Default UTF-8 encoding for new Notepad documents

Question

Short of using a third party editor, is there a way to configure Notepad so that new documents are automatically saved in Unicode without having to change manually the encoding every single time from default ANSI to UTF-8?

Typical scenario:

• Start typing some text with no extended characters
• Save the file: It is automatically in ANSI
• Open the file again to edit, add some extended characters, save again:

  Notepad tells you the extended characters will be lost if you confirm the save operation.

At least that last message offers the possibility to backup and "Save as" to choose UTF-8, but 1) this is very cumbersome, and 2) files with no extended characters will still be saved in ANSI by default.

Windows won't really be fully Unicode if the default Notepad encoding is still the obsolete ANSI code page, but, even if I reluctantly admit changing default behaviors is tricky for compatibility reasons, there should at least be a user option to select the default encoding for new documents, like other third party editors offer, such as Notepad++.

Currently, Windows forces me to replace Notepad file associations to use other text editors. Not a bad thing given the poor set of features in Notepad, but it would have been great to have this option in the standard O.S.

Answer 1

1. Right click -> New -> Text Document
2. Open "New Text Document.txt". Do NOT type anything!
3. Go to "File -> Save As... " and choose UTF-8 under "Encoding:", press "Save" and overwrite existing file. Close the file.
4. Rename "New Text Document.txt" to "TXTUTF-8.txt"
5. Copy "TXTUTF-8.txt" to "C:\WINDOWS\SHELLNEW"
6. Go to "Start -> Run..." and type

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regedit

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Press OK.

7. Navigate to

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HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.txt\ShellNew

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8. Right click in the right window -> New -> "String Value" and rename it to

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FileName

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9. Double click on "FileName" and put

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TXTUTF-8.txt

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into "Value data:" field and press OK.

10. It's finished.
11. Test it: Create new .txt document (Right click -> New -> Text Document). Open it and go to "File -> Save As... " and see that encoding is set by default to UTF-8 . :-)

Credits go to Robert Clemenzi and his explanation of "FileName" string (and its linkage with "Template directory") within registry:

http://mc-computing.com/WinExplorer/WinExplorerRegistry\_ShellNew.htm

NOTE: These steps are ONLY for creating new and blank UTF-8 .txt documents. If .txt is already saved with ANSI encoding, it will stay ANSI when saving it next time - so if UTF-8 is needed (in this case), it must be set manually.

P.S. Also change "fSavePageSettings" & "fSaveWindowPositions" DWORD values to "1" within following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Notepad

Info: http://www.pc1news.com/saving-changes-to-notepad-configuration-1216.html

Answer 2

Thanks Srinivas, but that's what I said already, so there is no answer to my question, and I have to use Notepad++ instead of Notepad every time.

MS Support, please never ever mention MS Connect in your answers, there is never any feedback channel (called "connection directory" in Connect jargon) relevant to Windows 7 or 8 or its components. This web site is totally useless and frustrating, you cannot make suggestion or give feedback on any Windows feature.

If you mention MS Connect, always mention the relevant Connection Directory name if there is one (which is never), otherwise your answer is useless.

Answer 3

Thanktastic, Maneuver, this is exactly the answer I was looking for, no need for third party editors for my basic text needs now.

Maybe you can edit step #5 a bit since this folder does not exist (at least on my machine)?

1. On your Desktop, right click -> New -> Text Document
2. Create the folder "C:\WINDOWS\SHELLNEW" and copy "TXTUTF-8.txt" into it.
3. Delete "TXTUTF-8.txt" from your Desktop

And it worked immediately, I didn't even have to close/reopen my Windows session!

Note: The 2 registry keys mentioned in your post-scriptum are apparently not necessary to save the default encoding information, you might as well delete that information.

Answer 4

IT works only if you create a new notepad file using right click.

If I launch notepad from start menu (which is more convinient for me) and type some utf-8 characters, then press save default encoding still is ANSI. Is there a way to fix this ?

Answer 5

Hi Chimel,

By default the encoding option in notepad is set to save as ANSI and there is no way to set UTF-8 as default. This is by design. If you wish to save the file and change the encoding, you will have to manually set the encoding to UTF-8.

However, if you want to make a suggestion or give feedback about the product, you may access the link below and post it.

https://connect.microsoft.com/default.aspx

Thanks and Regards,

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Srinivas RMicrosoft Support.

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