⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ – The go-to diff tool inside Notepad++. 2. NppFTP (Remote file editing) | Feature | Details | |---------|---------| | Purpose | FTP, SFTP, FTPS file access | | Best for | Web developers, sysadmins | | Key strengths | Works like a remote sidebar; auto-upload on save | | Weakness | No SSH terminal; slow on many files; security key setup can be tricky | | Performance | Good for small to medium projects | | Use case | Edit .php , .html , .css directly on a server |

⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ – Useful but basic; prefer dedicated FTP clients for heavy use. 3. XML Tools (Essential for structured data) | Feature | Details | |---------|---------| | Purpose | Validate, format, XPath, transform XML | | Best for | Developers working with XML/JSON-like data | | Key strengths | Pretty print, check well-formedness, XPath evaluation | | Weakness | No JSON support (use JSMin or manual) | | Performance | Fast, even with large XML | | Use case | Validate config files (Web.config, pom.xml) |

⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ – Replaces many IDE features with minimal setup. 5. Explorer Plugin (File tree sidebar) | Feature | Details | |---------|---------| | Purpose | File system browser inside Notepad++ | | Best for | Project navigation without an IDE | | Key strengths | Drag-drop, right-click menu, follow active doc | | Weakness | No Git integration; slower than VS Code’s explorer | | Performance | Good for folders < 10,000 files | | Use case | Navigate a source code folder quickly |

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Must-have for XML work. 4. NppExec (Run scripts inside editor) | Feature | Details | |---------|---------| | Purpose | Execute external commands (compilers, scripts) | | Best for | Build automation, lightweight dev environments | | Key strengths | Capture output, filter errors, assign hotkeys | | Weakness | No GUI debugger; scripting syntax is primitive | | Performance | Lightweight | | Use case | Compile a C file with gcc and show errors |