Installing XML plugin in Notepad++

i recently started working on more XML data since i am trying to do more data transfer between databases.  i use notepad++ as my main editor and i wanted to keep using it with my XML data without having the need of installing another program on my computer.  i found out that that there was a plugin develop for notepad++ in order to allow me to use it as my XML editor.  the problem was that there was no documentation on how to install what file and where.  below you will be able to find the proper steps on how to do so.

NOTE: you need to have notepad++ installed in your computer before proceeding. if you don’t have notepad++ install you can click on this link.

  1. after you have notepad++ installed
  2. goto this link http://bit.ly/rcCK1N download these packages
    1. External libs -> ext_libs.zip
    2. XML Tools -> Xml Tools 2.3.1 r764 Unicode Beta1 -> xmltools_2.3.1_r805_unicode_beta2.zip
  3. when extracting the files here is where you will need to place them…
    i am going to assume that you have installed notepad++ in it’s default directory which is “C:\Program Files\Notepad++”
    1. the ext_libs.zip will extracted on “C:\Program Files\Notepad++”
    2. the xmltools_2.3.1_r805_unicode_beta2.zip will be extracted on “C:\Program Files\Notepad++\plugins”
  4. now, if you had notepad++ open, restart it and you should be able to use the XML plugin …

enjoy!!!

14 thoughts on “Installing XML plugin in Notepad++

  1. TJ

    I was having trouble installing my xml plugin until I read this. Thank you for posting this! It’s helped greatly!

    Reply
  2. Blake

    I followed what Sean said from the December 4th 2016 Post for Notepad++ v7.5.1 (32-bit) and it worked like a charm!

    Thanks!

    Reply
  3. Vanshdeep Kewlani

    On launching Notepad++ after pasting 64-bit plugin, it is giving me error. Strange thing is I have 64-bit Notepad++

    %1 is not a valid Win32 application.

    XMLTools.dll is not compatible with the current version of Notepad++.

    Do you want to remove this plugin from the plugins directory to prevent this message from the next launch?

    Also, on attempting to add plugins from Import plugins option, it is not working and XML plugin I downloaded using Get Plugins is also giving error.

    Reply
  4. Sean

    # Install Notepad++ 64-bit
    1. Navigate to https://notepad-plus-plus.org/download/v7.2.2.html
    2. Download “++ Installer 64-bit x64”
    3. Follow the steps to download Notepad++

    # Install XML Plugin in Notepad++ 64-bit
    4. Navigate http://bit.ly/rcCK1N
    5. Click on “Xml Tools 2.4.9 Unicode” folder
    6. Download “Xml Tools 2.4.9.2 x64 Unicode.zip” and unzip the folder
    7. Copy file “XMLTools.dll” into your Notepad++ “plugins” folder E.g. C:\Program Files\Notepad++\plugins
    8. Copy the contents of the the Xml Tools “dependencies” folder into the same directory as your notepad++.exe, E.g C:\Program Files\Notepad++
    9. Open Notepad++ > Plugins > XML Tools

    Reply
    1. SN

      Sorry I don’t mean to nitpick but it bothered me as a new Notepad++ user that your blog post came up as one of the first few search results when I googled notepad++ and XML plugin and you managed to make a simple installation procedure so muddled up when it shouldn’t have been so!
      It would’ve made it a taaaaaad bit clearer if you just didn’t talk about ext_libs.zip which does not exist.
      What does exist is an ext_libs folder under the zip file. Also extracting the zip file into “C:\Program Files\Notepad++” will create a folder called “ext_libs” surprise surprise (which is NOT what you want to do) …

      The clear concise steps are:
      1) Open the zip file using your favourite extract tool
      2) Extract XMLTools.dll to “C:\Program Files\Notepad++\plugins”
      3) Extract contents of ext_libs subfolder into “C:\Program Files\Notepad++”
      4) Restart Notepad++ and check if plugin is installed by clicking on the Plugins in the toolbar and you should see “XML Tools”

      Reply
      1. blacknred0 Post author

        I am glad that this was able to help you to some extend. As I see your updates, it seems that since I wrote this back in 2011 there have been tons of updates on how to install this plug-in.

        I hope that folks that would be installing newer XML plugin they are able to use your steps. 🙂

        Reply
      2. Debbie Welch

        I got a new PC and am having to re-install my XMLTools plugin. I’m having a heckuva time. I tried your 4 steps, but when I click Plugins on the toolbar and see “XMLTools”, all it says is “How to use”, and when I click on that I see the message: “Unable to load libXML and/or libXSLT. Please download ext_libs.zip archive, extract libraries to NPP root directory (same directory than Notepad++.exe) and restart NPP”. It then gives links to the “required libraries”. Well, I already downloaded and extracted ext_libs to that location and still get this. Can you help? Thanks

        Reply
          1. Debbie Welch

            I finally got it resolved. I think I was missing the step of copying the files from \plugins\ext_libs to the Notepad++ root. Thanks!

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