Installation¶
Make sure to read the conditions for use on the official site. Sublime Text is not free.
The process of installing Sublime Text is different for each platform.
32 bits or 64 bits?¶
OS X¶
You can ignore this section: there is only one version of Sublime Text for OS X.
Windows¶
You should be able to run the 64-bit version if you are using a modern version Windows. If you are having trouble running the 64-bit version, try the 32-bit version.
Windows¶
Portable or Not Portable?¶
Sublime Text comes in two flavors for Windows: normal, and portable. Most users should be better served by a normal installation. Use the portable version only if you know you need it.
Normal installations separate data between two folders: the installation folder proper, and the data directory (user-specific directory for data; explained later in this guide). Normal installations also integrate Sublime Text with File Explorer.
Portable installations keep all files needed by Sublime Text in a single folder. This folder can be moved around and the editor will still work.
How to Install the Normal Version of Sublime Text¶
- Download the installer
- Double click on the installer
How to Install the Portable Version of Sublime Text¶
- Download the compressed files
- Unzip them to a folder of your choice
You will find the sublime_text.exe executable inside that folder.
OS X¶
- Download .dmg file
- Open .dmg file
- Drag the Sublime Text 3 bundle into the Applications folder
To create a symbolic link to use at the command line issue the following command at the terminal:
ln -s "/Applications/Sublime Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin/subl" /usr/local/bin/subl
Linux¶
You can download the package and uncompress it manually. Alternatively, you can use the command line.
Other Linux Distributions¶
For i386
For x64
Now we should move the uncompressed files to an appropriate location.
sudo mv Sublime\ Text\ 3 /opt/
Lastly, we create a symbolic link to use at the command line.
sudo ln -s /opt/Sublime\ Text\ 3/sublime_text /usr/bin/sublime
In Ubuntu, if you also want to add Sublime Text to the Unity luncher, read on.
First we need to create a new file.
sudo sublime /usr/share/applications/sublime.desktop
Then copy the following into it.
[Desktop Entry]
Version=3.0
Name=Sublime Text 3
# Only KDE 4 seems to use GenericName, so we reuse the KDE strings.
# From Ubuntu's language-pack-kde-XX-base packages, version 9.04-20090413.
GenericName=Text Editor
Exec=sublime
Terminal=false
Icon=/opt/Sublime Text 3/Icon/48x48/sublime_text.png
Type=Application
Categories=TextEditor;IDE;Development
X-Ayatana-Desktop-Shortcuts=NewWindow
[NewWindow Shortcut Group]
Name=New Window
Exec=sublime -n
TargetEnvironment=Unity
If you’ve registered your copy of Sublime Text, but every time you open it you’re asked to enter your license, you should try running this command.
sudo chown -R username:username /home/username/.config /sublime-text-3
Just replace username with your account’s username. This should fix the permission error in the case that you opened up Sublime Text as root when you first entered the license.
Release Channels¶
At the time of this writing, two major versions of Sublime Text exist: Sublime Text 2 and Sublime Text 3. Generally speaking, Sublime Text 3 is the better choice. Even though it’s technically in beta, it’s as stable as Sublime Text 2 and has more features.
Use Sublime Text 2 only if you have found issues running Sublime Text 3 or you depend on any package not available for Sublime Text 3.
Getting Sublime Text 3¶
Sublime Text 3 has two release channels:
- Beta (default)
- Dev
Beta releases are better tested and more reliable for everyday use than development builds. The majority of users should only use beta releases.
The dev channel is unstable: dev builds may contain bugs and not work reliably. Dev builds are updated more often than stable releases.
Dev builds are only available to registered users.
Getting Sublime Text 2¶
If you have chosen to use Sublime Text 2, you can download it here.