Products · Product
Notepad++
Raised as a usability problem by 47 people on Hacker News over 15 years (2012–2026), in 26 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads in the last 5 years.
Every issue, all time, most people first
Update prompts interrupt work each time the app opensUnreviewed
20122026- Update prompts repeatedly interrupt the user's workflow2026-02-02
- Gets an update notification almost every time it restarts2022-01-21
- Update prompts interrupt work every time the app opens, for trivial updates2014-03-28
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- Mac replacement editors feel uncomfortable and their UI doesn't suit the user2026-04-27
- Windows-style interface doesn't follow Mac platform conventions, adding confusion and cognitive load2026-04-27
- Reopens hundreds of old files in tabs even after closing the app2026-02-26
- Update prompts repeatedly interrupt the user's workflow2026-02-02
- No bulk option to close unsaved tabs, forcing dozens of individual No clicks2024-11-01
- Can't figure out how to delete trailing line-ending spaces, and it nags2024-03-29
- Opening a huge file crashes it and the user can't get out of the state2024-03-29
- Modern interfaces hide features; toolbar icons are easier to find than menus2024-03-28
- Features hidden to keep the UI clean are hard to find2024-03-28
- Interface is cluttered with too many tiny buttons and ribbons, distracting2024-03-28
- Too many tiny buttons make the interface cluttered and distracting2024-03-28
- Toolbar buttons and icons are cluttered, so the user hides them in settings2024-03-28
- Every UI element is an active control, so it is easy to hide things by mistake2024-03-28
- Toolbar has so many tiny buttons it looks cluttered and distracting2024-03-28
- Dislikes recent UI changes and a removed theme, making the app less pleasant to use2023-02-09
- Page flickers wildly when scrolling on the commenter's machine2022-11-08
- Search panel takes up screen space and locks to main window, hurting review2022-07-16
- Cannot quickly find and open a file within a project folder2022-07-08
- Custom colour theme shows a white background when cursor moves2022-07-08
- Custom color theme shows a white background when moving the cursor2022-07-08
- Settings for languages, styles and overrides are too hard to figure out2022-07-08
- Gets interrupted by modal dialogs for plugin updates and file changes every time2022-07-08
- Search/replace dialog is too big on screen2022-07-08
- Settings are so arcane users must search guides to change them2022-07-08
- Settings, global overrides, styles and language handling are a nightmare to use compared to modern products2022-07-08
- Search window covers the text being edited in the middle of the screen2022-07-08
- Users find it difficult to set background colour and highlight effects2022-07-08
- Updates force the user through all installer steps again, which is tedious2022-01-21
- Gets an update notification almost every time it restarts2022-01-21
- Alt+F1 and Alt+F2 don't focus the drive letter; user must press Alt twice2022-01-21
- Notepad++ has a startup delay the commenter works around by keeping VS Code open2022-01-21
- Scroll speed during drag selection changes unpredictably with small mouse wiggles2022-01-10
- Search dialog feels big and clunky to use2021-11-21
- Huge row of inscrutable icons is hard to recognize and find2021-06-07
- Dark mode is buggy and its contrast is too stark2021-06-07
- Notepad++ Search in Files is incredibly slow, so the user installed WSL to get grep2020-09-28
- Must click through about 30 modal dialogs after each network hiccup2018-05-07
- Takes longer to load and has more UI elements, making simple plaintext editing harder2018-04-16
- Ctrl+X with nothing selected doesn't cut the line, breaking flow2017-08-16
- Syntax highlighting is inconsistent and too limited to get Markdown styled properly2017-06-16
- Project workspace navigation is awkward, requiring horizontal scrolling for trivial UI2017-06-16
- No real auto-complete, making it difficult to use for Java2017-01-06
- Tailing logs over FTP makes the tool confusing and harder to use for editing2016-07-23
- Plugin update modal is infuriating to deal with2016-07-23
- Drop-down menus draw incorrectly, making the interface hard to use2016-06-28
- Can't drag tabs between windows or create and save new files quickly; scrolling is buggy2016-04-14
- Syntax highlighting XML format is hard to read and understand2016-04-14
- Update prompts interrupt work every time the app opens, for trivial updates2014-03-28
- Fails inconsistently when using advanced features like regex matching and indent/outdent commands2013-12-21
- Full of dialog boxes with tons of options, cluttered interface2013-02-20