Slate v0.4.0

Slate 0.4.0

Big files keep their unsaved changes now, network files no longer freeze the window, and there's a set of small editing features people expect, 13 more languages and an XML structure panel.

Download: Slate.exe below, for 64-bit Windows 10 or 11. If you have 0.2.0 or 0.3.0, it offers this update in its status bar by itself (Help → Check for updates asks right away).

Your work

• Unsaved changes to files over 64 MB come back after closing Slate, like smaller files' already did. Only what you typed or pasted is kept, never a copy of the file. If the original file changed or is gone when you come back, your edits aren't laid over it: the text you added opens in a tab of its own, the file opens as it is now, and Slate tells you why.
• A tab whose file is on a network share that doesn't answer waits and tries again by itself (or when you click Try now), and opens once the share is back.
• Files open and reload in the background: a slow share or disk no longer freezes the window ("Opening…" shows meanwhile).

Editing

• View → Show whitespace: spaces, tabs and line endings drawn faintly.
• The bracket next to the caret and its partner are highlighted.
• Reopen closed tab (Ctrl+Shift+T) brings back the last 20 closed files, at the same place.
• Close saved tabs and Close all tabs (they ask about unsaved changes as usual).
• Insert switches to overtype ("OVR" in the status bar).
• The status bar counts words and characters (of the selection, and of documents up to 64 MB), and shows the indentation in use: click it to change it.
• File → Restore last session and Format → Formatting indent are in the menus now.
• When the tabs don't fit, a button lists them all.
• slate notes.txt:120 (or :120:5) opens at that line.

Formats and colors

• 13 more languages: VBScript/VBA, AutoHotkey, TOML, nginx and Apache configuration, Perl, R, Terraform/HCL, CMake, .properties, subtitles (.srt, .vtt), calendars and contacts (.ics, .vcf) and Visual Studio solutions.
• Better detection by name, folder and content: .conf files are told apart (nginx, Apache, XML or INI), CMakeLists.txt, Jenkinsfile, .htaccess, .env.local, *.yaml.j2, and the hosts file.
• Code blocks in Markdown are colored in their language (```rust, ```json …).
• XML gets a path bar (catalog › book[3] › title) and a structure panel like JSON's, fast on huge files; Copy XML path copies the XPath.
• C++ digit separators and raw strings, C# nested interpolation, indented Sass and YAML strings over several lines are colored right.

Accessibility

• With Windows' high contrast on, Slate uses its colors.
• Magnifier and other tools that follow the text cursor can follow Slate's.

Help

• If Slate ever crashes, it writes a crash log and a small crash dump in its settings folder, and nowhere else. Help → Report a problem… opens a GitHub issue form with the version filled in, for you to complete and send yourself.
• Slate is open source under the MIT license.

Checksum: Slate.exe.sha256 (SHA-256 of Slate.exe).