Create a new text file in lightning speed!

[pchangb]

I use windows 7 home premium 64bit.

To generate a new text file in a certain directory, we do :
Right click empty area -> New -> text document.
This consists of 3 steps :
1) right click any emtpy area
2) move the mouse pointer to "New"
3) left click "text document"

But I want to ""simplify"" above process to only 2 steps:
1) right click any empty area
2) left click "New text document"

Certainly, there is no menu called "New text document" now. Editing registry or making dll file may create such menu. Help!

 

[richnrockville]

Easier way would be to just create a shortcut to notepad on your desktop.
double click on it and type away to create a text file.

or quit and then select save give it a name and it will close.

of course you cold create a link to cmd.exe and then from the dos prompt
copy con name.txt
type away
press f6 or control z
exit

<GG>

rich

 

[Maguscreed]

...well you could just add notepad to the context menu.

http://www.sevenforums.com/customization/2867-context-menu-shortcut-add-ons.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/21878-context-menu-add-shortcuts-icons.html

 

[pchangb]

Thanks but I am not satisfied.

In fact, "Adding Notepad shortcut to context menu" method is not as efficient as proposed method. I have to choose filename and select directory in case of "Adding Notepad shortcut to context menu" method.

In case of proposed method, the filename is automatically given new text.txt and the directory automatically becomes the directory where I was working. Help !

 

[PooMan UK]

Don't know what mouse you have, but some logitech mice can record a macro. Which means you could record a series of mice clicks which you could then assign to one of your spare mouse buttons. I tested it earlier with my G9 and it worked.
Failing this maybe some macro recording software might help Macro Recorder

 

[debugged]

I sympathize, as I like to use text files a lot, and it's nice to have an instant way to get them created where you want.

I have solved this for myself with a homemade autohotkey script that's mainly a macro. I'm no programmer, and it was a bit of a struggle to get it to work from ANY place in an open folder, and to work on the Desktop. Check out Autohotkey and see if you want to do it.

If you're interested I could post the script, but it would almost certainly have to be modified (i.e., tailor-made) to work in a completely different computer and explorer setup than mine, so you would still have work to do.

 

[Mike Connor]

I use windows 7 home premium 64bit.

To generate a new text file in a certain directory, we do :
Right click empty area -> New -> text document.
This consists of 3 steps :
1) right click any emtpy area
2) move the mouse pointer to "New"
3) left click "text document"

But I want to ""simplify"" above process to only 2 steps:
1) right click any empty area
2) left click "New text document"

Certainly, there is no menu called "New text document" now. Editing registry or making dll file may create such menu. Help!

You could use this, or vary it to suit what you want.

It will toggle any program on or off with a single click;

http://www.sevenforums.com/customization/151865-classic-shell-add-buttons.html#post1302905

Regards....Mike Connor

 

[rccryan]

Built-in Windows keyboard accelerator keys

I realize this thread is old, but it comes up high on the web search results, so I wanted to save others some trouble. Here's the easiest way I've found using only the built-in keyboard accelerator keys of Windows Explorer:

Alt+f w t

(Alt+f opens the File menu, w opens New, and t creates a new text file in the opened directory ready for naming.)

Similarly, use of the Apps key (or Right-click) followed by f w does the same thing (though this can be tricky since it is context sensitive, requiring current pointer placement/selection to be in an empty area, not an existing file).

This trick works for a few other things as well, including new folders (Alt+f w f), shortcuts (Alt+f w s), and Windows Journal (.jnt) documents (Alt+f w j).

Thanks to these posts at LifeHacker and SuperUser for the tips!

NOTE ON LANGUAGE DEPENDENCY: the actual keys to use will vary depending on the language of your Windows 7 installation (see this post at SuperUser). I can confirm the above works for US English.

NOTE ON INSTALLED SOFTWARE DEPENDENCY: the above works great as long as there is only one item in the list that starts with that letter. If there is more than one item in the "File" or "New" list that starts with the same letter (e.g., w or t), you'll either have to press enter (if the one you want is already selected) or press the same letter again repeatedly (e.g., w or t) to toggle through them until the one you want is selected and then press enter. If this is the case for you, then something else like AutoHotKey might be the way to go.

 

[Thorsen]

Just looked. I like your approach. testing on xp, the "w" doesn't open the menu, just moves to the "New" submenu. (just a note for anyone who also uses XP)

Keyboard shortcuts are often overlooked and what takes mouse movements and hand-eye coordination can usually be done with a quick set of keystokes.

This doesn't decrease the number of steps, but it does make the process more fluid if you have to do it on a regular basis. you can program this into a macro though....

 

[rccryan]

Hi Thorsen, thanks for your feedback. Actually, it works the same on my WinXP SP3 Media Center Edition as it does on my Win7 machine.

However, I see now that it depends on what programs you have installed on your computer that have added things to the menus. I'll edit my post accordingly.

You are right, macros or AutoHotKey might be better, but this way requires no software installs or custom setup.

 

[Thorsen]

Hi Thorsen, thanks for your feedback. Actually, it works the same on my WinXP SP3 Media Center Edition as it does on my Win7 machine.

However, I see now that it depends on what programs you have installed on your computer that have added things to the menus. I'll edit my post accordingly.

You are right, macros or AutoHotKey might be better, but this way requires no software installs or custom setup.

Ah, I have winmerge installed which adds the in the menu with as Winmerge so it conflicts with the other. and you are correct on Autohotkey (which I like, but does take time to learn and set up)

 

[boohbah]

why hasnt someone suggested creating a hotkey to notepad, its simple.
right click notepad/properties
in the shortcut key field
select W or whatever letter suits,
this will give ctrl+alt+W
opens a new notepad .
it only opens one instance at a time but hey it works.

 

[rccryan]

Hi boohbah, good idea for some (I must confess, I didn't even know you could assign hotkeys to programs natively in Windows), but the problem is that it forces you to choose a save location, which is a lot of extra steps to get the file saved in the folder you want.

 

[Jailbird]

I think opening right click context menu and then pressing W + T keys will be more quickly too. But yeah we need another method, it will be such a great idea if we can put New Text Document itself somewhere inside the context menu by editing some stuff inside regedit instead of clicking New then Text Document.