Stumbled across this thread and have to comment even though it's old. Akelpad is sheer awesomeness. For some reason Notepad++ seems to be the most popular Notepad replacement, but having used both, let me state categorically that Akelpad is just as good at doing anything Notepad++ can do, at least that I tried, and furthermore I find Akelpad much better in some crucial respects.
Akelpad is easy to use right out out of the box, so if you're not a "power user" but you still don't like Notepad and want to try an alternative, fear not, you can just accept Akelpad's defaults and start using it, just the way you do with Notepad (or ++). But if you are even the teeniest bit a customizer, then Akelpad is the text editor for you--certainly a far better alternative for this purpose than Notepad++. And you don't have to be anything more than a run-of-the-mill power user. If you're at all comfortable with the command line or Windows batch files and you use Notepad++, you should ditch the latter right now and switch to Akelpad posthaste. Its menu, both top and right-click, can be fully customized to your heart's content with easy-to-understand syntax. Again, no real programming skill needed, just a bit of familiarity with how Windows batch files work, and you can get rid of all menu options you never use and add ones you do use but might not even be there by default.
And shortcuts. Ah, the shortcuts! All Akelpad's keystrokes are fully customizable through its Hotkeys plugin (get rid of any you don't like or which cause you problems, change to whatever combination you want, etc.). What's awesome about this feature is that Akelpad has keyboard shortcuts for almost anything the program itself can do.
So who wins in Akelpad-vs.-Notepad++? For the past year-and-a-half at work I've been forced to use Notepad++. Better than regular Notepad, yes, but can't hold a candle to Akelpad. Believe me, I've tried. When I initially started using Notepad++ and came up against features/defaults that weren't good for me, I spent hours reading documentation and searching the web for ways to make it do what I wanted. All too often the answer was no, Notepad++ can't do that, or Too bad, you can't change that keystroke or option. Oh, good news! there is this one thing you can do...oh no, turns out only in a mediocre sort of way. And so it went.
Here's just one example. Akelpad's clip utility, via a plugin called Clipboard, is waaaay better than Notepad++'s half-baked equivalent (I forget what it's called, but it's when text you cut/copy is displayed line by line in a pane to the window's right). Akelpad accumulates your copied/cut text snippets differentiated by hard returns or special text signs you designate or whatever combination of the two you like; and it does so in their own accompanying subwindow over which you have realtime editorial control (you can type into it, modifying the snippets after they're added, space them out further with additional hard returns or whatever, reorder them by cutting and pasting, then continue adding more snippets). And the cherry on top: if you're copying/cutting from Akelpad itself rather than another program, either the current file or another one you have open in a different tab or separate Akelpad window, its toggle Autocopy function automatically copies the text to the clipboard when you merely select it--no need to do Ctrl-C, just highlight and ta-da, it's in the subwindow. Awesome!
Another few miscellaneous observations: Akelpad gives you perfect, absolute control over automatically saving your work--at any time interval you choose, or whenever you switch to some other program. I've found this to be a lifesaver. Akelpad can also split the window when you're working on a file, allowing you to edit the same document in two different places simultaneously (great when cutting and pasting to restructure a document). And if you are a programmer, note that Akelpad was originally written for you. It has a whole suite of programming features and plugins that I've never touched b/c I don't develop, but which I have no doubt would be amazing. At least give it a try.
It is true that Akelpad's defaults out of the box bug me in various ways (some of its default keystrokes can be downright harmful for my workflow when I hit them by accident), but that's no problem because every single feature of Akelpad that matters, as far as I can tell after using it heavily for well over a decade, can be straight-up eliminated. Or else I can customize it so it works better for me. And that means you can make it work exactly the way you want, too.
A quick digression to finish up. Last summer when I moved from Windows 10 to 11, I spent a horrendous amount of time trying to configure Windows 11 into what I considered a workable state. The effort has been horrifically frustrating; although what we really should ask for are the halcyon days of Windows 7, Windows 11 is so bad that I'd settle for going back to Win9x even with its daily BSOD's. Anyway, I've finally decided that next time I have to get a new computer, it won't have Windows on it. I'm making the jump to Linux. So what does that have to do with Akelpad? Alas, Akelpad does not have a Linux version, and the developer has confirmed that he doesn't plan to ever create one. Last April/May I did toy with the idea of moving to Linux rather than "upgrading" to Windows 11, but losing Akelpad (as well as Corel WordPerfect, by far the best word-processing package available because of Reveal Codes, with which MS Word's ripoff feature of same name cannot compare) was one of the factors in my decision to continue with Windows. I just didn't want to live without the incredible Akelpad. Unfortunately, Micro$oft has now driven me over the edge, so in another couple of years, when Redmond forces everyone to Windows 12 (or whatever they decide to call it), it'll be goodby to Akelpad. And that's really gonna suck.
Long live Akelpad!
