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I've been using Notepad++ more as my primary code editor. Just a few minutes ago, however, I accidentally pressed some combination of keys (no idea what I pressed) and suddenly my standard shortcut keys no longer work.

When I press Ctrl-S, it doesn't save my document; instead it inserts this funky little "DC3" character (looks like a rounded black rectangle with white text inside). When I press Ctrl-F (the Find key) I get a similar "ACK" symbol.

The only answer I've found on the web has to do with changing your shortcut key mappings; however my shortcut key mappings have NOT CHANGED at all, they are still set as they should be, with Ctrl-S mapping to "Save" and Ctrl-F mapping to "Find..".

I've clearly switched to some bizarre alternate key mode, but I have no idea what that might be or how to get rid of it.

Update: I've played around a bit more to see what other shortcuts are broken. So far, they all seem to be, except for the Windows standard ones like "Ctrl-X" and "Ctrl-V". Here's a sampling:

KEY             Should Do:            Current Behavior:

Ctrl-Tab        Cycle open tabs       <does nothing>
Ctrl-W          Close current tab     [ETB]
Ctrl-N          Open New tab          [SO]
Ctrl-O          File Open window      [SI]
Ctrl-A          Select All            [DC3]
Ctrl-Z          Undo                  <Works as expected>
Ctrl-C          Copy selection        <Works as expected>
Ctrl-U          Make lowercase        [NAK]
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  • (By the way, the symbols are abbreviations of the ASCII control codes.)
    – Bavi_H
    Nov 16, 2010 at 5:04
  • I think it's an notepad++ runtime error. I've met the same pb as yours serveral minutes ago, and it works correctly now.
    – SUN Jiangong
    Aug 30, 2011 at 9:43
  • I face this today. I closed the file where I have run replace all and then restarting resolve the issue.
    – Manoj R
    Mar 5, 2020 at 10:04

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
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+100

Ok, this is pretty pathetic. But it's possible some other moron could run into this issue so I feel justified in posting.

A few minutes ago I did a "Replace all" in my current document. Apparently, the dialog window informing me that "# occurrences were replaced" was hidden under another window, so I never closed it.

And apparently, when that little window remains open, pressing shortcut keys with the main editor window in focus causes those funky results.

It's strange behavior, to be sure, but it's still a pretty newb-ish scenario. Ah well.

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  • 6
    Does this mean you didn't try restarting the software? :P
    – Phoshi
    Nov 15, 2010 at 17:31
  • 2
    +1 Thanks! This is actually quite easy to do... to get a dialog or small prompt stuck behind the main window, since they aren't modal. eg. Ctrl+F and search for 'raspberry' - a small postage stamp sized non-modal prompt appears "Can't find the text...". Click back in the Find dialog (perhaps by mistake) without responding to the prompt and the small prompt vanishes to the back and remains open. Close the Find dialog; small prompt remains open.
    – MrWhite
    Dec 7, 2010 at 13:16
  • 11
    +1, Totally worth posting. This just happened to me a minute ago. The "ACK" char was certainly not what I expected.
    – FrustratedWithFormsDesigner
    Jan 12, 2011 at 19:18
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    Had some stupid dialog boxes hiding behind the editor window. Clicked OK to close them and Ctrl+C works agian. Thanks!
    – Rush Frisby
    Apr 6, 2012 at 18:54
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    I ran into this issue with version 7.5.7, but the above solution did not apply (no dialog box was open). To fix: I closed all open files, closed NPP, reopened, typed a few characters into the blank document, and hit CTRL+ALT+S to "Save as...".
    – James
    Jul 26, 2018 at 16:30
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Check the language bar. It's possible you set the language or keyboard differently for that application.

Do any other applications have this issue?

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  • I checked in Notepad and a few other text apps, as well as my IM program. The shortcuts behave as expected. All other settings appear to be the same. Good ideas though! Thanks.
    – Brian Lacy
    Nov 15, 2010 at 17:12
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    Language bar in Windows can be per-application.
    – Broam
    Nov 15, 2010 at 21:47
0

I had a similar issue just now caused by a different problem.

Make sure your file is not set to read-only. :)

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