Vim is more powerful than you think. Always.
You should keep your .vimrc and other vim settings in source control. I keep mine on github.
Get a plugin manager.
I use pathogen because it was the only one around when I started. NeoBundle, Vundle and vim-plug all seem like good and more user-friendly plugin managers.
At present I would only recommend pathogen if you want to pin your plugins to specific commits. It's quite possible one of the above plugins support that functionality as well. Have a look around.
Learn how to use the help system.
:h is your friend. Even after using vim for over ten years, I use it often. If you haven't done it before, take a few hours to read through the tutorials and skim most of the help articles. It will give you an idea of vim's capabilities, so that you can look them up if you find that you need them.
Below you will find a list of plugins I've found useful, and a small description of what each does. I haven't listed any language specific plugins (such as vim-less) or plugins that only supply syntax highlighting (such as vim-git). Google for them and you will find them.
- delimitMate
- Makes vim handle () {} [] <> things more smartly. I wouldn't use vim if it didn't exist.
- Enter-Indent
- Makes writing code easier, as vim will put your cursor in the correct indentation level when you insert a new line while coding.
- vim-you-keep-using-that-word
- Makes w W e E movements consistent when used with the c command.
Each of these take a little bit of learning. Install these plugins one at a time, and make sure you use it a bit before you install another one. Otherwise you will forget you installed it, and forget how to use it.
- vim-fugitive
- Incredible plugin for using git. The Vimcast episodes about fugitive is the best resource I know for learning how it works. It is a complex plugin, so just reading the helpfile for it is not enough to realize its power. Watch the videos to learn, and then use the text under the videos for reference.
- vim-surround
- Makes surrounding pieces of text with things super easy, lets you change surrounding things (i.e. from (hello) to [hello] or "hello") easily. Does a lot of good stuff. Use it.
- vim-unimpaired
- Adds many new movements, such as [c and ]c to go between changes in diffs, [f and ]f to go between files in the current directory, and many more.
- vim-eunuch
- Makes renaming, moving and other operations on the currently open file more handy.
- ultisnips
- The best snippet engine available for vim. Snippets are an incredibly strong editor feature that nobody should be without. The vim-snippets repository tracks snippets for all the snippet engines available for vim.
- syntastic
- Lets you lint and syntax check your files inside of vim. Can use an enormous amount of linters and compilers.
- nerdcommenter
- A plugin that gives you keyboard shortcuts to comment in/out code. Handles basically every language automatically.
- vim-repeat
- One of vim's most important functions is the repeat command (. in normal mode). This plugin is used by other plugins to make them work with the . command.
- undotree
- Did you know undos in vim aren't a list, but a tree? Vim's built in commands for visiting nodes in this tree aren't the best, though. This plugin lets you visualize the tree and go between nodes and see their differences easily.
- vim-space
- Turns normal-mode space into a key that repeats your previous jump-movement, like going between search results, t f T f jumps, etc. Quite handy.
- vim-gutentags
- Automatically generate tags files for your projects. Makes using vim's tag jumping feature much more powerful.
- vim-bufsurf
Gives you browser-like back and forward buttons for your vim windows. So you can press <C-p> to go to the previous file, and <C-n> to go to the next file you were editing (in that vim window.) See :h window if you don't know what a vim window is.
You should familiarize yourself with vim's <C-o> and <C-i> normal mode mappings also. They are even more useful than this plugin, but they let you jump back/forward within locations in files you visited as well.
- vim-abolish
- Provides you with a text replacement command :S that intelligently handles variations on the word you are replacing.
- recover.vim
- Makes recovering after crashes less annoying.
- vim-exchange
- Make two pieces of text switch places.
One of vim's strongest features is the ability to perform operations on text objects. For example, I can press dip to "delete in paragraph", or cas to "change a sentence". There are plugins that add new text objects. I have listed some of these below.
- targets.vim
- vim-indent-object
- vim-textobj-function
- vim-textobj-user
These are plugins that I wouldn't want to live without. They change vim from a great editor into an editor for gods. I have spent many hours configuring them so they do what I want. Using them is a big investment, but it pays off.
- neocomplete.vim
A very complex, but incredibly useful plugin for autocompletion. Takes completion suggestions from many different sources and unites them in one adaptable interface. Can co-operate with other plugins to give good support for many languages.
Works well with clang_complete and ultisnips.
YouCompleteMe is a competitor to neocomplete.vim - but as far as I know it is mostly used for C and C++.
- unite.vim
A very complex, super super powerful plugin. Creates a handy interface that many other plugins (and sub-plugins) can use to let you display and execute actions on arbitrary information. I mostly use it to:
- Go between files in the directory
- Go between recently used files
- Grep through files in projects
- Set vim's current working directory
- Go between functions and classes defined in the current file
- Choose and paste previously deleted/yanked text.
- Open hidden buffers.
CtrlP is a competitor to unite.vim. It should be easier to set up, but is not as configurable.
There are many plugins I find useful that I haven't listed here. You can see which I use in the dotvim/bundle directory of my Configuration-files repository. Here are some notable plugins I like, but seldom use.
- vim-sneak
- A cool way of moving around text, similar to vim's t f T F commands.
- vim-man
- View man pages inside of vim. Quite slick.
- colorv.vim
- Interactive palette for choosing RGB colors. Usually doesn't work in terminals.