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rizonesoft

rizonesoft/Notepad3

A fast, lightweight, Scintilla-based syntax-highlighting text editor for Windows, based on Notepad2 code.

Open-source alternative to:NotepadNotepad++

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Last commit
8 hours ago

What is it?

Notepad3 is a free, open-source Windows text editor built on the Scintilla editing component and Lexilla lexer library. It aims to stay small in memory use while offering features suited to programming and everyday text editing, including syntax highlighting for over 55 languages.

The editor includes code folding, bookmarks, word auto-completion, mark-all-occurrences, and Find and Replace using the PCRE2 regex engine. It also handles file encoding detection via uchardet, file change monitoring, AES-256 encryption of files, and Emacs file variables. A built-in TinyExpr++ evaluator can compute inline math expressions, and a clipboard monitoring mode appends each clipboard change to the document.

Notepad3 runs portably from a folder with settings kept in an INI file, and it can be built from source with Visual Studio 2022. It ships with grepWin for searching across files and MiniPath as a file browser plugin, and it is available in 26 interface languages.

Key features

  • 01Syntax highlighting for over 55 programming and markup languages.
  • 02Find and Replace with PCRE2 regular expressions.
  • 03Automatic encoding detection powered by uchardet.
  • 04AES-256 encryption and decryption of files, in-app and from the command line.
  • 05Clipboard monitoring mode that appends each clipboard change to the document.
  • 06Portable operation with settings stored beside the executable.

Use cases

  • Replacing Windows Notepad with a editor that has syntax highlighting and folding.
  • Editing source code or config files on Windows without installing an IDE.
  • Running a portable editor from a USB drive.
  • Collecting clipboard snippets into a single document.

Topics

#text-editor#windows#syntax-highlighting#scintilla#notepad#portable

FAQ

What is Notepad3?
A fast, lightweight, Scintilla-based syntax-highlighting text editor for Windows, based on Notepad2 code. Notepad3 is a free, open-source Windows text editor built on the Scintilla editing component and Lexilla lexer library. It aims to stay small in memory use while offering features suited to programming and everyday text editing, including syntax highlighting for over 55 languages.
Is Notepad3 free to use? What license does it have?
Notepad3 has no declared license. Its code is public, but without a license you have no explicit permission to reuse it; ask the author before relying on it.
Is Notepad3 still maintained?
Actively maintained. The last commit to Notepad3 was on Oct 21, 2026.
What can I use Notepad3 for?
Replacing Windows Notepad with a editor that has syntax highlighting and folding. Editing source code or config files on Windows without installing an IDE. Running a portable editor from a USB drive. Collecting clipboard snippets into a single document.
Where can I get Notepad3?
The source code and installation instructions are on GitHub: https://github.com/rizonesoft/Notepad3

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