How to configure Notepad++ to always open in a new window

I tend to work with multiple documents open in front of me at once, so I can compare or copy code snippets from different sources. I generally use Notepad++ as my text editor, but the default behavior for Notepad++ is to open multiple documents in tabs within a single instance. There are ways to change that behavior, and every time I change computers or reinstall Notepad++, I find myself having to go look them up again. So here they are for my own convenience and maybe yours.

If you’re launching Notepad++ from a command line or a shortcut, you can simply add -multiInst as a command line argument.

Notepad++ Command Line Switches

However, that doesn’t alter the behavior when you open a document from the Windows Explorer context menu by clicking “Edit with Notepad++”. A more global way of making the application open in a new instance every time is to place an empty file named asNotepad.xml in the Notepad++ Program Files directory.

Notepad++ Configuration Files

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