I am using notepad++ constantly. We have a lan where we store things. However, most of our clients have vpns which I constantly have to connect to and lose my lan access temporarily. When I do this, every file that is open in notepad++ takes an annoying half-minute at a seemingly "not responding" state, after which it asks if I should keep a copy of it open.
Is there some way to tell it to ignore the accessibility of its storage folder until I hit save?
use default gateway in remote network
in your VPN ipv4 advanced settings, your local network should stay accessible. The disadvantage of this is that you can no longer do DNS queries on the remote host. Usually this is not required anyway, and if that's the case, it is a far better solution to disable this option. You will be able to do everything on IP address still.