January 26, 2009 at 14:0613 plugins to make Gedit a more convenient editor
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Let's give a little attention to the good old Gedit text editor. He is the default text editor for most Linux distributions using Gnome as a window manager. As it turned out, and as we will see later, Gedit supports plugins, among which there are many useful and interesting.
Although Gedit is installed by default with a set of plugins, you can of course add as many as you like. To install the plugin, you first need to download them to a local folder and extract the contents to a directory:
And finally, here is a list of the most popular plugins that you must install if you do a lot of text formatting:
Allows you to build blocks of text in columns quickly and easily. Just select the text to be formatted, go to Edit> Align, set the column separator, and that’s it, you got the columns. You no longer need to press TAB and position the text manually.
Auto tab defines offsets / spaces in the file and accordingly adjusts tabs on the fly. Very useful if you are editing code written using other editors.
Adds the ability to view the code of the web page that you are editing in gedit in various browsers such as Firefox, Opera, IE, conqueror, etc. Dreams come true for any web developer.
Allows you to view folders and files in the sidebar. Select the file you want to edit, double-click and it will open in a new tab.
Do you want to print in another language? Keyboard problems? Or are you wondering how µ appeared in µtorrent? No need to go far this Character Map plugin. Activate it and you can see the symbol map in the sidebar. In order to insert the desired character in the document, just click on it on the map.
As the name suggests, this plugin provides you with a class browser to view the source files. By enabling this plugin, you will get an overview of the various identifiers used in the code in the sidebar of the Gedit editor.
The plugin adds autocomplete to gedit. While you are typing, the plugin is trying to fill in the current word, based on the words that previously appeared in the current document. You can configure it for auto-replace or offer a replacement option by pressing Ctrl + Enter.
The External tools plugin allows you to add custom commands to the Tools menu. They can be run as external commands in the current file. A completely indispensable tool, given that everything can be achieved with text files and the Linux command line. Especially recommended if you are doing any repetitive work on text files.
What is a good text editor that does not have the ability to check the spelling? However, most text editors do not have this feature. Turn on the Spell plugin and add spellcheck in gedit. Sort plugin allows you to sort selected text. You do not need to use sort / sed / awk to sort files. This can be done right inside gedit.
The LaTeX plugin allows you to write and compile LaTeX code. With features such as executing LaTeX code coupled with the power of other plugins, gedit with the LaTeX plugin can greatly simplify your work.
Session Saver allows you to accurately preserve the current workspace, so that when you later restore the session, you can start the corrections from the place where you stopped working.
The Snippets plugin allows you to insert commonly used constructs and text using hotkeys or shortcodes. You can set up custom snippets, so if you type something like MUO, MakeUseOf.com will automatically be substituted. Snippets is one of my favorite plugins; it saves you from having to type a lot.
Adds Firefox-like functionality to Gedit tabs, includes the ability to undo closing a tab, closing all other tabs, closing all tabs and closing tabs to the left of the current tab. Very useful if you are working with a large number of files at the same time.
If you are a programmer from time to time using a text editor to change the code, gedit has several great plugins designed to make your work easier. Color picker (gedit-plugins) allows you to visually select a color and insert its hexadecimal value into your code; Code comment allows you to comment / uncomment selected text with one command, there are plugins for arranging HTML, code alignment, highlighting pair brackets, there is a console for python and much more.
If you use gedit for general purposes, you can use bookmarks, send mail directly from gedit, all with plugins. All this and much more is described on GnomeLlive . Some links and plugins do not work as stated, so you have to act by trial and error.
How to install additional plugins
Although Gedit is installed by default with a set of plugins, you can of course add as many as you like. To install the plugin, you first need to download them to a local folder and extract the contents to a directory:
~/.gnome2/gedit/plugins/. You can also search for a package named “gedit-plugins” in the package manager of your distribution, this package contains some additional plugins for gedit. After installing the plugin you need, you must enable it through Edit> Preference on the Plugins tab. And finally, here is a list of the most popular plugins that you must install if you do a lot of text formatting:
Align
Allows you to build blocks of text in columns quickly and easily. Just select the text to be formatted, go to Edit> Align, set the column separator, and that’s it, you got the columns. You no longer need to press TAB and position the text manually.
Auto tab
Auto tab defines offsets / spaces in the file and accordingly adjusts tabs on the fly. Very useful if you are editing code written using other editors.
Browser preview
Adds the ability to view the code of the web page that you are editing in gedit in various browsers such as Firefox, Opera, IE, conqueror, etc. Dreams come true for any web developer.
File Browser (enabled by default)
Allows you to view folders and files in the sidebar. Select the file you want to edit, double-click and it will open in a new tab.
Character Map (included in gedit-plugins)
Do you want to print in another language? Keyboard problems? Or are you wondering how µ appeared in µtorrent? No need to go far this Character Map plugin. Activate it and you can see the symbol map in the sidebar. In order to insert the desired character in the document, just click on it on the map.
Class browse
As the name suggests, this plugin provides you with a class browser to view the source files. By enabling this plugin, you will get an overview of the various identifiers used in the code in the sidebar of the Gedit editor.
Document Words Completion
The plugin adds autocomplete to gedit. While you are typing, the plugin is trying to fill in the current word, based on the words that previously appeared in the current document. You can configure it for auto-replace or offer a replacement option by pressing Ctrl + Enter.
External Tools (included in gedit-plugins)
The External tools plugin allows you to add custom commands to the Tools menu. They can be run as external commands in the current file. A completely indispensable tool, given that everything can be achieved with text files and the Linux command line. Especially recommended if you are doing any repetitive work on text files.
Sort and Spell Check (enabled by default)
What is a good text editor that does not have the ability to check the spelling? However, most text editors do not have this feature. Turn on the Spell plugin and add spellcheck in gedit. Sort plugin allows you to sort selected text. You do not need to use sort / sed / awk to sort files. This can be done right inside gedit.
LaTeX Plugin
The LaTeX plugin allows you to write and compile LaTeX code. With features such as executing LaTeX code coupled with the power of other plugins, gedit with the LaTeX plugin can greatly simplify your work.
Session Saver (included in gedit-plugins)
Session Saver allows you to accurately preserve the current workspace, so that when you later restore the session, you can start the corrections from the place where you stopped working.
Snippets (enabled by default)
The Snippets plugin allows you to insert commonly used constructs and text using hotkeys or shortcodes. You can set up custom snippets, so if you type something like MUO, MakeUseOf.com will automatically be substituted. Snippets is one of my favorite plugins; it saves you from having to type a lot.
Tabs extend
Adds Firefox-like functionality to Gedit tabs, includes the ability to undo closing a tab, closing all other tabs, closing all tabs and closing tabs to the left of the current tab. Very useful if you are working with a large number of files at the same time.
Yet?
If you are a programmer from time to time using a text editor to change the code, gedit has several great plugins designed to make your work easier. Color picker (gedit-plugins) allows you to visually select a color and insert its hexadecimal value into your code; Code comment allows you to comment / uncomment selected text with one command, there are plugins for arranging HTML, code alignment, highlighting pair brackets, there is a console for python and much more.
If you use gedit for general purposes, you can use bookmarks, send mail directly from gedit, all with plugins. All this and much more is described on GnomeLlive . Some links and plugins do not work as stated, so you have to act by trial and error.