Try: " automatically leave insert mode after 'updatetime' milliseconds of inaction au CursorHoldI * stopinsert If you find that this event fires too quickly, you can adjust 'updatetime' to suit your needs, but you might want to consider doing so only when you enter insert mode: " set 'updatetime' to 15 seconds when in insert mode au InsertEnter * let updaterestore=&updatetime | set updatetime=15000 au InsertLeave * let &updatetime=updaterestore