Use of external editor option

Most of the time I'm using another editor like Notepad++ on Windows or Geany on Linux for editing my source files.

The problem is: I'm not really happy with or without enabling the "Use external editor" option.

If it's enabled and I open an example file provided by a library, I can't save it as a new file (which I have to) because the "Save" and "Save as..." options in the File menu are disabled. Also if I just want to open a file and save it under a new name I can't.

If I _don't_ use this option, the IDE isn't reloading the file at all (if changed by another program) - even if I reload the file from the open recent list in the File menu! I have to close and reopen the whole IDE - which is a little bit annoying.

There are certainly several "solutions" for this, here are just some ideas:
- Add a "reload file", "refresh" or "reload file from disk" option to the file menu, which allows the user to manually reload a file if he _knows_ or assumes it was changed externally.
- Let the IDE always check for changes if the main window lost focus (and regained it).
- Enable the "Save" and "Save as" options even when "Use external editor" option is selected.
- Add a button to actually open an external editor (provided in the preferences) with the current file. This would make the option IMHO much more useful.
- But on the other hand: Is it really necessary to disable editing altogether if an external editor will be used? The idea behind this seems to be to protected the external editor from changes. But **if** someone uses an external editor she/he will most certainly use a potent one which will most certainly be able to detected changes by itself anyway (like Notepad++ does for example).

Somehow I think this option is incomplete and should be reworked. Either by making it easier to use or by removing it altogether and make the IDE more robust regarding external file changes.

The issue names the "Use external editor" option, the File menu, and preferences but no source files or tests. Start by locating the implementation of external-editor mode and file reload/save handling, then clarify which behavior should be adopted. Done requires an agreed, testable design for editing, reloading externally changed files, and launching the configured editor.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.