Package Control

Now that we have Sublime Text installed we need to install the package control.

Wait. What? We just installed Sublime Text why do we need to install something else?

Let me explain what Package Control is first. Package Control is an add on to Sublime Text that lets you easily find and install new packages. There is a large repository of different packages that you can install that will add additional features into Sublime Text making your life better… at least in regards to managing text files within Sublime Text.

We will get into the “what” the additional features are as we continue in this series of tutorials.

Open up a web browser and go to https://packagecontrol.io/ so you can take a quick look at what packages are available.

Once you are done taking a look around we can start the installation process.

Installation

Click the “Installation” option on the right and you should see a page like this. You don’t have to actually download anything for this install. The installation process is handled by a script.

Follow the directions on the site or follow along here.

1. On the Package Control site, copy the text that is under the “Sublime Text 3”
2. On Sublime Text, press CTRL + ` (This key is to the left of the 1 key on my keyboard) or from the menu select View > Show Console
3. Paste the copied text into the text field at the bottom of the screen and press ENTER.
4. Wait for the install to complete
5. You can now close the Console using CTRL + ` or from the View menu.

Update: New Easier Install

You can now easily install package control by:

1. On Sublime text press CTRL + SHIFT + P. A menu will appear.
2. Type “Install” in the field. You will see an option called “Install Package Control”
3. Hit ENTER. Done!

Package Control Options

Press CTRL + SHIFT + P or use the Tools > Command Palette menu item. You will see a menu appear on your screen. Type “Package Control”. You should see a bunch of options like below.

Installing a Package

With the Command Palette open, select the option that says “Package Control: Install Package”. The menu should close for a second then open again.

You are now viewing the full list of available packages. Feel free to scroll the list or type something in that you think would be handy.

If you can’t think of anything or are ready to move on, let’s install a package together.

Type “lorem” into the text field. You should see something similar to this. Select the second item that says “LoremIpsum”.

At the very bottom of your Sublime Text window you may see an “Installing” message flash for a second. If you don’t it’s ok. It happens real quick.

 

Using the Installed Package

You have just installed a package! But now what?

Let’s open a new file tab. Either double click on that grayish bar or use the File > New File option in the menu.

Press CTRL + SHIFT + P or select Tools > Command Palette from the menu to open the Command Palette menu again.

This time type the name of the package that we installed. “LoremIpsum”. You will see some results returned that start with “LoremIpsum:”. This is the package that you installed. And these are the utilities that package comes with.

 

Select the first option “LoremIpsum: (15) some”.

On your file that you opened a while ago, you should now see some text. Mine reads the following:

“Cupidatat labore in amet ad voluptate amet irure culpa nostrud labore.”

If you repeat the process you will get a different message… so don’t worry if yours doesn’t match what I have.

Congrats! You have just used the LoremIpsum package to generate and insert a random LoremImpsum message to your file. If you don’t know what LoremIpsum is, find out more here.

 

Feel free to go through the Package Control installer and find some other packages that you think would be useful.