi. You must add or modify the clip in the language.def you use with your language/filetype.
      i.e. PSPad\Context\HTML.def for html files.

      You are not required to use them, you could wrote 3,1415... directly in the clip unter "[pi | Insert number value pi]", but the other way you could modify the value easly using User variables dialog box. You can also use the build-in variables in clips. i.e. %FileName%, %Company% or %Date% and so on.

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  7. FTP
    1. Can I upload binary files like .ZIP or .CHM help files in PSPad's FTP client?

      No! PSPad only handles text files. To upload binary files, you will need a full functioning FTP client, such as ws_FTP LE or FileZilla. Even if you Open in Hex Editor, the "Save To FTP" will be grayed out. There is no Binary transfer mode available in this FTP client.

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    2. In FTP client context menu of an active connection, what's the difference between: "Open as Text" and "Direct Edit in PSPad"?

      Open as Text creates a local copy of the file in the Windows Temp folder. This makes for fast edits and saves. You may then Right Click the tab and select Save To FTP. Direct Edit, on the other hand, never saves a local copy. Any time you hit Save, it saves to the FTP host. Direct Edit is better for quick edits and will also prevent you from forgetting to save your changes to the FTP site. When you double click a file, you get a Direct Edit.

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    3. FTP Files are stored in temporary folder (structure): TEMP\PSPad\server\ftp_path\file (Is that under PSPad directory?)

      No. This is really the Windows Temporary directory. In Temp is created PSPad subdirectory and files are stored in this subdirectory. But I found a bug. The path missed part of FTP_Path, so all files was stored into TEMP\PSPad\server\file.

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    4. Why after save a file using ftp that has a uppercase name, it is converted to lowercase?

      You may disable the feature in FTP connection properties dialog. [ ]Change File Name to Lower Case

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  8. General
    1. I want to create some tutorials. What do you need?

      All I need is content, preferably in HTML. I want modify English pages like the Czech - right menu. Then we can publish your tutorial on PSPad web pages.

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    2. I hate spam, and I do NOT want my email address published.

      I don't publish any address without owner consent.

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    3. Known BUG: Sometimes on opening program I get a Page Fault Error: in module USER.EXE at 001e:00001df6. Can happen several times in a row. Not sure how to reproduce.

      I can tell you how to do it. Run PSPad, minimize (with Esc) it and run it again direct with PSPad link (e.g. on Desktop). Only happens on W9x and only if you Run PSPad without file as parameter. I tried everything, but I don't know reason. All these bugs are my nightmare.

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    4. Where do I get a help file for a particular language?

      You may create or find a .HLP or .CHM file for your particular computer language on the Internet. You can then configure it in Tools / Highlighter Settings / Filters tab / Help file:. But the template definition files do a pretty good job too, if you only need a syntax reminder. In an HTML document, type the word BODY and before you hit space, press Ctrl+Space. Just remember, you don't have to fill out all the fields. (Make tutorial for this???)

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    5. Maximum Line Length?

      Now is used only if some special cases. Now PSPad auto-sizes maximum line length. But before this number used to limit maximum line length.

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    6. menu File / Projects / Open Project seems the same as File / Projects / Project from Directory ... Are they the same?

      No! Project from Directory creates new project from selected directory. Being renamed to: "Create Project from Directory...""

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    7. I miss a feature from an older build...

      Since PSPad 4.3.1 beta (1989), Date: 07-20-2004 some features are only available by selecting Setting > Program Settings... > Click Direct Edit > Select [Special settings] section.

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  9. Just don't know how to...
    1. Get column select or Alt+Drag working.

      Real Tabs and word wrap force PSPad to guess what text you realy want to select. Do not use column select with real tabs (See Editor - settings). Do not use column select with word wrap on (See View Menu). In addition, be sure that Alt Sets Column Mode is enabled (See Editor - behaviour). It may also help to enable Scroll Past EOL.

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    2. Move cursor past last character.

      Enable Scroll past EOL option in Program settings > Editor - behaviour.

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    3. Set highlighter file size limit.

      Edit HLOnUpToSize value. (See Special settings)

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