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Is there a way to make the background of Notepad++ text editor transparent like Eclipse?

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Perhaps, there is a plugin which does this job.

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  • 1
    Transparent background, while keeping the foreground (text) opaque?
    – iglvzx
    May 9, 2012 at 15:46
  • Yes @iglvzx. I heard that Eclipse has such capability but I don't know, whether this feature is supported by editor or some other environment (like KDE). May 9, 2012 at 17:21
  • 1
    Eclipse does have this ability. A custom plugin would have to be written for Notepad++ so that only the background, not the text is transparent. I'm guessing there's no point if the whole window is made transparent as this defeats the purpose of the entire editor window. CChris mentions in this SourceForge forum that Notepad++ dockable windows can't be made transparent, and that third party plugins have to be used.
    – prrao
    May 9, 2012 at 17:33

6 Answers 6

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Use Notepad++ plugin TopMost and select the option 'Make my window transparent'.

My experience with this plugin has been very limited and I came to know about it when I had the exact opposite problem with my Notepad++: my Notepad++ window became unexpectedly transparent. I was able to remove the transparency by unflagging the 'Make my window transparent' option from the Plugin->TopMost menu in NotePad++.

This is the Plugin description that Notepad++ provides:

TopMost allows to set the main Notepad++ window as a topmost window so it can stay on top of other windows even when it is not active. This plugin sync with Notepad++ own stay on top functionality and allows to remember the setting between restarts as well as to show a toolbar button. Author: Franco Stellari

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    I am starting to regret I decided to address this question that was buried for more than 3 years.. :| I am a user that experienced the opposite problem and managed to trace it to the TopMost plugin 'Make my window transparent' option. In good faith, I posted the answer which now is marked -1, meaning that users (including @user1050135) are more likely to read a wrong answer than a correct one.. an example of adverse selection, to say the least.. Oct 24, 2015 at 21:20
  • Great, I suggest to give it +2, so that users see this answer before they read the Win_Trans advertising.. ;) Oct 25, 2015 at 1:32
  • I can't upvote more than once :/ You will just have to be patient and hope others upvote your answer.
    – DavidPostill
    Oct 25, 2015 at 1:33
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I wrote a program to make any window transparent. It will also make the menu bar, tool bar, etc. transparent so it may not be exactly what you need.

It runs in the background and is activated by using Shift+Ctrl+2 for 20% visibility up to Shift+Ctrl+9 for 90% visibility. Shift+Ctrl+0 goes back to full visibility.

The program is written in AutoIt. You can download the source and customize it as needed. AutoIt compiles programs to .exe in such a way that no dependencies are needed, such as DLLs or .NET.

Win_Trans on GitHub.

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  • As discussed in the comments above, this is not the exact solution being sought.
    – iglvzx
    May 9, 2012 at 19:11
  • Thanks @jftuga. I can try to change your AutoIt code. But I am not expert in it and so it is very difficult for me. It would be great if you can change your code to make the text/toolbar non transparent May 10, 2012 at 18:17
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It isn't a plugin for Notepad++ but there is a simple way to get transparent applications such as Notepad++ if you have an Nvidia graphics card that supports nview.

You can set system wide or application specific transparency settings easily. Simply enable nview, then right click on the top bar on any window, select nView options, Transparent.

Here is a clear example of Notepad++ transparent example of notepad++ transparency in Windows 8

I realise this is hardware specific solution, but it is really useful and simple if do you have the right card. I know for sure it works on XPx86, Vistax64, Windows7x86 and Windows8x64 because I've used it for years on those platforms without any issues.

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I think you are looking for Peek Through. Which makes any Windows application transparent. It's not a Notepad++ plugin, but I think It works well.

http://www.lukepaynesoftware.com/projects/peek-through/

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Use WindowTop.

It has a real transparency feature that uses the NVIDIA GPU graphic card with Cuda support.

notepad with transparency intellij idea with transparency

This tool has an exclusive transparency algorithm that works best on NVIDIA GPU with CUDA support. it can be used also on a computer without NVIDIA GPU with CUDA but it is not recommended because the algorithm works best with GPU as I said.

Unlike other tools, this is the only one that does a real transparency effect - it knows how to apply the effect only to background around the text/shapes.

  1. Download the newest version v3.4.5 and install it
  2. Update windows 10 to version 2004. note that for now, you need to get it using the windows insider plan slow ring. The update will be released very soon in May 2020 (this month).
  3. Enable 30 days trial.
  4. Make sure that GPU acceleration is enabled. it is enabled by default so you can skip this step.
  5. Move the mouse to the title bar of the window and click on the Aero icon

Read more here for full instructions:

I hope it helps! Disclosure: I am the developer of this product.

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  • Please give a 25-words-or-less description of how to use your tool to perform this task. May 10, 2020 at 10:01
  • I improved the answer. how it is now?
    – gil123
    May 10, 2020 at 10:37
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    It does. did you saw the first image? It is a generic solution for every program. See also how notepad looks: prnt.sc/se5ds7
    – gil123
    May 10, 2020 at 12:45
  • I edited now :). You can edit my answer in case it is not clear
    – gil123
    May 10, 2020 at 14:29
  • (1) I agree that you have improved the answer somewhat. FYI, only your fifth paragraph really describes “how to use your tool to perform this task”, so you took me literally (16 ≤ 25). (2) I’m a little concerned that all your examples show windows with light-colored text on a dark background. Notepad++ seems to use dark text on a white background, at least by default; do you have any illustrations of that? … (Cont’d) May 14, 2020 at 18:24
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In my case, Notepad++ was made transparent by a bug on the MaxTo windows manager app. Fortunately, the MaxTo app had an option to remove transperency.

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