When comparing GVim vs HovText, the Slant community recommends GVim for most people. In the question“What are the best power user tools for Windows?” GVim is ranked 28th while HovText is ranked 51st. The most important reason people chose GVim is:
When opening files from the file manager, it is still nice to have vim.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Vim without a shell
When opening files from the file manager, it is still nice to have vim.
Pro Excellent performance
Because it loads the whole file into RAM, replacing all string occurences in 100MB+ files is quick and easy. Every other editor sort of died during that.
Pro Works on all platforms
Whether its your windows machine, a Linux, Unix or a Mac Vim would work everywhere. You can even build it from its source on your favorite linux environment.
Pro Has different cursor shape in command and insert modes
Unlike vim, gvim has different cursor shape in command and insert mode, which is very convenient.
Pro Supports all vim features and settings
All vim features, custom settings, and plugins are automatically available.
Pro Trusted signed executable and open source
HovText has existed for 20 years and has always been open source.
Pro Remove formatting from text copied
Copying text from the internet or from Office applications most often will include styles and formatting when pasting, but HovText can remove all this formatting, so only the raw unformatted cleartext will be pasted - this is a life-saver :-)
Pro Keeps the most used clipboard entries at top
Most recent entries copied/pasted are available from a top-down principle.
Pro Trim whitespaces and empty new-lines on copied text
When marking text with the mouse, it often adds a whitespace at the beginning or the end of the text or there are some empty lines above or below that gets copied too, but HovText has an option to remove whitespaces at beginning and end - very useful.
Pro Intuitive, fast and modern UI for finding previous copied texts or images
When viewing the list of previous copied clipboards, then it is easy to find the relevant text or image you need.
Pro Fully user configurable
All hotkeys can be configured and all layout, style and screen display can be tweaked, so there is a chance you can have it setup as you want.
Pro Portable and no installation needed
Fast, light, no installation process and no registration needed - just "click and use".
Pro Save clipboards on computer
The clipboards can be saved to local computer, so it can be reused after a computer shutdown.
Cons
Con GVim, like Vim, has a difficult learning curve
A lot of time is needed to learn all the commands and modes supported. A lot of time will also be spent tuning all the settings to the user's preference.