diff --git a/sam.c b/sam.c
index df8cf8378..9902a667f 100644
--- a/sam.c
+++ b/sam.c
@@ -323,7 +323,7 @@ static const OptionDef options[] = {
 	},
 	[OPTION_EXPANDTAB] = {
 		{ "expandtab", "et" },
-		VIS_OPTION_TYPE_BOOL,
+		VIS_OPTION_TYPE_BOOL|VIS_OPTION_NEED_WINDOW,
 		VIS_HELP("Replace entered <Tab> with `tabwidth` spaces")
 	},
 	[OPTION_TABWIDTH] = {
diff --git a/vis-cmds.c b/vis-cmds.c
index 968b7f224..9e4ed21b6 100644
--- a/vis-cmds.c
+++ b/vis-cmds.c
@@ -255,7 +255,7 @@ static bool cmd_set(Vis *vis, Win *win, Command *cmd, const char *argv[], Select
 		break;
 	}
 	case OPTION_EXPANDTAB:
-		vis->expandtab = toggle ? !vis->expandtab : arg.b;
+		vis->win->expandtab = toggle ? !vis->win->expandtab : arg.b;
 		break;
 	case OPTION_AUTOINDENT:
 		vis->autoindent = toggle ? !vis->autoindent : arg.b;
diff --git a/vis-core.h b/vis-core.h
index e8bc27ea6..8d3980cd9 100644
--- a/vis-core.h
+++ b/vis-core.h
@@ -158,6 +158,7 @@ struct Win {
 	UiWin *ui;              /* ui object handling visual appearance of this window */
 	File *file;             /* file being displayed in this window */
 	View *view;             /* currently displayed part of underlying text */
+	bool expandtab;         /* whether typed tabs should be converted to spaces in this window*/
 	MarkList jumplist;      /* LRU jump management */
 	Array saved_selections; /* register used to store selections */
 	Mode modes[VIS_MODE_INVALID]; /* overlay mods used for per window key bindings */
@@ -183,7 +184,6 @@ struct Vis {
 	char search_char[8];                 /* last used character to search for via 'f', 'F', 't', 'T' */
 	int last_totill;                     /* last to/till movement used for ';' and ',' */
 	int search_direction;                /* used for `n` and `N` */
-	bool expandtab;                      /* whether typed tabs should be converted to spaces */
 	bool autoindent;                     /* whether indentation should be copied from previous line on newline */
 	bool change_colors;                  /* whether to adjust 256 color palette for true colors */
 	char *shell;                         /* shell used to launch external commands */
diff --git a/vis-lua.c b/vis-lua.c
index c3d3128e3..a92b1861e 100644
--- a/vis-lua.c
+++ b/vis-lua.c
@@ -1535,8 +1535,6 @@ static int vis_options_assign(Vis *vis, lua_State *L, const char *key, int next)
 	} else if (strcmp(key, "escdelay") == 0) {
 		TermKey *tk = vis->ui->termkey_get(vis->ui);
 		termkey_set_waittime(tk, luaL_checkint(L, next));
-	} else if (strcmp(key, "expandtab") == 0 || strcmp(key, "et") == 0) {
-		vis->expandtab = lua_toboolean(L, next);
 	} else if (strcmp(key, "ignorecase") == 0 || strcmp(key, "ic") == 0) {
 		vis->ignorecase = lua_toboolean(L, next);
 	} else if (strcmp(key, "loadmethod") == 0) {
@@ -1657,7 +1655,6 @@ static const struct luaL_Reg vis_lua[] = {
  * @tfield[opt=false] boolean autoindent {ai}
  * @tfield[opt=false] boolean changecolors
  * @tfield[opt=50] int escdelay
- * @tfield[opt=false] boolean expandtab {et}
  * @tfield[opt=false] boolean ignorecase {ic}
  * @tfield[opt="auto"] string loadmethod `"auto"`, `"read"`, or `"mmap"`.
