Permanently disable syntax highlighting in Notepad++ for all file types

I am trying to persistently turn off all syntax highlighting for all document types at all times. I understand that I can go to the menu and select "Language > None (Normal Text)" each time I open a file but that is a pain to do every time since it is not remembered. I have disabled all languages in the preference window (Settings > Preferences > Languages) but it still continues to recognize and highlight the syntax for my files. I don't think this has always been the behavior but I don't know how to stop it. Thanks for any help.

Notepad++ preferences window showing no languages selected

Notepad++ .ps1 document open showing PowerShell syntax highlighting despite disabling all languages

3 Answers

There doesn't seem to be a simple setting for this, but you can fairly easily create a custom style that has no syntax coloring:

1. Navigate to %AppData%\Notepad++.
2. Copy stylers.xml into the themes folder and give it a different name.
3. Edit the new file and remove everything within the <LexerStyles> tag (most of the file). Save.
4. (Re-)open Notepad++ and select the new theme in Settings > Style Configurator....

Results:

(You can also disable the other types of highlighting (the purple in the image) in Preferences > Highlighting, as described in lejurassian's answer.)

Peter F's answer actually helped me figure out a way that worked 100%. Yes, removing everything in "stylers.xml" does disable syntax highlighting. However, it still make opening big text files very slow for those that were recognized as a certain filetype. The syntax highlighting is gone but you could see in the bottom left of the application that it was still recognizing the language.

In %AppData%\Notepad++ I saw the langs.xml file there and deleting the offending languages there actually made opening and navigating the big files fast again. Now, it no longer recognizes those languages and shows up as "Normal Text."

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you guys--I had a problem with my account and I couldn't log in for a few days.

you can disable all colorations in preferences>disable syntax colorations

I hope this is what you are asking for... Have a nice day