I need to be able to download multiple fileS from multiple website folderS on the server to
MATCHING folders in my local website folder.

I had forgotten, because I’ve never used that feature, but NppFTP has “Cache Paths” ability, which allows you to map specific local paths for specific remote paths.

Go to your Profile Settings in NppFTP, and pick the profile for your host. Go to the Cache tab. put in the Local Path and External Path for the first pair, Add New; then repeat for additional folders. So, it already has that particular feature you requested, and your ire was misplaced on that one.

I also need the FTP manager to be able to sort

Sorting would be nice, and was asked for some time back… but apparently, someone who has a full-time job outside of NppFTP development, who is 100% volunteer, just hasn’t found the right Round Tuit™ to implement sorting. Since you imply that you have enough skills to write a full plugin, maybe you could put your effort into making the existing plugin better, and develop a PR that would implement sorting of the remote files list.

update:

I need to be able to select specific fileS in my LOCAL website folderS using a client side ‘tree’ and upload them to the matching folders on the server

Use the Folder as Workspace or similar feature in Notepad++, and open the file(s) that you care about. Then, as long as the Cache Paths have been set up correctly and NppFTP is running, whenever you save the file in Notepad++, it will upload to the appropriate server location. But NppFTP isn’t meant as a full-featured FTP tool – it’s focused on the files you are editing in Notepad++, so if you want to easily upload a file that’s not open in Notepad++, you can either open it in Notepad++ and save it to trigger, or you could use a standalone FTP client for any files that you don’t want to open in Notepad++ (including non-text files, like images). And I second @Jim-Dailey’s suggestion of WinSCP, as that’s a good tool, and includes features for keeping remote-and-local in sync, which it sounds like what you want to do.

I need to be able to select specific fileS in my LOCAL website folderS using a client side ‘tree’ and upload them to the matching folders on the server

And NppFTP plugin had a different design philosophy, wherein the “canonical” version of the file is on the remote server, and where NppFTP happens to store its temporary copies is irrelevant to the user – because the user only cares about where the remote version is.

Worthless…
I wonder what it would take to write a solid FTP plugin for NotePad++.

The NppFTP developer had a different philosophy and a different design goal than you did. That doesn’t make it “worthless” or “not solid”. If you don’t like their design choices, that’s fine. But using such rude and dismissive language makes you look rather mean-spirited to people reading your comments.

I’ll look into it later when I’ve got more time.

I wish you luck in doing a better job of meeting your needs. However, understand that if you make it public, there will be users who disagree with your design choices, or have different needs than you, and they may start denigrating all the work you put into it.

WinSCP

Thanks. I glanced at it. I’ll look into it later when I’ve got more time.

I wonder what it would take to write a solid FTP plugin for NotePad++.
I don’t have time but maybe in the future.

I can make it connect and upload and download but not like I need it to.
It’s bad enough that I don’t use it. It downloaded a file from the Database folder directly into my root folder - NOT good.

I’ll bite.
Do you have a solution?

I also need the FTP manager to be able to sort in both local and server trees by FileName or Last Modified (Important).

FTP Plugin is Worthless

I think many people are using it successfully.
Have you stopped and thought that the problem may lie with you ?