Windows 10 Home 64-bit 21H2
Directory Opus 12.31 x64
Notepad++ 8.5.3 64-bit
After updating Notepad++ to 8.5.3 64-bit, “Edit with Notepad++” context menu is missing from Directory Opus.
The normal Windows Explorer is fine, no issue. It’s only missing from Directory Opus.
I'm not sure whether this is an issue with Notepad++ or Dopus, so I reported to both.
I think the Notepad++ devs are struggling with the new Windows 11 context menu type Microsoft introduced, which the entire world hates but has to deal with.
Nothing has changed on our side (yet), but a few weeks ago the problem was that Notepad++ menus were doubled in Opus (and some other tools) — Double entry of "Edit with Notepad++" in context menu — and now it seems the opposite problem is there.
If it's not showing up at all then AFAIK it's not something we're doing. It used to show up (twice!) and we haven't changed anything.
(We are planning to block their Windows 11 context menu so that only the old-style menu item appears, but that change hasn't been released yet. If you followed other threads, you may have done the same thing manually, in which case try unblocking it to see if that solves the issue. Let us know if it does, as we may need to revisit the planned change.)
When I go to Settings - Preferences - Miscellaneous - Advanced [Troubleshooting]: ignore_context_menus * , it is blank, the value is empty. I assume that means nothing is blocked by Opus.
I've also tried to add NotepadPlusPlus_* to allow_context_menus * , but it doesn't solve the issue.
Did you reboot after the update? Reading their release notes, that's required for the context menu changes.
(Edit: I may have misunderstood. Looking at the issue it links to for more detail, it was about having to reboot after previous updates.)
Yes, already tried to reboot. I'll wait for response from their side. Thanks.
The suggestion here might help:
It doesn't solve the issue for me. The context menu is there in Windows Explorer, but it's still missing in Opus.
Also tried to downgrade to NPP 8.5.2 and strangely it still has the same issue. Previously the context menu worked fine in Opus with NPP 8.5.2.
It was similar for me. Initially the context menu was working fine with v8.5.2 in both Explorer and DOpus.
I noticed the double entry in Opus after the latest Windows comul. update.
So it's probably the folks from Redmond messing with us again.
Have you tried all the steps I posted in the other thread?
Since you've already downgraded to .2 I'd suggest you close Opus completely, close all Explorer windows, open an elevated cmd prompt (elevated just in case), un-register the dll with
regsvr32.exe /u "C:\Program Files\Notepad++\contextMenu\NppShell.dll"
update NPP to .3,
then restart Explorer
I use this handly context menu - Explorer bugs out far too often to keep typing Taskkill commands into the console ^^
Restart Explorer - add to context menu.reg.txt (5.1 KB)
Restart Explorer - remove from context menu.reg.txt (206 Bytes)
(check the entries in Notepad if you're worried they might delete your pron, then remove the ".txt" and run the .reg. The menu entries will only appear on the desktop.)
I pick the option with pause most of the time, let the system settle down a second or two before I start a new explorer instance. I've actually managed to crash my system with a series of rapid explorer restarts, so I'm a bit more cautious these days.
Yes I have but it doesn't solve the issue. For now I just put a copy of Notepad++ shortcut in SendTo folder.
Thanks for the reply, really appreciate it.
The problems start with NPP 8.5.0 and later. If you uninstall NPP and install v.8.4.9 you will get the entry back, permanently. Until you update NPP, that is.
I still haven't found a solution. Sometimes the entry will briefly reappear (not its own, but e.g. after an install) but it will soon disappear for good.
You could add a similar context menu to run Notepad++ via Settings > File Types, if the normal one isn't appearing.
Thanks. Tried, but failed. Can't get to this part below (from the help file) to "Run an application".
I open File Types/New File Type Group, then to its Context Menu tab, press "New..." which leads to this:
Probably doing something wrong here, but don't know what. In Extensions I put .*
Add it to the All Files type (don't create a new type). "Standard function" is the correct choice. The exact UI shown depends on the type and whether it exists in File Explorer or just Opus.
Thanks, finally made it I think:
I know you can re-order Context Menu items within this section, but since it's the only entry, is there a way to "globally" re-order it or somehow prioritize over other context menu entries?
Re-ordering: No, only within a given section.
