Updated: May 15, 2010
Did you know Notepad++ has a built-in plugin manager? Well, it does! We have talked about Notepad++ in the past. It's a powerful, versatile text editor for Windows, with a colossal, mind-boggling range of capabilities. I like to dub it the Firefox of text editors, due to its extremely extensible and modular nature.
Another thing that makes Notepad++ fit well with the Firefox metaphor is the self-update check capability. But this goes more than just updating the editor's core files. Indeed, just like Firefox, Notepad++ lets you update its plugins from within the program itself, without leaving the comfort of its use. Follow me.
Introducing Notepad++ Plugin Manager
The Plugin Manager hides in the Plugins sub-menu.
And you have a rather familiar interface.
The interface has three tabs, with the Available tab open by default, listing all of the installable plugins, by name, category, available version, and stability. To see what each one offers, simply click on it. If you want the plugin, click Install in the right bottom corner.
After installing a new plugin, you will need to restart the program:
Similarly, you can browse the installed plugins or check for updates.
BTW, like Firefox, it performs a basic plugin check on launch, recommending disabling unsafe or unstable plugins. Very, very handy. This is quite important if you use Notepad++ as your HTML editor or for code development, where stability is of paramount importance. Here's a handful of screenshots taken on another Notepad++ blessed host:
Conclusion
Notepad++ proves that it is really a tremendous tool, each day revealing another highly useful functionality you would not expect from a program that is essentially a text editor. Combined with a horde of innovative and productive features, Notepad++ makes working with thousands of files in all sorts of formats, be they notes, HTML code or shell scripts, a real treat.
If you're a Windows user and would like a shot at a whole new level of text processing, you should definitely try Notepad++.
Cheers.