Opening, Creating, and Organizing Files

The Vim Browser Editor can work with files on your computer and with a personal cloud workspace when you are signed in. This page covers the basics: opening files, browsing folders, and creating new files and folders — features that are specific to this editor, not desktop Vim.

Sign in for cloud storage

Local files work without an account. Cloud folders, the file tree sidebar, quick open, and the cloud file browser all require you to sign in. Your documents are stored per account in Firebase and sync across devices.

Opening files

There are several ways to open a file, depending on where it lives.

From your computer

Use the Open button in the toolbar above the editor. On supported browsers (Chrome, Edge, and other Chromium-based browsers), this uses the File System Access API so you can save back to the same file later. On other browsers, the editor falls back to a standard file picker and download-based saving.

From the cloud

When signed in, you can open cloud files in any of these ways:

• Cloud button — opens the cloud file browser, a modal where you can navigate folders and click a file to open it.
• File tree sidebar — enable the File tree checkbox in the toolbar to show a persistent sidebar. Click a file to preview it; double-click (or choose Open (Keep Open) from the context menu) to pin it open.
• Quick open — press Ctrl+P (or Cmd+P on Mac) to fuzzy-search your cloud files and recent opens.
• Vim command — in Command mode, run :e filename.txt to open a cloud file by exact name. If no match exists, the editor starts a new buffer with that name instead. Tab completion is available when multiple files share a prefix.

Browsing folders

Cloud folders help you organize documents. You can browse them in two places:

File tree sidebar

Turn on File tree in the toolbar. The sidebar lists your folders and files in a tree. Click a folder's chevron to expand or collapse it.

To focus on one folder, right-click it and choose Open Folder. The sidebar then shows only that folder and its contents — useful for large workspaces. Click the × button in the header or choose Show All Files from the context menu to return to the full tree.

Your scoped folder choice is remembered per account on this device.

Cloud file browser

Click the Cloud button to open the file browser modal. Use the breadcrumb trail at the top to move between folders — click any ancestor to jump up. Click a folder row to enter it; click a file row to open it.

You can also drag files onto folders (in both the browser and the file tree) to move them.

Creating folders

New folders are created in your cloud workspace.

• File tree — right-click empty space, a folder, or the background and choose New Folder.... Type a name and press Enter. Press Escape to cancel. The default name is New Folder.
• Cloud file browser — click the folder-with-plus icon in the header, enter a name, and click Create. The folder is created in the folder you are currently viewing.

Creating files

There are a few ways to start a new file:

• File tree — right-click and choose New File.... The new file is created in the selected folder (or at the root if you clicked the background). It opens immediately in the editor. The default name is untitled.txt; duplicate names in the same folder are not allowed.
• New buffer — run :enew or :new in Command mode, or click the + tab button, to start an unnamed buffer. Save it with :w; the editor prompts for a filename on first save.
• Named buffer — run :e myfile.md. If myfile.md does not exist in the cloud yet, you get a new buffer with that name. Save with :w to store it.

When saving a new cloud file from the cloud browser, you can use Save here to store the current buffer in the folder you are viewing.

Saving

Use :w or the toolbar Save button. Signed-in users save to the cloud by default. The file is stored in the folder associated with the buffer — set when you created or opened the file. See the save tutorial for more on :w behavior in the browser.

Other file actions

Right-click a file or folder in the file tree for more options:

• Rename, Delete, Move to..., and Duplicate to... (files)
• Refresh — reload the file list from the cloud

The cloud file browser offers similar rename and delete actions on each row.

Quick reference

Back to the editor · All documents