Associate default language with specific extensions in Notepad++

If you use Notepad++ often, you may notice that it recognizes the type of file you open and provides nice synatx style for the language of the file. For example, it knows .js is a JavaScript file and .css is a CSS file. Each file type has its own unique style settings. There are a lot of these predefined file types, but what if Notepad++ doens’t support a file type you open often? If you want to make a custom file type use the same style of another type, just use the Style Configurator to define your own extensions.

In Notepad++ navigate to Settings > Style Configurator…

Choose a language on the left side that you want your own extension to match (i.e. if I want .configfiles to style like XML then I’d choose XML). In the User ext. field near the bottom, enter in your custom user extension without the dot in front of it (e.g. bpel for *.bpel files). Now open a new file and it will map that new extension to the style you’ve chosen.