notepad-cleanup

Extract and organize text from all open Windows 11 Notepad tabs using AI-powered categorization.

What It Does

Windows 11 Notepad supports multiple tabs, making it easy to accumulate dozens of text snippets, code fragments, notes, and temporary data across multiple windows. notepad-cleanup extracts all that text in one command, deduplicates it against previous sessions, and organizes it into categorized folders using AI.

Installation

pip install notepad-cleanup

For virtual environments, source installs, and Claude Code CLI setup, see docs/install.md.

notepad-cleanup extract                    # Extract all Notepad tabs
notepad-cleanup compare --last --link auto # Find and link duplicates
notepad-cleanup organize --last            # AI categorization (duplicates become symlinks)
notepad-cleanup links separate --last      # Optional: split out linked files to see only new content

Features

• Two-phase extraction -- Silent WM_GETTEXT for loaded tabs, UI Automation for unloaded tabs
• Cross-session deduplication -- Compare against historical sessions with exact and fuzzy matching
• Filesystem linking -- Replace duplicates with hardlinks, symlinks, or DazzleLink descriptors
• Link-aware organization -- AI categorizes all files, but duplicates become symlinks in organized/ instead of copies. Preserves the connection network back to canonical sources
• Separate/join links -- Split organized/ into new files vs linked duplicates, or rejoin them
• Configuration system -- Unified folder registry with ... notation, MRU history, persistent settings
• Diff integration -- Auto-generated scripts for Beyond Compare, WinMerge, VS Code, etc.

Usage

First-time setup

notepad-cleanup config add "C:\Users\YourName\Desktop\Notepad Organize"
notepad-cleanup config set search "...1"
notepad-cleanup config set diff_tool bcomp

Daily workflow

notepad-cleanup extract                    # 1. Extract all tabs
notepad-cleanup compare --last             # 2. Find duplicates
notepad-cleanup diff --last                # 3. Spot-check in diff tool
notepad-cleanup compare --last --link auto # 4. Link duplicates
notepad-cleanup organize --last            # 5. AI categorization (dupes become symlinks)
notepad-cleanup links separate --last      # 6. Optional: see only new files
notepad-cleanup links join --last          # 7. Optional: rejoin everything

After setup, --last auto-uses the most recent extraction. No path copy-pasting.

Commands

For full parameter documentation, see docs/parameters.md.

Documentation

Output Structure

notepad-cleanup/nc-2026-03-16__08-15-30/
├── manifest.json                  # Extraction metadata
├── window01/
│   ├── tab01.txt                  # Raw extracted files
│   ├── tab02.txt
│   └── tab03.txt
├── window02/
│   └── tab01.txt
├── organized/                     # AI-organized output (after organize step)
│   ├── code-snippets/
│   │   ├── process-data.py
│   │   └── batch-rename.bat
│   ├── personal-notes/
│   │   └── grocery-list.txt
│   └── _summary.md               # Organization summary
├── _compare_results.json          # Dedup comparison cache
├── _compare_diffs.cmd             # Diff script for spot-checking
├── _dedup_links.json              # Link manifest (if --link used)
├── _organize_prompt.md            # AI prompt used
└── _organize_log.txt              # Claude CLI output

How It Works

Phase 1: Silent Extraction

Uses WM_GETTEXT message to read text from RichEditD2DPT child windows. This is completely silent and invisible -- no focus changes, no window activation, no disruption to your workflow.

Limitation: Only works for tabs that have been loaded (visited) at least once in the current Notepad session. Unloaded tabs have no RichEditD2DPT control yet, so they cannot be read silently.

Phase 2: Tab Switching (Announced)

For unloaded tabs, uses UI Automation (TabItem.Select()) to activate each tab, which forces Windows to load the RichEditD2DPT control. Once loaded, the same WM_GETTEXT method reads the content.

Warning: This steals focus and activates Notepad windows. The tool warns you before Phase 2 starts and waits for confirmation. Do not type or click during Phase 2.

Organization with AI

After extraction, Claude Code CLI:

1. Reads manifest.json to understand the collection
2. Reads each extracted file to determine content type
3. Returns a JSON plan with categories and renamed filenames
4. The tool executes the plan locally (copy files to organized folders)

Requirements

• Windows 11 (uses Windows 11 Notepad tab features)
• Python 3.10+
• Claude Code CLI (optional, for organize step)

For detailed installation instructions, see docs/install.md.

Development

git clone https://github.com/DazzleTools/notepad-cleanup.git
cd notepad-cleanup
python -m venv venv
venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -e .

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Like the project?

License

notepad-cleanup, Copyright (C) 2026 Dustin Darcy.

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 — see LICENSE for full details.