`mouse=a` prevents the ability of copying and pasting out of vim with readable characters. Change `mouse=a` to `mouse=r` and that should fix your issue with that. one thing I am wondering is, are you changing the config file for your vim with the mouse set to mouse=a? orignal answer ^ If `mouse=r` doesn't give you all the copy past options change it to `mouse=v` Both `mouse=r` and `mouse=v` have the same functions you are needing, but depending on the vimrc you are using one will work better then the other.