Pretty XML Formatter

Pretty XML Formatter

Format and beautify any XML document directly in Visual Studio Code and VSCodium. Modern formatting. Flexible settings. Fast and visually clear results.

Overview

Pretty XML Formatter is an extension for Visual Studio Code and VSCodium designed to quickly clean up and beautify XML files.
It brings clear, consistently formatted XML using a modern, transparent set of rules—just as you see in Visual Studio.

Works perfectly with:

• .xml, .xaml, .axml, .xsd, .xsl, .plist, .mobileconfig, .config, .csproj, .svg, .resx and any other XML-based files.

A version for Visual Studio for Mac is also available. Suggestions and contributions are welcome!

Quick Links

• Overview
• Features
• Keyboard Shortcuts
• Settings
• Requirements
• Installation
• Known Issues
• More Info

Features

⚡ Prettify XML

Just right-click and choose Prettify XML or use the keyboard shortcut.

• Each attribute on a new line for clarity
• First attribute stays on the same line as the element start tag
• All attributes neatly aligned
• If an element has no children, gets a self-closing tag
• Eliminates empty lines for compactness
• Full support for single quotes and Unicode whitespace in attribute values

✂️ Format Selection

• Format an entire document or any selection—even partial/incomplete XML!
• Handy for fixing snippets or large files in bulk.

Example:

🔽 Minimize XML

• Compresses and reduces XML to its single-line minimal form with one click.

🎨 Highly Configurable

• Loads of settings for indentation, spacing, attribute alignment, comment formatting, and much more!

• See all settings

Keyboard Shortcuts

Command	Platform	Shortcut
Prettify XML	Mac	Cmd+K L
Prettify XML	Win, Linux	Ctrl+K L
Minimize XML	Mac	`Cmd+K ``
Minimize XML	Win, Linux	`Ctrl+K ``

Tip:
You can change shortcuts in Preferences → Keyboard Shortcuts.

Settings

All settings are available for the Prettify XML command.

Setting Key	Default	Description
indentSpaceLength	4	Number of spaces for indentation
useSingleQuotes	false	Use ' instead of " for attributes
useSelfClosingTag	true	Use self-closing tags if no children
formatOnSave	false	Enable format on save
allowSingleQuoteInAttributeValue	true	Allow ' in attribute values
addSpaceBeforeSelfClosingTag	true	Adds space before />
wrapCommentTextWithSpaces	true	Wrap comment text with single space
allowWhiteSpaceUnicodesInAttributeValues	true	Allow whitespace Unicode chars in attributes
positionFirstAttributeOnSameLine	true	First attribute on the same line
positionAllAttributesOnFirstLine	false	All attributes on the first line
preserveWhiteSpacesInComment	false	Preserve whitespace in comments
addSpaceBeforeEndOfXmlDeclaration	false	Extra space before end of XML declaration
addXmlDeclarationIfMissing	true	Add XML declaration if missing
attributesInNewlineThreshold	1	Threshold to push attributes onto new lines
enableLogs	false	Display logs in the output
wildCardedExceptionsForPositionAllAttributesOnFirstLine	[]	Which elements ignore 'all on first line' rule (use wildcard patterns)
addEmptyLineBetweenElements	false	Add empty line if there are >2 children

🛠️ Example Screenshots

Requirements

• .NET 8+
• C# extension for VS Code or VSCodium (Muhammad-Sammy C#, Microsoft C#)
• Visual Studio Code/VSCodium 1.59 or later

Installation

• Visual Studio Code — VS Marketplace
• VSCodium — open-vsx.org

Known Issues

• Currently supports valid XML only, limited DTD handling.

Found a bug? Report in the issues.

More Info

• Source Code
• Want to support the project?