Copy Notepad++ text with formatting?

Question

I'm using Notepad++ to write code.

How do I copy code in Notepad++ along with its formatting to paste into Microsoft Word? (i.e. syntax highlights, etc)

Solution 1

Here is an image from notepad++ when you select text to copy as html.

and how the formatted text looks like after pasting it in OneNote (similar to any other app that supports "Paste Special"):

Solution 2

Taken from here:

You can use Notepad++ to accomplish this in three ways. Just so you know, Notepad++ is a more advanced version of Notepad, which supports syntax highlighting of different code files "out of the box" - PHP included!

Download & install it, fire it up, and load up your PHP file. You should automatically see it beautifully coloured (if not, because the file extension is something other than .php, go to Language -> PHP or Language -> P -> PHP).

If you need to change any of the colours, you can easily do so - just go to Settings -> Styler Configurator. From that menu, you can change the various highlighting and font options, to suit your needs - although the default usually suffices for most.

Then, go to Plugins -> NppExport. From there, you have three options you can consider:

Export to RTF Export to HTML Copy all formats to clipboard Start with the last one - "Copy all formats to clipboard" - which will copy the entire file with the highlighted syntax to the clipboard. Once you click it, then open Microsoft Word, and just hit paste! You should see the beautifully syntax-highlighted code. If something goes wrong, then you can try one of the other options (export to RTF/HTML), although I've never had a problem with the clipboard method.

Solution 3

Select the Text

From the menu, go to Plugins > NPPExport > Copy RTF to clipboard

In MS Word go to Edit > Paste Special

This will open the Paste Special dialog box. Select the Paste radio button and from the list select Formatted Text (RTF)

You should be able to see the Formatted Text.

Solution 4

Select the text.

Right Click.

Plugin Commands -> Copy Text with Syntax Highlighting

Paste it into Word or whatever.

Solution 5

It is worth mentioning that 64-bit Notepad++ does not support Plugin Manager and NPPExport, so they won't be shown in Plugins menu. If you will try to add NPPExport plugin manually, most likely you'll see :

"NPPExport plugin is not supported with 64bit Notepad++"

Fortunately, there is NPP_Export plugin to download from here which works well with 64-bit Notepad++ (v7.2.2 in my case) and support for Plugin Manager is underway (check GitHub for updates).

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Comments

[Ungeheuer]

Possible duplicate of Syntax highlighting in MS Word document

[Dennis G]

And now go to [Settings > Shortcut Mapper > Plugin Commands > Copy all Formats to clipboard] and set it to CTRL+SHIFT+C --> Instant joy. CTRL+C to copy the raw text, CTRL+SHIFT+C to copy with formatting. This should be default.

[Mohammad Fanni]

for paste with formatting use CTRL+SHIFT+V in libreOffice writer

[Pacerier]

"Export to HTML" works but not "Copy HTML to clipboard". Do you know why?

[Pacerier]

@DennisG, Instant joy, until you are at your colleague's desk (or anyone else for that matter) and you found yourself so used to CTRL+SHIFT+C that you've forgotten where the original setting is located. Whoops.

[Mark Miller]

This worked for me except I was trying to preserve formatting in a Notepad file instead of an MSWord file. I had to copy the code from Notepad++, paste it into MSWord and then copy it from MSWord and paste it into Notepad. For some reason I could not paste it directly into Notepad.

[The Beast]

A shortcut is to use: Ctrl + Shift + C. Settings > Shortcut Mapper > Plugin Commands > Copy all Formats to clipboard. > CTRL+SHIFT+C --> Happy formatting !

[Kyle Strand]

@Pacerier As of 7.2.2 "Copy HTML to clipboard" seems to work just fine.

[BobNoobGuy]

anyone loose Line Feed using this method?

[Joe Greene]

@BobNoobGuy I am when I try to use "Copy HTML to Clipboard" (I'm on 7.2.2). Although hackish, the way I preserve line feed is by exporting to HTML, opening the HTML in Word, then copying from there to whichever source I need to send code to (e.g. OneNote).

[underscore_d]

What DLL would that be?

[Homer]

this method is no longer preserving the format color

[deasserted]

NppExport version 0.2.8 was not pasting the syntax formatting colors for me. I am happy that updating to 0.2.9 fixed the colors. :-)

[Erdem KAYA]

This is quite helpful, however, in my case, line endings and font types are not saved.

[AdrianHHH]

The images appear to show the results of your solution, but you have not described your solution or how to use it!

[baobab159]

I updated the description