The Activator plugin gives the user the ability to specify which plugins should activated on jEdit start up, and which should be deferred to start on first use. This makes it possible for the user to control which plugins are available right away, which can improve the start up speed and immediate usefulness of jEdit.

The Activator plugin also gives very convenient access to the features of loading/unloading plugins from inside jedit, which is especially useful as a developer's tool when developing and testing plugins.