Schema files (.xsd), which contain schema tags that enforce rules, such as data type and validation. XML data files (.xml), which contain the custom tags and structured data.

XML data and schema filesĮxcel works primarily with two types of XML files: In short, XML greatly eases the definition, transmission, validation, and interpretation of data between databases, applications, and organizations. Using XML, application designers can create their own customized tags, data structures, and schemas. XML follows industry-standard guidelines and can be processed by a variety of databases and applications. XML is a technology that is designed for managing and sharing structured data in a human-readable text file. Using the Excel macro-enabled Office Open XML Format file Working with repeating cells in XML tables The basic process of using XML data in Excel Think of these XML features as turning Office Excel into an XML data file generator with a familiar user interface. You can tell I'm pretty excited about Notepad++, right? Well, if you don't have more time at your disposal, stop reading this article right now and go get it - it's that good!īelieve it or not, Microsoft has built its own XML editor about a decade ago! It's an old project, but it continues to run fine even on modern operating systems, and it's got the elegant design and functionality that can be found in most of Microsoft's applications.Microsoft Excel makes it easy to import Extensible Markup Language (XML) data that is created from other databases and applications, to map XML elements from an XML schema to worksheet cells, and to export revised XML data for interaction with other databases and applications. But what separates it from the rest of the tools is its macro recording/playback feature.Īnd to top it all, you can launch the application using various command line arguments, making it start without loading any plugin (very helpful for fixing application crashes), making it start in the specified language (useful when you've changed the default language by mistake), making it open a file in read-only mode (to prevent any data change/loss), and much more. If you love auto-completion (and who doesn't love this feature?) you will be glad to hear that Notepad++ supports it as well.

Its GUI is fully customizable, including single and multiline tabs, minimalist views, vertical document lists, and more. This is by far my favorite code editor, and I use it for XML file editing as well! It supports syntax highlighting, including user-defined syntax highlighting and syntax folding.

How to use microsoft xml editor