Editing/Opening Files

For basic editing WinSCP offers a simple integrated text editor. For advanced editing you will probably want to configure your favorite editor.

Some external editors can open multiple files in one process. Usually such editors have some kind of tabbed interface, but it is also the case of Microsoft Word.

If such an editor is already running and WinSCP runs a second instance to open a new file, then the second instance just notifies the first to open the new file and exits immediately.

To allow using this kind of editor, WinSCP does not treat the file as closed when the editor launched to open it is closed.

If you choose to edit the same file again during the same session, WinSCP will download it to the same temporary directory as before, allowing the external editor to reload the file content in case it still has it opened (assuming the editor can detect the change).

One drawback of this approach is that all of the files ever edited by the current instance of WinSCP are kept in a temporary directory (until WinSCP is closed). WinSCP watches for changes to them all.

If you want to avoid that, you need to make sure that your editor opens each file in a separate window (process). Some editors do that by default while some offer a configuration option for that (see below). If either is the case, then configure your editor as an external editor for WinSCP and enable preference option External editor opens each file in separate window (process). WinSCP will then treat the file as closed when the editor launched to open it is closed. Note that this setting only affects the “edit” operation. So you may want to make sure that editing is the default operation for double-click.

Learn how to select between opening files in a separate or the same window for some popular editors.

The internal editor supports only Windows-format text files. Thus the text transfer mode is forced when transferring remote file to/from the internal editor.

If you want to edit binary files you need to use external editor that supports binary files (and make sure preference option Force text transfer mode for files edited in external editor is unchecked). The configured transfer mode will then be used even for transfers to/from external editor. Note that if you have configured binary transfer mode, your external editor must support server-side format of text files (Unix format usually), if you still want to edit them.

When remote file is downloaded to editor or uploaded from editor, default transfer settings or settings of active preset are used, with some exceptions:

• Filename modification option is forced to “No change”.
• Replacement of characters not valid on Windows is enabled (original filename is restored on upload).
• File masks are ignored.
• Text transfer mode may be forced (see Editing Binary Files).
• Transfer resume support is disabled.

You can use command line parameter /edit to make WinSCP open a remote file in internal editor. This way, you can for example create a desktop shortcut that opens a remote file as easily as a local one.