NFOPad 1.65

Overview

NFOPad is a text file viewer and editor with features like direct scrolling, drag & drop support, automatic copy when selecting text, window auto width, Unicode support and many others. It is a freeware designed to make reading text files easier whilst keeping it so simple that you won’t have a single problem using it.

Installation

In one of the installation steps you are prompted to choose which additional features you want to include, such as additional language packs, associating the program with different file types (.nfo, .diz and .txt files) and adding the option to open any file with NFOPad in the context menu.

Interface

The interface is very plain but that’s not surprising since the developers had simplicity in mind when creating this program. There’s a menu bar, the text editing area and the status bar where you can see some information about the file. When you open a file, the font of the text is determined by the extension of the file but you can customize it manually yourself along with the background color, for .nfo and .txt files. A unique feature is the Alpha Blend option that when enabled the entire window becomes transparent. You can adjust the opacity level in the settings dialog to make it more or less transparent.

Pros

Inside any text file, all URLs and e-mail addresses are recognized by the program and converted into clickable items that once clicked either your web browser will open and direct you to the specified URL or your e-mail client will be launched to compose a new e-mail, depending on the type of link you clicked. In the settings window you can choose to disable this feature, or change the action needed to launch the browser or the e-mail client.

There is also the direct scrolling feature that eliminates the constant scrolling problem, as with it you can use the arrow keys to scroll the text instead of moving the scroll bar. You can completely disable it or change the way it works from the settings window as well.

Cons

When you want to read multiple files with NFOPad you have to open multiple instances of the program, but if there was tab support you would have all your text files gathered in one window and switch between them easily by changing tabs. This is not really considered a con but hopefully a feature like this will be implemented in the future to make NFOPad even better.

Alternatives

The first alternative that comes to mind is the good old Notepad, one of the most basic programs that Windows has in its toolset. In Notepad there are only a few features and options available, but if it were constantly updated up to this day, NFOPad would be its newest version. Check out the Text Editors Reviews section for more options.

Conclusion

With a variety of features and no actual bugs in our test, NFOPad seems to be an above average text viewer and editor, so if you want leave Windows’ Notepad and get something better, then this is a software that you should definitely check out.