  * @tfield[opt="/bin/sh"] string shell
@@ -1679,9 +1676,6 @@ static int vis_options_index(lua_State *L) {
 			TermKey *tk = vis->ui->termkey_get(vis->ui);
 			lua_pushunsigned(L, termkey_get_waittime(tk));
 			return 1;
-		} else if (strcmp(key, "expandtab") == 0 || strcmp(key, "et") == 0) {
-			lua_pushboolean(L, vis->expandtab);
-			return 1;
 		} else if (strcmp(key, "ignorecase") == 0 || strcmp(key, "ic") == 0) {
 			lua_pushboolean(L, vis->ignorecase);
 			return 1;
@@ -1967,6 +1961,8 @@ static int window_options_assign(Win *win, lua_State *L, const char *key, int ne
 		view_wrapcolumn_set(win->view, luaL_checkint(L, next));
 	} else if (strcmp(key, "tabwidth") == 0 || strcmp(key, "tw") == 0) {
 		view_tabwidth_set(win->view, luaL_checkint(L, next));
+	} else if (strcmp(key, "expandtab") == 0 || strcmp(key, "et") == 0) {
+		win->expandtab = lua_toboolean(L, next);
 	}
 	return 0;
 }
@@ -2169,14 +2165,15 @@ static const struct luaL_Reg window_funcs[] = {
  * @tfield[opt=""] string breakat {brk}
  * @tfield[opt=0] int colorcolumn {cc}
  * @tfield[opt=false] boolean cursorline {cul}
+ * @tfield[opt=false] boolean expandtab {et}
  * @tfield[opt=false] boolean numbers {nu}
  * @tfield[opt=false] boolean relativenumbers {rnu}
  * @tfield[opt=true] boolean showeof
  * @tfield[opt=false] boolean shownewlines
  * @tfield[opt=false] boolean showspaces
  * @tfield[opt=false] boolean showtabs
- * @tfield[opt=0] int wrapcolumn {wc}
  * @tfield[opt=8] int tabwidth {tw}
+ * @tfield[opt=0] int wrapcolumn {wc}
  */
 
 static int window_options_index(lua_State *L) {
@@ -2194,6 +2191,9 @@ static int window_options_index(lua_State *L) {
 		} else if (strcmp(key, "cursorline") == 0 || strcmp(key, "cul") == 0) {
 			lua_pushboolean(L, view_options_get(win->view) & UI_OPTION_CURSOR_LINE);
 			return 1;
+		} else if (strcmp(key, "expandtab") == 0 || strcmp(key, "et") == 0) {
+			lua_pushboolean(L, win->expandtab);
+			return 1;
 		} else if (strcmp(key, "numbers") == 0 || strcmp(key, "nu") == 0) {
 			lua_pushboolean(L, view_options_get(win->view) & UI_OPTION_LINE_NUMBERS_ABSOLUTE);
 			return 1;
@@ -2212,12 +2212,12 @@ static int window_options_index(lua_State *L) {
 		} else if (strcmp(key, "showtabs") == 0) {
 			lua_pushboolean(L, view_options_get(win->view) & UI_OPTION_SYMBOL_TAB);
 			return 1;
-		} else if (strcmp(key, "wrapcolumn") == 0 || strcmp(key, "wc") == 0) {
-			lua_pushunsigned(L, view_wrapcolumn_get(win->view));
-			return 1;
 		} else if (strcmp(key, "tabwidth") == 0 || strcmp(key, "tw") == 0) {
 			lua_pushinteger(L, view_tabwidth_get(win->view));
 			return 1;
+		} else if (strcmp(key, "wrapcolumn") == 0 || strcmp(key, "wc") == 0) {
+			lua_pushunsigned(L, view_wrapcolumn_get(win->view));
+			return 1;
 		}
 	}
 	return index_common(L);
diff --git a/vis-operators.c b/vis-operators.c
index a4475436c..0e4f8b4d1 100644
--- a/vis-operators.c
+++ b/vis-operators.c
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ static size_t op_put(Vis *vis, Text *txt, OperatorContext *c) {
 static size_t op_shift_right(Vis *vis, Text *txt, OperatorContext *c) {
 	char spaces[9] = "         ";
 	spaces[MIN(view_tabwidth_get(vis->win->view), LENGTH(spaces) - 1)] = '\0';
-	const char *tab = vis->expandtab ? spaces : "\t";
+	const char *tab = vis->win->expandtab ? spaces : "\t";
 	size_t tablen = strlen(tab);
 	size_t pos = text_line_begin(txt, c->range.end), prev_pos;
 	size_t newpos = c->pos;
diff --git a/vis.c b/vis.c
index c3899db28..004295b0b 100644
--- a/vis.c
+++ b/vis.c
@@ -489,6 +489,7 @@ Win *window_new_file(Vis *vis, File *file, enum UiOption options) {
 	win->vis = vis;
 	win->file = file;
 	win->view = view_new(file->text);
+	win->expandtab = false;
 	win->ui = vis->ui->window_new(vis->ui, win, options);
 	if (!win->view || !win->ui) {
 		window_free(win);
@@ -694,7 +695,6 @@ Vis *vis_new(Ui *ui, VisEvent *event) {
 		return NULL;
 	vis->exit_status = -1;
 	vis->ui = ui;
-	vis->expandtab = false;
 	vis->change_colors = true;
 	for (size_t i = 0; i < LENGTH(vis->registers); i++)
 		register_init(&vis->registers[i]);
@@ -1644,7 +1644,7 @@ void vis_insert_tab(Vis *vis) {
 	Win *win = vis->win;
 	if (!win)
 		return;
-	if (!vis->expandtab) {
+	if (!win->expandtab) {
 		vis_insert_key(vis, "\t", 1);
 		return;
 	}