AkelPad

the find dialog allows for 4 different direction options : down, up , beginning, in selection

and I set it to beginning, so I can search through the whole text no matter where caret is located, and it works great.

only problem is there's no "find previous" feature so the find is always carried out from the top to bottom, not the other way round.

two workarounds I found for now are:
1. temporarily change the direction options to "up" so the search direction is reversed.
2. enter the search term, close the dialog and press "shift + f3" whenever needed.

both do work but at the cost of more clicks and keystrokes which is of great inconvenience when there's a lot to search.

notepad plus, on the other hand, allows for find previous by pressing shift + enter whch I already tried in akelpad with no success.

better alternative or any heads-up for future update plan will be greatly appreciated.

F6 and then F3 or Shift+F3
The search dialog remains open.

dothen wrote:F6 and then F3 or Shift+F3
The search dialog remains open.

that's a good idea. I never thought defocusing the dialog would make a difference. thanks!

but with this method, it searches from where the caret is located, and it does not go back to the top when the last match was found(like wrap around feature offers in win 10 notepad)

This?
Menu -> Options -> Settings... -> Advanced -> Cycle search