How to Highlight in Notepad: Tips and Tricks for Efficient Text Editing

Are you tired of sifting through lines of code or lengthy documents, desperately trying to spot important information? Look no further! In this guide, we will explore the art of highlighting in Notepad, a built-in text editor available in Windows operating systems. Whether you’re a developer, student, or simply someone who loves organizing their thoughts, this invaluable skill will undoubtedly boost your productivity.

Throughout this blog post, we’ll cover various methods for highlighting text in Notepad, including shortcuts, color options, and even saving your highlighted content. Additionally, we’ll address common questions like how to change themes, highlight specific file types, and much more. So, let’s dive in and discover the hidden potential of Notepad as we master the art of highlighting in style!

Stay tuned – a world of efficient text editing is just a few clicks away!

 How To Highlight In Notepad

How to Highlight Text in Notepad

Bold, Beautiful, and Brilliant: Mastering the Art of Text Highlighting in Notepad

Ah, Notepad. The unsung hero of text editors. While it may lack the flashy features of its high-tech counterparts, it holds a special place in the hearts of many. So, you’ve fired up Notepad and now you find yourself wondering how to highlight text in this humble tool. Fear not, dear reader, for I shall bestow upon you the knowledge to make your words shine like a captivating supernova!

The Secret Dance of Keyboard Shortcuts

Ah, the dance of the keyboard shortcuts, where a symphony of fingers taps out the perfect sequence of commands. To highlight text in Notepad, embrace the power of Ctrl + Shift and the arrow keys. Hold down Ctrl + Shift and press the left or right arrow key to highlight one character at a time in either direction. If you want to highlight entire words, combine Ctrl + Shift with the left or right arrow key.

A Love Letter to the Mouse

For those who prefer a more tactile approach, fear not, for the mouse shall never be forgotten. Simply click and drag your cursor over the text you wish to highlight. As if by magic, the words will be cloaked in a glorious hue, standing out from the crowd like a peacock at a penguin convention. Release the mouse button, and your highlighting prowess shall be complete.

Colors of the Rainbow: Customizing Your Highlights

Now, my dear Padawan of Notepad, let’s delve into the world of customizing your highlights. Open the Format menu, traverse the treacherous terrain of the Font sub-menu, and prepare to be amazed. Here lies a plethora of colors, ready to make your words pop with personality.

From regal red to vivacious violet, choose the hue that suits your fancy. Experiment and find the perfect shade that resonates with your inner wordsmith. Be warned, however, for with great power comes great responsibility. Use the colors wisely, lest your writing resemble a neon circus billboard.

The End is Just the Beginning

Ah, my aspiring Notepad maestros, you have reached the end of this whimsical journey. Armed with the knowledge of how to highlight text in Notepad, you are now equipped to create masterpieces that dance off the screen. Go forth, my friends, and let your words shine like beacons in the digital realm!

 How To Highlight In Notepad

FAQ: How To Highlight In Notepad

How do you color in Notepad++

To color in Notepad++, you can follow these simple steps:

  1. Open Notepad++.
  2. Go to the “Settings” menu and select “Style Configurator.”
  3. In the “Style Configurator” window, choose a programming language from the “Language” dropdown menu.
  4. Select the style element you want to customize, such as “Keyword” or “String.”
  5. Click on the color box next to the style element and choose your desired color.
  6. Click “Save and Close” to apply the changes.

Now your text will be highlighted with the color you chose to make it stand out!

How do I change the theme of my Notepad

If you’re tired of the default theme, you can easily change it in Notepad++:

  1. Open Notepad++.
  2. Go to the “Settings” menu and select “Style Configurator.”
  3. In the “Select theme” section, choose a theme from the dropdown menu.
  4. Click on the theme you want to apply, and it will instantly change the appearance of Notepad++.

Changing the theme allows you to personalize your Notepad++ experience and make it visually appealing!

How do I highlight notes in Windows

To highlight notes in Windows, you can use the built-in utility called “Sticky Notes”:

  1. Press the “Windows” key on your keyboard to open the Start menu.
  2. Type “Sticky Notes” and click on the app when it appears in the search results.
  3. In Sticky Notes, select the text you want to highlight.
  4. Right-click on the text and choose the “Highlight” option from the context menu.
  5. The selected text will now be highlighted in yellow, making it easy to find and focus on.

Sticky Notes is a convenient tool for highlighting important information in your notes on Windows!

What app can I use to highlight text

There are several apps you can use to highlight text, but one popular option is “Microsoft Word”:

  1. Open Microsoft Word on your computer.
  2. Copy and paste the text you want to highlight into a new Word document.
  3. Select the text you want to highlight.
  4. Go to the “Home” tab in the Word toolbar.
  5. Click on the “Text Highlight Color” button and choose your desired highlight color.
  6. The selected text will now be highlighted in the color you chose.

