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Sublime Text Slow or Glitchy Display: Indexing and GPU Settings

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Workaround available Windows, macOS, Linux Updated November 14, 2026Based on 2 user reportsHow we research

Quick answer

Background indexing can be tuned or disabled with index_files, and display glitches can be fixed by switching hardware_acceleration to "none".

Most likely fix: Tune indexing

How to fix it

Try these in order — the most common fix is first.

  1. 1. Tune indexing

    1. Watch the status bar percentage or Help > Indexing Status
    2. Set "index_files": false to disable, or lower index_workers; add patterns to index_exclude_patterns
    Did this fix it?

  2. 2. Change rendering

    1. Set "hardware_acceleration": "none" for software rendering if the display is wrong
    2. Set "opengl" on high-DPI screens for speed (default on macOS)
    Did this fix it?

Symptoms

Sublime Text uses CPU in the background on big folders, or text renders incorrectly on some GPUs.

Why it happens

  • Indexing a large project folder
  • Graphics driver issues with OpenGL rendering

This guide also covers

  • sublime text slow
  • sublime text high cpu
  • sublime text rendering glitch

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