Txt files open garbled

woldsweather · Dec 10, 2023

I reinstalled windows a week ago. Every .txt file I open in Notepad or Wordpad open garbled. Is there a fix?

A Guy · Dec 10, 2023

Check the encoding is set to ANSI or UTF-8

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A Guy

woldsweather · Dec 10, 2023

If I do save as it comes up as Ansi. If I save as ansi then reopened its still garbled.

abactuon · Dec 10, 2023

I don't use notepad so I'm not sure.
I'm like this.

Fabler2 · Dec 10, 2023

Try Apps- Default Apps- and Reset all default apps.

woldsweather · Dec 10, 2023

abactuon said:
I don't use notepad so I'm not sure.
I'm like this.
View attachment 80757
View attachment 80758

I have no idea what the above means.

Fabler2 said:
Try Apps- Default Apps- and Reset all default apps.

Reset to what?

trumpy81 · Dec 10, 2023

Could you grab a screenshot of the garbled text, so that we can see what the issue is please.

woldsweather · Dec 10, 2023

Here goes:

trumpy81 · Dec 10, 2023

Thanks for that.

That is NOT a text file, it is a .zip file. You need to extract the contents of that file, then you should be able to read the file/s contained in that archive.

Copy the file, rename it to xxx.zip and then extract the contents of the archive.

abactuon · Dec 10, 2023

woldsweather · Dec 11, 2023

This is definitely a file created in notebook and I could open it before my windows reinstall.

I never create zip files. This is a list of installed software I created before reinstalling windows.

woldsweather · Dec 11, 2023

Additionally if I try and open say 4/5 .txt files by the time I open the 5th there are 5 tabs open one for each file I tried,

LesFerch · Dec 11, 2023

First, you must turn on the display of file extensions. Running Windows with extensions turned off leads to all kinds of confusion.

In Explorer, click ⋯, Options, View tab, uncheck Hide extensions for known file types, and then click OK.

Next, turn off the Notepad feature that opens files automatically on startup.

In Notepad, click the gear (⚙) icon to bring up Settings:

Click When Notepad starts, and select Open a new window:

Close Notepad, test again, and let us know what you see.

SlicEnDicE · Dec 11, 2023

woldsweather said:
Here goes:

It is DEFINITELY a ZIP file. It says it in the file header of your screenshot. No matter what you try to claim otherwise, it's a compressed file and you need to extract it first.