Microsoft Word provides a user-friendly interface for highlighting text and offers a variety of customization options!

How do you highlight in yellow in Notepad

To highlight text in yellow in Notepad, you can use the following steps:

  1. Open Notepad.
  2. Select the text you want to highlight.
  3. Open the “Format” menu and select “Font.”
  4. In the “Font” dialog box, choose a yellow color from the “Font color” dropdown menu.
  5. Click “OK” to apply the changes.

Now your selected text will be highlighted in lovely yellow, making it more visible and eye-catching!

How do you highlight in a text editor

Most text editors have features that allow you to highlight text. Here’s a general method using Notepad as an example:

  1. Open your preferred text editor, such as Notepad.
  2. Load or create the document you want to work with.
  3. Use your cursor to select the text you want to highlight.
  4. Right-click on the selected text and choose the “Highlight” option from the context menu.
  5. The selected text will now be highlighted, allowing you to easily identify and focus on it.

Keep in mind that the specific steps may vary slightly depending on the text editor you are using!

How do you highlight XML tags in Notepad++

To highlight XML tags in Notepad++, you can follow these steps:

  1. Open Notepad++.
  2. Go to the “Plugins” menu and select “XML Tools.”
  3. In the “XML Tools” menu, click on “Pretty Print (XML only – with line breaks).”
  4. This action will format the XML file, making it easier to read and analyze.
  5. Now, the XML tags and elements will be automatically highlighted, helping you distinguish the structure of the XML document.

By highlighting XML tags, Notepad++ makes it easier to navigate and understand complex XML files!

How do I color text in Notepad

While Notepad doesn’t have built-in text coloring capabilities, you can still achieve it with HTML syntax highlighting:

  1. Open Notepad.
  2. Type or paste the text you want to highlight.
  3. Save the file with an HTML file extension, such as “example.html.”
  4. Open the saved HTML file in a web browser, and you will see the text with default colors.
  5. To customize the colors, you can use CSS code within the HTML file, specifying color attributes for different elements.
  6. Save the changes in the HTML file and refresh the web browser to see the updated color scheme.

By utilizing HTML syntax highlighting, you can add colors to your text in Notepad and make it visually appealing!

How do you highlight and save in Notepad

In Notepad, highlighting and saving your work is straightforward:

  1. Open Notepad.
  2. Select the text you want to highlight by clicking and dragging your cursor over it.
  3. Once the text is selected, click on the “Edit” menu and choose the “Copy” option to copy the highlighted text.
  4. Open a new or existing document where you want to save the highlighted text.
  5. Click on the document, then go to the “Edit” menu once again and select the “Paste” option to paste the highlighted text.
  6. Save the document by clicking on the “File” menu and choosing the “Save” option.

By following these steps, you can highlight text in Notepad and seamlessly transfer it to a separate document!

How do I add a theme to Notepad

Adding a new theme to Notepad allows you to change its overall appearance:

  1. Open Notepad.
  2. Go to the “Settings” menu and select “Style Configurator.”
  3. In the “Select theme” section, click on the “Import” button.
  4. Find and select the theme file you want to add (usually with the .xml extension).
  5. Click “Open,” and the new theme will be imported into Notepad.
  6. Scroll through the available themes and choose the one you want to apply.
  7. Click “Save and Close” to save the changes and apply the selected theme.

Adding a new theme to Notepad enhances your writing experience and makes it more visually appealing!

How do you highlight text

To highlight text in any document or text editor, follow these simple steps:

  1. Select the text you want to highlight by clicking and dragging your cursor over it.
  2. With the text selected, look for the toolbar or menu options that control text formatting.
  3. Locate the highlight icon or a dropdown menu with text formatting options.
  4. Click on the highlight icon or choose the appropriate highlight color from the dropdown menu.
  5. The selected text will now be highlighted with the chosen color, making it stand out.

Highlighting text helps draw attention to important information and makes it easier to find!

How do I highlight a row in Notepad

Unfortunately, Notepad does not have a built-in feature to highlight rows specifically. However, you can achieve a similar effect by using the following workaround:

  1. Open the document in Notepad.
  2. Identify the row you want to highlight.
  3. Use your cursor to select the entire row by clicking and dragging over the text.
  4. With the row selected, go to the “Format” menu and choose the “Font” option.
  5. In the “Font” dialog box, check the “Underline” box to add an underline effect to the selected row.
  6. Click “OK” to apply the changes.

While this method does not provide a traditional highlighting effect, it offers a visual cue for the selected row!

