By default, NotePad++ has a number of browsers included in the Run menu including:

• Firefox
• Internet Explorer
• Safari
• Chrome

However, depending on where these browsers are installed on your computer they may not work. For example, I have Firefox Portable installed, so, the command to launch it is D:\Programs\Firefox\FirefoxPortable.exe.

To update the shortcuts listed on the Run menu, you need to edit the file shortcuts.xml in the NotePad++ installation directory (e.g. C:\Program Files\NotePad++\shortcuts.xml). However there’s a catch. You can’t edit this file with NotePad++. Instead, edit with another text editor (e.g. plain old NotePad). If you edit this file with NotePad++ the changes won’t persist – and the file will be reset back to its defaults.

Here’s the change I made to the file for Firefox Portable:

<Command name="Launch in Firefox" Ctrl="yes" Alt="yes" Shift="yes" Key="88">
D:\Programs\Firefox\FirefoxPortable.exe &quot;$(FULL_CURRENT_PATH)&quot;
</Command>