# Opening and Saving files:

Opening goes very similar to any other windows application.

- To open a file, simply go to File->Open or press . A dialog will appear and you can select one or more files that have to be opened. Each file will be opened in an individual tab. If the file was already opened, Notepad++ will show you that file in its current state. In the dialog, at the bottom there is a filter that will allow you to only show the files that belong to a certain language (such as C++ or PHP) depending on the extension. By default all files are shown.
- Another way to open a file is to drag the file into Notepad++ using the cursor. This can also be done with multiple files selected or whole folders.
- Additionally, Notepad++ keeps a list of unopened, recently closed files in the File menu so you can reopen them quickly. Simply click on the filename to open it (see the section about Settings, Recent file list for more details). To open all the files in that list, simply select File->Open All Recent Files (selecting File->Clean Recent Files List will clear that list).
- See also the section about the Command Line to see how to open files using the command line.

Saving a file can be done in multiple ways.

- The default way is to select File->Save or press . If it is an existing file it will be overwritten with the current contents. Note that if the file has not been modified, you cannot save the file.
- If you want to save all the files you have opened at once, you can select File->Save All or press .
- If the file has yet no name (for example, if you had created a new file), or you selected File->Save As, the save file dialog will pop up, asking you for the name of the file. You can then choose the location and the name of the file. A .txt extension is assumed if the file name has no extension.
- An useful variant is File->Save a Copy As. The difference with File->Save As is that, after the latter, your work continues on the new file, while with the former it continues on the old file.
- The filter at the bottom of the dialog can automatically add or change the extension for you. Depending in the first extension listed for that language, the filename will be changed to have that extension.

You can Reload a file if you wish to update the current view of the file (for example, if the file has been modified) or restore its contents to what is on disk if you have modified the file but not yet saved. If the file has been changed on disk, by default Notepad++ will ask you if you wish to reload it (see Preferences for more details).

You can do so by selecting File->Reload from Disk.

Finally, you can choose to Rename a file by selecting File->Rename. A dialog will pop up asking you for the new name of the file, similar to the Save As dialog. However, the original file will be deleted.