EmEditor v26.0.0 Released — Faster Open/Replaces, Color Fonts, Favorites, and Chat with AI

We released EmEditor v26.0.0 today.

To improve web page loading times, developers often “minify” JavaScript, CSS, and HTML by stripping out line breaks and spaces. Similarly, data formats like XML and JSON may be compressed into a single line to make them easier to process as a continuous stream, even if that hurts readability. Some types of scientific data are even more extreme—for example, genome sequences (A, T, G, C) can be stored as one uninterrupted string billions of characters long. Files like these are becoming more common, and we’ve frequently heard from users that they can slow EmEditor down. Because these files contain extraordinarily long single lines, they can significantly impact performance. In v26.0, we reviewed and optimized our internal code using multithreading and SIMD, and our tests show open/search/replace performance improvements of 2.2× to 666× compared to the previous version.

EmEditor has supported Unicode since its early days, but entering characters that are hard to type—such as uncommon kanji, foreign-language characters, or emoji—used to be awkward. You had to open Insert > Special Characters (Ctrl+Shift+I), enter a code value, insert the character, and repeat the process each time. In v26.0, we redesigned this dialog as a custom bar that can stay open while you work. It now also supports searching by Unicode name and Unicode block, displays results in a large, easy-to-read font, and can render color-capable characters (such as emoji) in color. For example, searching for “smiling” will return many smiling-face emoji.

The Character Code Value dialog (Ctrl+I) has also been updated to display characters in a large, color font, making complex characters and emoji easier to recognize.

Based on customer feedback, we expanded the Favorites feature. In addition to files, you can now register folders as favorites. Selecting a folder opens the Open File dialog so you can choose the file you want. We also improved drag-and-drop behavior: when you drag multiple files in from Explorer, EmEditor won’t add duplicates if the same file name (with no line/column specified) is already in the list.

Markdown commands for bold, italic, and code now work even when no text is selected. For example, if you run the Markdown Bold command with nothing selected and then start typing, the text you enter will be inserted as bold.

The Undo/Redo History dialog, which has long been available as a modeless window, has been converted into a custom bar. This makes it easier to keep the history visible in a convenient spot while you continue editing.

Makoto Emura enhanced his Chat with AI and Commit List plug-ins. In Chat with AI, we added a “+ File” button on the left side of the input box so you can upload a selected file to your prompt if you are using an OpenAI model. This not only makes it easier to send more content than you could by typing or pasting, but also lets you attach supported files such as HTML, PDF, and Word. This feature uses OpenAI’s file search feature. Uploading a file typically uses less tokens than pasting the entire file text to the chat. We also added the ability to search within chat history (past conversations). Note that AI features—including Chat with AI—require installing the separate ChatAI plug-in in addition to EmEditor.

In Commit List, we improved performance across multiple operations, including displaying the changes list and commit history.

We also fixed issues found during the preview build.

We hope both the Pro and Free editions meet your expectations. If you have questions, feature requests, or ideas, please contact us.

We appreciate your continued support of EmEditor.
— Yutaka Emura

For details, including major changes and screenshots, see “What’s New in Version 26.0.”

If you use the Desktop Installer edition, update from Help > Check for Updates. If that doesn’t work, download the latest version and run the installer. We expect the Microsoft Store release in the next few days. If you download the MSI directly, please confirm that the digital signature is signed by Emurasoft, Inc.