Edit files on FTP with Notepad++ plugin
My main issue with WordPress engine this blog is running on – editing files online sucks. Despite all that online applications hype web browsers never meant to be text editors and totally fail as such.
There is tried and true option of downloading file from FTP, editing it and uploading back. I am so not patient enough for that. Luckily Notepad++ came to rescue with its FTP plugin.
What it does
Notepad++ by itself is great text editor and I had previously covered that. FTP plugin effectively makes it capable of editing file on FTP server. It’s not actually editing remote files, more like editing copy of file which is automatically synchronized to server.
Setup
Plugins > FTP_synchronize > Show FTP Folders will display plugin interface in sidebar-like fashion. You can make it float by double-clicking title.
Settings button shows dialog where you have to input your login details. Don’t forget to press New button first. You can also specify starting directory – useful if you work in specific subfolder (like WordPress theme one).
After that pressing connect button and selecting profile loads folder tree in plugin window. More buttons to play with but in general double-clicking file will open it for editing and saving file (in usual way) will update it on server .
Just don’t forget to make backup of everything first, it’s easy to get carried away and break something on your site.
Notepad++ update
Version 5.1 was released recently. Program got separated into Unicode (main fork) and ANSI (for Win98 and earlier) versions.
I got some problems with copying it over my old version so had to do clean install. Not all plugins are Unicode compatible at moment either.
Download page http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=95717&package_id=102072
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gHacks
This is something I most definitely have to give a try. I agree with you, editing in WP is not the way to go and as a result I also FTP an awful lot.
I use Filezilla to edit files on FTP on the fly…Have you tried both?
@Lyndi
It’s bit rough (Notepad++ plugins are not too user friendly in general) but works very well. :) I often tweak parts of design offline but it’s still very useful to implement and change them online and quickly.
@Ben
I’ve only used Filezilla under Linux a bit. It’s not one of my usual tools. Good idea to check it out btw, WordPress upped amount of messing with FTP
Thanks, Rarst! That’s something I’ve been looking for. Very useful :)
@Ky
Glad to be of use as always. :)
I use editplus with ftp to edit my wordpress and website files. I think notepad++ and editplus are almost the same.
Have you used editplus. Do you see any more advantages in shifting me to notepad++ ??
@Nihar
Hadn’t tried EditPlus, it’s shareware right? Notepad++ is open source and based on Scintilla core. It may not be the most stable ever but I like functions set.
Notepad++ is my default editor for txt,php,css,html and a bunch of other formats.
I remember seeing the ftp plugin but never bothered setting it up. Might do it now.
@Pallab
Yeah, plenty of things in Notepad++ that are there but not really visible.
Thanks for commenting and welcome to blog. :)
Damn…How could I miss this! Thanks for pointing me to this. Its super easy and cool.
@Navjot Singh
No problem. :) As I said above there is really lots of miss-able stuff in Notepad++. Thanks for your visit and comment.