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Where do "unsaved" editor notes actually live on disk?

Last updated 2026-08-17 · Confidence: documented — Notepad++‘s user manual, VS Code’s blog and source code; the Windows Notepad tab store is reported, the macOS paths inferred, as tagged.

Notes that “just appear” when you open an editor aren’t really unsaved — a session-restore file holds them at a real path, so an agent with file access can read them even when you can’t name the folder.

Notepad++: %AppData%\Notepad++\backup

Section titled “Notepad++: %AppData%\Notepad++\backup”

With session snapshot and periodic backup enabled (Settings → Preferences → Backup), Notepad++ “will auto-save your changed file once every N seconds to the listed directory (default to %AppData%\Notepad++\backup\)”. Never-saved tabs become files named new NNN@yyyy-mm-dd_hhmmss, matching the tab title; “Remember current session for next launch” is what makes them reappear.

Windows 11 Notepad: binary tab files

Section titled “Windows 11 Notepad: binary tab files”

The tabbed Notepad keeps every tab — saved or not — as .bin files under %LocalAppData%\Packages\Microsoft.WindowsNotepad_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\TabState. Unsaved text sits inside the binary and is extractable; closing a tab deletes its file.

VS Code and kin: hot exit

Section titled “VS Code and kin: hot exit”

VS Code’s hot exit makes “periodic backups of unsaved files” and restores them on next launch or after a crash. They live in <user data dir>/Backups — %AppData%\Code\Backups on Windows, ~/Library/Application Support/Code/Backups on a Mac (tried — folder present on a Mac this session; empty, since backups clear once restored).

macOS document apps

Section titled “macOS document apps”

Mac apps autosave unsaved documents too — TextEdit’s are widely placed under ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.TextEdit/Data/Library/Autosave Information, non-sandboxed apps under ~/Library/Autosave Information.

These are restore mechanisms, not durable storage: closing a tab or resetting the app can delete them. Notes you rely on deserve a real save — and a stable path.

Q&A from calls

Section titled “Q&A from calls”

“My daily notes just appear when I open Notepad++ — I’ve never saved them. Where are they?” In the session-backup folder above. The zero-effort route, which worked live (tried — a Claude Code session located and read the notes, 2026-05-25): tell a local agent “these notes just appear when I open the app”, give it one sentence from a note, and let it search — approving the file-listing permission it asks for (see Permission modes).

Sources

Section titled “Sources”