Windows 7: Notepad: Where did my text go?

Hello, I have a Notepad question. When I use Notepad, how do I get back to my original work without saving that work, when I call up and begin another notepad?



On my older XP, the typed text would just become cradled in the traybar. I would then call up a new notepad and begin another item and could toggle back and forth between several, many notepad items. Presently, When I call up a new notepad, my previous work disappears and I do not know how to get back to it? Where did it go? I have never been able to go right back to it? Now I must save my notepad work to my desktop so that I do not lose it. What am I doing wrong that I can't use many instances of notepad at the same time like I use to? Thanks for all your wonderful help here!

Hold the shift key when clicking the icon to open multiple instances of an app.

Consider a better text editor that supports MDI/tabbed interface.

Hi Aurora,

You should still be able to access it. Try this as a test. Open Notepad and position it on the left of the screen. Do not maximise it. Now, open another Notepad and position it on the right. Again, do not maximise it. You should be able to click in both windows and type characters. Now mouse over the icon in the Taskbar. Do miniature previews of the notepad windows appear? If you click on one of these, the relevant window will become active.

If you really can't have more than one notepad window open at any one time, then it's strange since I've had several open at the same time without any problems.

Try notepad++

It has tabs, can (by default) reopen all your note files that were open when you closed it. Single app that can handle multiple text files. Plus spell checking and code highlighting (if your a coder). Can handle unicode files and files between platforms.

Free

Thank you so much DeVandal! Yes, the shift key gives me mutiply instances of Notepad. I didn't have to use that before with XP? I guess
Windows 7 did not carry that automatic feature over? Yes, I have other
editors I can go to and use and did prior as I could not bring up a second empty Notepad page. I have several: Wordpad, Edit Lite, MS Word but some have nag screens. I will look for a MDI/tabbed interface. Thanks for your help!

Actually, the shift key is not the only way. You can also right click the taskbar icon and select Notepad to open another instance.

Hey Dwarf, I tried to bring up 2 instances as you said but the single opened Notepad will just flash or blink as to say 'hey silly, I am already open'. And the opened Notepad is what is in the traybar and not the Notepad Icon, so again, it flashes to say I am already open. I am able with the shift key to open multiple instances. I would have never, ever figured that out by myself! I will check out all the other choices as well. I thank everyone for posting! Very helpful!

Yes, DeVandal, I was able to open another instance through the start menu/programs. Not sure where the 'taskbar icon' is. Mine is just a full bar across the bottom screen but did not find Notepad with a right click on the bar.

BTW, as a sidebar, I did not find Notepad in the Accessories in the Programs menu?? That's odd, it had Wordpad in Accessories but not Notepad? To find Notepad, I typed it into the Search programs and files. The file location shows it in System 32, deep, deep in the bowels of the OS. I opened it from there. I can post these other questions as their own?

BTW, I think the best thing about Windows 7 is the 'Search programs and files' in the Start Menu. It is such a better searcher than XP was. Yea!

Once Notepad is open, the icon will appear on the Taskbar. At that point, you can Right Click the icon and select Pin To Taskbar (if you want it readily accessible at all times).

Else, once you locate notepad.exe in the bowels of Windows, you can right click the file and choose Pin To Start Menu.

note: my icon will look different than yours. I actually use two text editors. Seen here is MetaPad by LiquidNinja. It is my favorite writing tool. I also use EditPad Pro for my coding work.

And, I absolutely hate the new search method. What can you do? I can't find a copy of Windows 6.5 ;-)

you can also click taskbar icon with your middle-mouse button (scroll wheel) if you have one to open a new instance.