Filed under: Fun, Windows, Productivity
Weird hidden Notepad feature: Create a log file
by Jordan Running Jul 7th 2006 at 5:30PM
Here's an odd little feature I never knew was in Notepad, Microsoft's otherwise featureless text editor: It can be used to make log files. Give it a shot: Open Notepad and type .LOG on the first line, then save the file as whatever you want. Now every time you open the file the current date and time will be appended to it, which make it super-quick to create simple texty log files for whatever you want. Of course, every word processor and many text editors have shortcut keys for inserting the date, but simplicity does have its appeal. The Microsoft knowledgebase says this feature only applies to Windows 98 and ME, but it seems to work fine in XP as well.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Monoto said 5:42PM on 7-07-2006
Great tip. If you want to insert the date and time in Notepad non-automated-style, just hit F5. Works like a champ.
Oh, and you know you were asking for this when you put up that image. What Windows skin are you using? Me likey.
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Jordan Running said 5:49PM on 7-07-2006
Monoto: I've posted a lot of screenshots, but surprisingly you're the first to ask me about my Windows theme. The theme is Thallos, and you can download it at deviantART. My one complaint about it is that the scrollbar is a bit low-contrast, so sometimes it's hard to locate the handle at a glance.
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Boris said 6:37PM on 7-07-2006
It's case sensitive. At first I tried ".log" and it didn't work. It seems to be like a diary for yourself
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Chetan said 10:32PM on 7-07-2006
Works in Metapad too.
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Jason said 11:38PM on 7-07-2006
Thanks Monoto, I was about to ask as well.
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Ken said 12:38AM on 7-08-2006
Works as well with win32pad. More than likely it will work the majority of Notepad replacements. And then again I could be wrong.
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schmod said 2:19AM on 7-08-2006
ahh. great to see another metapad user around these parts!
it would be nice to see it updated someday, perhaps with support for opening more than one file at once via tabs.
but still, you can't beat the fact that it loads *instantly*, and in many instances ends up being *faster* than notepad, while fixing many/all of notepad's major shortcomings (without actually becoming a full-fledged editor). Opens UNIX text files, very large text files, highlights hyperlinks, and intelligently handles indenting.
For quickly viewing/editing a file, I have yet to find anything that comes close to replicating the handiness of metapad.
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RisingSunofNihon said 8:01AM on 7-08-2006
Well let me join the chorus and say that I never knew this feature existed either. I can definitely see it coming in handy, so thanks for the tip!
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rami said 10:16AM on 7-08-2006
Great tip :)
Works great at work if you're required to write weekly status reports.
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rami said 10:25AM on 7-08-2006
Here is another tip for you:1-Open Notepad2-Press
Ctrl+O3-Type a URL like http://www.downloadsquad.com in the file name
box.4-Notepad will open the HTML source code of that URL.
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Michael said 4:37PM on 7-08-2006
Hey rami,
I couldn't get that one to work. CTRL 03???
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rami said 5:01PM on 7-08-2006
Ment to say:
1-Open Notepad
2-Press "Ctrl+O", or Open in the file menu
3-Type a URL like http://www.downloadsquad.com in the file name box.
4-Notepad will open the HTML source code of that URL.
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Adam Maras said 11:04PM on 7-08-2006
You know, this has been around since Windows 3.1, possibly earlier.
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