How to set vim as the default Text editor?

Question

I'm trying to set gVim to be the default text editor on Windows but it won't work. It works with notepad++, editor... but not with Vim. Any ideas how to fix it?

Screenshot: http://prntscr.com/lm069a

I also tried to choose gvim.exe with the option that opens the explorer. if I open it it works, but it doesn't save Vim as the default text editor.

Answer 1

I can't comment, so here's a workaround I used: use cmd.exe in admin mode for this!

First, type in the following:

ftype VimFile="C:\Program Files (x86)\Vim\vim81\gvim.exe" --remote-silent "%1"

This ensures that any filetype (extension) associated to the VimFile we've set will, by double-click, open in gVim.

Next, choose a file extension (I chose .vim and .tex for trial) to associate with VimFile, and type:

assoc .extension=VimFile

This associates .extension to VimFile, and therefore is opened by the gvim.exe path we set before.

However, this workaround doesn't work with the NERDTree plugin, so I didn't add the option of --remote-silent "%1"; bear in mind though that this option only shows the NERDTree tree indicating the directory of the file you have chosen to double-click.

Answer 2

Actually, you can set vim as your default editor by setting the path of the GVim in your PATH variable. For setting of GVim in PATH follow these steps.

You can set any application as default for you. The only thing you have to do is add the application path to the PATH variable.