1. Notepad++ Column Mode: Edit Text Vertically, Not Just Line by Line
Most people treat Notepad++ as a smarter Notepad, but one of the most powerful Notepad++ hidden features is Column Mode. Instead of selecting text only from left to right, Column Mode lets you work on a vertical slice of your document across many lines. Hold Alt and drag with the mouse, or use Alt + Shift with the arrow keys, and you’ll see a rectangular selection appear. This is ideal for editing CSV-like text, aligning code, or inserting the same characters in the same position on multiple lines at once. It works best with a monospaced font so each character takes up equal space. After a few uses, you’ll stop manually clicking every line to fix repetitive alignment issues and start thinking about your documents in two dimensions instead of one.
2. Notepad++ Multi-Editing: Type Once, Update Dozens of Places
If you constantly reach for Find and Replace, multi-editing in Notepad++ will feel like a superpower. Once enabled in Settings → Preferences under the Editing section, a checkbox called “Enable Multi-Editing (Ctrl + Mouse click /selection)” lets you place multiple carets throughout a document. Hold Ctrl and click wherever you want to type the same content, or Ctrl + drag to select different text ranges. Every caret becomes active at once, so whatever you type or delete happens in all those spots simultaneously. If you misplace one, just Ctrl-click it again to remove that single caret without disturbing the others. This is perfect for renaming variables in similar code blocks, adjusting repeated phrases in long notes, or cleaning up structured text. It’s a smarter, more controlled alternative to blanket replacements that often change more than you intended.
3. NotebookLM Image Sources: The Underrated Shortcut for Real-World Content
NotebookLM is already a favorite for working through long documents, but one of the best NotebookLM tips is to rely on image sources, not just PDFs and links. Image uploads started as basic OCR, mainly useful for screenshots packed with text. With newer multimodal capabilities, NotebookLM can now understand what’s actually in the image, not just the letters on it. That means you can snap a photo of a whiteboard, a sketched diagram, UI mockups, or a physical page and then ask targeted questions, extract structure, or generate summaries. On the web, images act like any other source, while on mobile you can jump straight into a new image source from the camera button. Once you build a habit of capturing visuals into a notebook, NotebookLM becomes a central place to reason about both your written and visual research.
4. IT-Tools: One Free Web App That Replaces a Dozen Browser Utility Tabs
If your browser is cluttered with pinned tabs for converters, formatters, and random helper sites, a category of free productivity tools can clean things up: browser utility apps like IT-Tools. Instead of separate sites for JSON formatting, timestamp conversion, encoding, and hashing, IT-Tools bundles more than 60 utilities into one ad-free web interface. You can format and validate JSON as you type, search for a “timestamp” tool to debug API responses in seconds, or replace those forgettable “decode string” sites with built-in encoders and URL encoders. The hash generator is especially useful when you don’t want to paste sensitive values into unknown servers. You can use it directly in your browser or self-host it with a simple Docker command. The result is fewer bookmarks, fewer new tabs, and a faster path from problem to solution.
5. Long-Time User? You’ve Probably Only Scratched the Surface
Years of daily use can trick you into thinking you really know your tools. Yet Notepad++ hidden features like Column Mode and multi-editing show how much can hide behind familiar menus. NotebookLM tips around image sources reveal that a feature you once ignored can become the centerpiece of your workflow once the underlying tech improves. And browser utility apps like IT-Tools demonstrate that you don’t necessarily need more extensions—just a smarter way to consolidate what you already do. The practical takeaway: schedule small, deliberate experiments. Explore one settings panel in a favorite app each week, or replace a niche bookmark with a multi-tool alternative. Those tiny tweaks compound into real productivity gains, without spending anything or learning a completely new platform from scratch.