Quick tip:
"Explorer - the file manager" can be run separate (in it's own process) from "Explorer - the shell" ("the desktop").
That way only "Explorer the file manager" bugs out.
(likely because of a faulty shell extension; you can use NirSoft's Shell Extensions Manager to (temporary) disble suspicious ones.
Thx for the tip, NotNull.
I am already using that setting, though.
It's just that, with a certain frequency, the system feels rather laggy ... and in almost all of those cases when I check task manager there are several rather busy explorer instances, even when no file manager windows are open. I used to try to figure out the cause for weird behavior like that and spent way too much time reading logs and tracing back handles in 'Process Explorer'. But I'm done with that nonsense.
Explorer acts up, it gets the hammer.
Hi all,
This issue appears to have come back with a vengeance.
Windows 21H2
Notepad++ 8.5.5
After upgrading, the "Open with Notepad++" menu item no longer appeared.
Under 12.32, I get no notepad++ menu items whatsoever.
I also have the "Hide Windows items on file context menus" checked, but override it with the following:
> settings->file types->all files->context-menu->edit
Action: "Open with Notepad++"
Function:
FILETYPE CONTEXTMENU {B298D29A-A6ED-11DE-BA8C-A68E55D89593} CONTEXTFORCE
While I can see the context menu with the ID "B298D29A-A6ED-11DE-BA8C-A68E55D89593", is still in the registry, I'm starting to think this is the ID which 12.32 now permanently blocked (as mentioned in the faq), and has resulted in the "no menus" issue.
Using shift does reveal the additional windows menu items, but not the "Open with Notepad++" item.
The only solution which worked was rolling back to Notepad++ 8.4.9, and DOpus 12.31, though after upgrading to 12.32 again, the context menus are still working..
*** Some time later ***
I restested everything with a VM, a fresh install of Windows 10 21H2 and fresh installs of Notepad++ and DOpus.
I rolled back the VM to a clean snapshot between tests to ensure there was no interaction.. I kept all snapshots in case you have a patch to test. 
"Menu visible" - The "Edit with Notepad++" is visible with default DOpus configuration
"With Shift" - Enabled the "Hide Windows Item in the file context menu" under windows integration
"With FileType" - Added Settings->File Types->All Files->Context Menu settings as described above
| Dopus | NPP | Menu Visible | With FileType | With Shift |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12.31 | 8.4.9 | yes | yes | yes |
| 12.31 | 8.5.3 | no | no | no |
| 12.31 | 8.5.5 | no | no | no |
| 12.32 | 8.4.9 | yes | yes | yes |
| 12.32 | 8.5.3 | no | no | no |
| 12.32 | 8.5.5 | no | no | no |
Its fairly clear whatever NPP devs changed with the 8.5.x series, its not sitting well with DOpus at all.
That menu isn't blocked by default. It's the NotepadPlusPlus_* packaged COM (new Windows 11 style context menu) item which is blocked to avoid duplicates.
Based on the ongoing Notepad++ context menus issue on github, there seem to be random issues with the menus either not appearing or being duplicated in various software, different for each person on different machines. I think they are finding it difficult to make the new Windows 11 context menus work properly for whatever reason.
It might be easier to add your own Notepad++ context menu item via Opus's filetypes editor, since all it needs to do is run Notepad++ with the path to the selected file.
Edit: Example similar item I add for another text editor:
Changing the filetype to launch notepad with {filepath} gave me back the menu so everything is back to normal (for now).
Just for fun, I re-ran the test with windows 11, and got the following
Again, "Filetype Menu" specifically refers to using "Filetype context {...}" rather the more generic "c:...\notepad {filepath}".
| DOpus | NPP | Explorer Menu | Explorer Shift Menu | Dopus Menu | Filetype Menu | Dopus Shift Menu |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12.31 | 8.4.9 | no | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| 12.31 | 8.5.3 | yes | yes | dup | no | dup |
| 12.31 | 8.5.5 | yes | yes | dup | no | dup |
| 12.32 | 8.4.9 | no | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| 12.32 | 8.5.3 | yes | yes | yes | no | yes |
| 12.32 | 8.5.5 | yes | yes | yes | no | yes |
The worst part of testing this was windows 11 itself. Test scripts which worked on windows 10 behaved randomly on windows 11... so weird.