How do you highlight text that cannot be highlighted

If you encounter text that cannot be highlighted, it might be due to a formatting restriction or protected document. However, you can try the following method:

  1. Copy the text that you wish to highlight by selecting it and pressing “Ctrl+C” on your keyboard.
  2. Open a plain text editor like Notepad.
  3. Paste the copied text into the plain text editor using “Ctrl+V.”
  4. Now, you should be able to select and highlight the text as you desire.

Sometimes, copying and pasting the problematic text into a plain text editor helps remove any restrictions on highlighting!

How do you color a line in Notepad++

To color a line in Notepad++, you can use a plugin called “NppExec.” Here’s how:

  1. Install the “NppExec” plugin for Notepad++ from the “Plugin Manager.”
  2. Once installed, go to the “Plugins” menu and select “NppExec,” followed by “Execute…”
  3. In the “Execute” window, enter the following command:

pythonscript |

Replace with the desired line number and | with the corresponding style and color you want to apply.

For example, to color line 5 with the style “Annotation” and the color “Yellow,” you would enter:

pythonscript 5 “Annotation|Yellow”

  1. Click on the “OK” button, and the specified line will be colored according to your settings.

Using the NppExec plugin, you can easily add color to specific lines in Notepad++ for better visibility and organization!

How do I make text bold in Notepad

Notepad is a plain text editor, so it does not support formatting options like bold text. However, you can utilize other applications or file formats that support text formatting, such as Microsoft Word or Rich Text Format (RTF) files, to achieve bold text:

  1. Open Microsoft Word or any other rich text editor that supports bold formatting.
  2. Type or paste the text you want to make bold.
  3. Select the text you want to emphasize.
  4. In the formatting toolbar, click on the bold icon or use the shortcut “Ctrl+B” to apply the bold formatting.
  5. The selected text will now appear bold.

By using a rich text editor, you can enhance the appearance of your text and make it stand out!

Can I bold text in Notepad++

No, you cannot make text bold in Notepad++ since it is primarily designed as a plain text editor. Notepad++ focuses on providing a lightweight tool for coding and editing various programming languages. If you need to format text or apply bold styling, it is recommended to use a word processor or a rich text editor that supports such formatting options.

Notepad++, while lacking text formatting features, excels in its simplicity and efficiency for plain text manipulation!

What is the shortcut to highlight in Notepad++

Notepad++ provides a convenient keyboard shortcut for highlighting text:

To highlight text quickly in Notepad++, press and hold the “Ctrl” key on your keyboard and use the left mouse button to drag the cursor over the desired text. This action will highlight the selected text within the editor.

Using keyboard shortcuts enhances productivity and allows you to efficiently highlight text in Notepad++ without relying on menus!

How do I highlight in OneNote

To highlight text in OneNote, you can follow these steps:

  1. Open OneNote and navigate to the page where you want to highlight text.
  2. Select the text you want to highlight by clicking and dragging your cursor over it.
  3. Once the text is selected, go to the “Home” tab in the OneNote toolbar.
  4. Look for the “Text Highlight Color” dropdown menu in the “Style” section.
  5. Click on the dropdown menu and choose your desired highlight color.
  6. The selected text will now be highlighted with the color you selected.

OneNote provides a user-friendly interface for highlighting text, helping you emphasize important information!

How do I highlight text in a TXT file

While TXT files do not support text highlighting by default, you can use other software to accomplish this:

  1. Open a plain text editor, such as Notepad or Notepad++.
  2. Copy and paste the text from the TXT file into the text editor.
  3. Select the text you want to highlight by clicking and dragging your cursor over it.
  4. Go to the “Edit” menu and choose the “Copy” option to copy the highlighted text.
  5. Open a word processor, such as Microsoft Word, and create a new document.
  6. Paste the copied text into the word processor using the “Paste” option or the “Ctrl+V” shortcut.
  7. In the word processor, use its highlighting feature to highlight the text as desired.
  8. Save the document as a different file format, such as DOCX or RTF, if necessary.

By transferring the text from a TXT file into a word processor, you can utilize text highlighting features and enhance your reading experience!

What is the shortcut key for highlighting text

In most text editors and word processors, the common shortcut key to highlight text is:

  1. Select the text by clicking and dragging the cursor over it.
  2. With the text selected, hold down the “Ctrl” (Control) key on your keyboard.
  3. While holding “Ctrl,” press the “H” key.
  4. The selected text will now be highlighted.

Using shortcut keys offers a quick and efficient way to highlight text, saving you time and effort!


Now that you have learned various methods to highlight text and make it more prominent, you can easily add color, emphasize important details, and improve your overall text editing experience. Enjoy highlighting your way to better productivity and organization!

Remember, whether you’re using Notepad, Notepad++, or other applications, highlighting should be a breeze. So go ahead, be bold, and make your text shine like a guiding star in the digital universe. Follow these tips, and soon you’ll be highlighting like a pro. Happy highlighting!

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