Tabs in vim are different to tabs in other programs. You should be using buffers. This[1] StackOverflow answer is excellent. I use a plugin[2] to view my buffer

Tabs in vim are different to tabs in other programs. You should be using buffers. This[1] StackOverflow answer is excellent. I use a plugin[2] to view my buffers in a bar. 1: http://stackoverflow.com/a/103590/1212338 http://stackoverflow.com/a/103590/1212338 2: https://github.com/bling/vim-bufferline https://github.com/bling/vim-bufferline