Notepad++ Setting for Disabling Auto-open Previous Files

Question

How do I stop Notepad++ from loading all files from the past session?

Answer 1

My problem was that Notepad++ was crashing on a file I had previously opened; I was unable to open the application at all. This blog post discusses how to delete the data from the "Sessions" file so that Notepad++ will open without having any prior files open:

From the blog post:

Method 1 - edit session.xml

1. Open file session.xml in C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Notepad++ or %APPDATA%\Notepad++
2. Delete its contents and save it
3. Run Notepad++ , session.xml will get new content automatically

Method 2 - add the -nosession parameter to Notepad++ shortcut

1. Create a desktop shortcut referring to your Notepad++ program, e.g. C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe
2. Right click on this shortcut
3. In the "Target" field add the -nosession parameter so the target field looks exaxtly like (apostrophes included too): "C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe" -nosession
4. Save and run Notepad++ from this shortcut icon with no recent files

Note: This is not a permanent setting, this simply deletes the prior session's information / opened files and starts over.

Alternatively, if you know the file which is causing notepad++ to hang, you can simply rename the file and open notepad++. This will solve the problem.

I hadn't seen this solution listed when I was googling my problem so I wanted to add it here!