How to Install and Configure Sublime Text on Windows

A fast setup for Sublime Text: install, add Package Control, choose the handful of plugins worth having, and build a workflow with projects and build systems.

Sublime Text installs in under a minute and shows its real value a week later, once Package Control, two or three plugins and a build system are in place. This guide covers exactly that, rather than a tour of every option in the settings file.

Installation

1. Run the installer and keep the default 64-bit build.
2. Tick the option that adds Sublime to the Explorer context menu, so you can open any folder from right-click.
3. Enable the PATH entry if you want the subl command available in a terminal.
4. Launch it once and confirm your licence under the help menu, since an unlicensed copy nags on save.
5. Associate only the file types you actually edit, not the whole catalogue.

Package Control and the first plugins

1. Open the command palette, which is the centre of everything here, and run the installer for Package Control.
2. Use the install package command to add plugins one at a time and read the description before adding another.
3. Start with a linter for your main language, a Git gutter plugin and a file icon theme.
4. Restart the editor after installing and check the console for errors, since a broken plugin can slow every keystroke.

Settings worth changing

• Word wrap on for prose and Markdown, off for code.
• Tab size and the translate-tabs-to-spaces option, set once and then respected by every file.
• Highlight modified tabs so unsaved files are impossible to miss.
• Save on focus change, which is the closest thing to a safety net the editor offers.

Projects and build systems

Save a project file for every folder you work in. It keeps the sidebar, folder exclusions and per-project settings, so switching between a frontend and an API is one keystroke. A build system is a small JSON definition that runs your compiler, linter or test command and streams the output into the panel at the bottom. Write one per language, bind it to a key, and stop switching windows just to run tests.

Performance and licensing

Sublime stays fast because it indexes almost nothing by default. Large files open instantly, but a global search is only as good as the folder you point it at, so exclude build directories and dependency folders from the search path. The editor runs indefinitely with a periodic save prompt; if you use it daily, activate it. Portable builds work well from a USB stick and leave the host machine untouched, which is handy on a work PC where you cannot install software.