How to Launch Multiple Instances of Notepad++

Notepad++ is my primary text editor, as it offers a huge amount of features, and yet remains fairly simple to use.  After months of using it heavily both at home and at work, I began to wonder if I could launch multiple instances of it at one time. Given that I have two monitors in either case, I thought it would be interesting to have one Notepad++ window per monitor.

The best approach I found makes a new copy of Notepad++ launch every time you use a shortcut. To make this work on your machine, simply do the following:

1. Right-click any Notepad++ shortcut.
2. Select Properties.
3. Move to the Shortcut tab.
4. In the end of the Target field, add ” -multiInst”.
5. Click OK.

Example:

• Target: “C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe” -multiInst

You might be wondering at this point, what if I’m already using Notepad++, do I still have to use the shortcut to launch another? Thankfully, no. To launch another instance when already using the editor, you can simply press ALT + F6, or Click Run -> Open in another instance in the menu bar.

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