Windows open file dialog in Textpad 9

[Mordi]

Hi,
In version 8 I used an Open file dialog like the Windows one.
How can I get it now in version 9?

[miked]

Configure -> Preferences -> File -> Use the standard file open dialogue box.

[Mordi]

Thanks for sharing . A simple solution.

[MarkTWIC]

Configure -> Preferences -> File -> Use the standard file open dialogue box.

Thankyou so much for this advice. I'd actually just uninstalled TextPad 9 with the intention of returning to TextPad 8 before I saw it. I did look quite a long time for an option to change the dialog in preferences but I just didn't see it.

My problems were that the file open dialogue in TextPad 9 was very, very slow to open (basically hanging for 10s of seconds) and operate. Then in a directory with lots of files I couldn't order files by date in the way I'm used to with the newest at the top (the directories appeared at the top and even this reordering was excruciatingly slow). Also the right hand side short cuts to pinned directories and recently used ones was gone. I have a very new Yoga Pro 9, I can't believe the unusable nature of the new dialogue is universal so I thought I'd report this. I'm incredibly relieved it's back to working normally again.

This is my first post on here but I've used Textpad for over 20 years through thick and thin and my gratitude to the programmers is limitless. This is daily usage and sometimes for many hours a day. There have been many subtle improvements in recent years (eg. I now don't have lots and lots of TextPads running at the same time as used to be the case) so I was anxious to see what was new. I'm looking forward to trying looking how to use PHP programs with this. And finally I'm looking forward to paying for it again when we get to 10.

[AmigoJack]

This has been discussed in numerous previous topics already, tho:

• TP9 multiple performance issues - near unusable
• Ctrl-A to Open Multiple Files
• Save/Save-As Folder List "Jump to" Help/Request
• Slow File/Open on 9.4.1

[bbadmin]

@MarkTWIC, good to hear that TextPad has been such a useful tool to you for so long!

[MarkTWIC]

@MarkTWIC, good to hear that TextPad has been such a useful tool to you for so long!

Yes. I produce a website called The Week in Chess which just turned 30 years old in September. Much of the work involves PGN files, portable game notation for chess games which is text based. I need a fast and reliable text editor, and although some others sort of fit the bill, TextPad has been perfect for that work. The speed with which I've been able to work within the program has been very important to me along with being able to cope with very large files at times.

I don't know when Find in Files came along, perhaps a long time ago, but I only noticed it very recently, that's been a huge help. In fact that reminds me that the way menu options worked changed in version 8, often when I use shortcuts (say Alt-S) I end up where I didn't want to be, somewhere in the middle of a drop down menu rather than at the top and that's how I discovered Find in Files. I'm not sure but seems to have been fixed in version 9.

Files I click on to edit used to open in separate windows, now they do not, again very helpful and recent. I have some crude Macros I have used for years, I've a feeling I might be able to write those better in PHP if that's possible. Also use it for all sorts of other text related work including SQL files.

Anyhow TextPad seems better than ever now I can use the file open dialog I prefer. I'm sure the new dialog must work for some people, I wanted to register how much of a problem it was for me. Other than that as far as I'm concerned developments in recent years have only been positive.

[MarkTWIC]

I thought about this a bit, I would love to know if the TextPad people have records going back to the very start and can tell me when I first bought a license. I do no know when I first used TextPad. My first text editor was on a UNIX system and I needed a pure version for Windows when I worked at home. I'm starting to wonder if this was the first text editor that met my requirements and I've been here ever since. In which case I've been using TextPad for 25 years. I honestly can't remember what else I used. Maybe it was after I quit OS/2, I think I used the native text editor when I ran that operating system.

Anyhow this program has few competitors as far as I'm concerned, and I have looked. Maybe NotePad++ which I occasionally use (sometimes a text file in Cyrillic works better there) but for me TextPad is the program that does everything with the precise simplicity I need. Long may it continue.

I get irritated when I have to buy a new license for a new program (Adobe I'm talking about you). In this case I kind of get annoyed I don't pay enough, I'll have to look into that.

I have used a program called Kirby Alarm Pro for years, simple and does what it says on the tin, the guy gave up, he gave me the last version for free and refused money. There's still no replacement on the internet, I can't believe more people wouldn't have found this useful. Anyhow if TextPad is one guy or a team going back to the 90s, lets celebrate its continuity, and excellence.

Mark