Feature request: Portable updater that saves settings

[Monospace-V]

Description of the Enhancement

Ability to update a portable app without losing settings. This features two sub-enhancements:

1. The updater should use the portable version of the app if the pre-existing version being used is portable.
2. Installing a portable shouldn't change the settings. This itself can be done in two ways: a) Make the updater such that it saves the settings and doesn't replace them (assuming point 1 is followed through on) b) (assuming 1 is NOT followed through on,) Do not keep a settings file in the app folder by default. Let it get created the first time the app is run, and subsequently each time a settings file isn't detected (same with the shortcuts xml, and any other files that store user-saved settings). This way, if there is a preexisting file, it won't be replaced when one is extracting the N++ portable folder, and will instead be detected and used by the application. If required, the preexisting settings file can be updated with new options, but shouldn't be replaced by a clean vanilla settings file. (Otherwise, the old settings file is generally displaced by the one in the folder when we extract and replace the files.) (This is similar to what music creation application LMMS does. It creates the settings file whenever it's not detected, and reinstalling/updating generally saves your settings because the settings file is detected and therefore not replaced altogether, only edited.)

Related post in the community forums: https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/topic/21813/enhancement-to-portable-app

[Korb]

I think updating a portable version of an application is well done in the case of applications like Fan Control, Mozilla Thunderbird Portable / Mozilla Firefox Portable, AllDup, Foobar2000, CDBurnerXP, EiskaltDC++, Far Manager... None of them require you to delve into anything like that. They simply update the application with all user settings preserved, without dancing with a tambourine or risk of permanent loss of user data.

[xomx]

If you don't mind to use the N++ PythonScript plugin: https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/post/95098 https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/topic/26049/config-files-need-updating-too

[Korb]

For many years, data loss when updating the portable version has been a very common problem faced by Notepad++ users:

2015-08-17 Is there some page that explains how to update the portable version? 2016-09-26 Updating portable edition while keeping prior version's settings 2019-03-08 How to update the portable version? 2019-09-03 How can I update my portable 64bit Notepad++ without losing my settings / data? 2019-11-25 Updating Notepad++ Using Zip File (...) how do I update and retain these setting? 2022-05-09 Why do updates reset some settings? (...) I update manually using the portable zip package 2023-01-18 Updating to a new installed version vs. portable version