Visual Vim with gVim

In this section. you can read more about the graphical version of Vim in Vanilla Vim vs GVim.
As it always is with Windows, the process is slightly more visual. Navigate to www.vim.org/download.php#pc in your browser and download an executable installer. At the moment of writing this book, November 2018, the binary is called gvim81.exe, where 81 stands for version 8.1.

Open the executable and follow the prompts on the screen, as demonstrated by the following screenshot:

Let's go ahead and hit Yes, then I Agree until we arrive at the Installation Options screen. We're happy with most of the default options gVim has to offer, except that you might want to enable Create .bat files for command line use. This option will make the vim command work in Windows Command Prompt. Some examples in this book rely on having a Command Prompt, so enabling this option would help you follow along.

Here's a screenshot of the Installation Options screen with the proper boxes checked off:

Hit Next >. You'll want to continue with the following settings:

• Select the type of install: Typical, (after Create .bat files for command line use is enabled, type of install value changes to Custom automatically).
• Do not remap keys for Windows behavior
• Right button has a popup menu, left button starts visual mode
• Destination Folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\Vim (or a recommended default)

Once you're done, hit Install and then Close, as demonstrated in the following screenshot:

Say No to the request to see the README file (who needs a manual, huh?) as seen in the following command:

You will now have a few icons pop on your desktop, the most interesting one being gVim 8.1 as shown in the following screenshot:

Start it, and you're ready to proceed! Happy Vimming!