How to Open files and folders in same window in Sublime Text on macOS?

Question

If I open ~/foo.txt then open ~/baz/bar.txt from Terminal, Sublime Text always opens 2 different windows. It's aggravating to have all these different windows open..

I've tried changing a bunch of ST's settings, but nothing seems to fix this.

Is there a way to have ALL files and folders just open up in the same window as if I were manually adding all these folders to the project?

Solution 1

In Sublime Text Menu:

Preferences ->  Settings - User

Look for 'open_files_in_new_window'

And change 'true' with 'false'

Solution 2

Rather than editing the SublimeText default settings (as Jahnux73 suggested), you should go to Preferences -> Settings - User, and add the following:

"open_files_in_new_window": false,

The SublimeText default settings file should not be modified, as it may be overwritten by Sublime updates, and so that you'll always be able to restore the default settings. The way Sublime works is that at runtime, it reads and applies the default settings, and then reads and applies the Settings - User file. In the event of a conflict, the User settings take precedence. That way, you can add your own settings without modifying the default configs.

Solution 3

Folder can be directly dragged to sidebar, or from menu bar select

• Project --> Add Folder to Project.

And better, since this has the same functionality as File -> Open folder which isn't mapped to a shortcut by default. You can make this a key mapping by going to

File -> Preferences -> Key bindings and append

{ "keys": ["ctrl+shift+o"], "command": "prompt_add_folder" },

then you can use CTRL+SHIFT+O to add a folder.

Solution 4

Drag files or directories to sublime window will add them to current window instead of opening new one.

Solution 5

All the answers above indicate the parameter files only, but this does not work for folders. I found this solution:

1. You need to go to the registry path HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\Open with Sublime Text 3\command
2. Change command add the parameter -a, get: C:\Program Files\Sublime Text\sublime_text.exe "%1" -a

---

• Also, if You have a custom alias for the console, you can use it like this: subl . -a

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Comments

[corysimmons]

I thought that was the answer and that was one of the many settings I changed, but it didn't seem to help. Thanks though.

[BENARD Patrick]

oh, I'm sorry, I just test it now, reboot my sublime, and it works for me :( ....

[Henrik Söderlund]

I can also confirm that it works. Running ST3 on OS X. However, instead of changing the value in the default settings file it is better to copy the setting to the user settings file and change the value there. That way you keep your settings if the default ones are overwritten.

[corysimmons]

Yeah, sorry, I should've mentioned this on his answer, but yeah, I know how to set the settings safely. =)

[corysimmons]

Eh. If it works for you guys that's good enough for a Answer check from me.

[Eliza Weisman]

@CorySimmons: Okay, just wanted to make sure you weren't messing up your Sublime install. :)

[MattDMo]

actually, on Sublime Text 3 the default settings are read-only, so you can't accidentally mess them up like you could in Sublime 2.

[Eliza Weisman]

@MattDMo: oh, yeah, I didn't notice he had tagged his post as sublimetext3.

[Abu Shumon]

But I guess this open_files_in_new_window is OS specific and it's only for OSX or at least that's what Default settings claims // OS X only: When files are opened from finder, or by dragging onto the // dock icon, this controls if a new window is created or not.

[Mark]

"open_files_in_new_window": false, didnt work for me. So this answer was golden!

[Dee]

tks, this is what i want, hell yeah

[Argyll]

Doesn't work for folders for me. (Using Windows 7.)

[Qwerty]

@Argyll This setting only works for macOS

[Joel Mellon]

Ugggh, this only works when opening files from Finder or other system stuff, not the built-in subl console command. 🤦🏻‍♂️

[ymoreau]

I don't see that parameter with Monterey version.

[panjeh]

@ymoreau I updated my article here: panjeh.medium.com/… and also edited my post in stackoverflow