Using Notepad++ to edit online files

While I was updating the look of my blog I found Notepad++, a Windows notepad replacement one of the most useful tools ever. It gives you syntax highlighting for many programming languages, advanced search and replacement features, line collapsing, ftp down and uploading and so on, but if you just need a simple text editor it’s great as well.

I used it to be able to modify my blog template and php files without the need to upload then after each save. Another feature I found very helpful was automatic line collapsing. This means that it knows where a <div> element begins and ends for example (it also handles many other block elements), enabling me to just collapse lines I don’t need.

Using it to edit online files is also very simple. You need to configure the ftp client, but if you have your server details this should be a cinch. Once you have configured the client, you can connect to the server and access the files. They will be opened inside Notepad++ in a new tab and you can edit the contents. When you save the document it will be uploaded automatically, so you can see the changes immediately online.

First of all, find the icon (fifth from the right) which is labeled “show ftp folders”. Next, click the “open settings dialog” in the sidebar that just opened. You may also want to click the newly opened bottom window as well, this is for server messages and is only needed if you are an ftp whiz or if something goes wrong. So in the settings dialog, click new (at the bottom), type in a name and click rename. Edit the server details as needed, press ok, and you are ready to connect.

Just navigat through the folders as you would do normally, you can even perform folder actions. Double click on an item to open it, and when you save it, it will be uploaded automatically. Your productivity will increase by a lot using this app, no more downloading, renaming, renaming and other types of misery.