Maybe this isn't a "programming question" per se, but it relates to the coding process:
One of the really neat features I like about the WPF-ized VS IDE is being able to hit Ctrl (I think it is) and thumb the mouse wheel to quickly change font size in the code editor.
For work (desktop PC) that works great, but at home, on my laptop, I can't figure out how to accomplish it (other than going into Properties or whatever and changing font size there, which is obviously way less "handy" (no pun intended)).
Is there a quick way to change edit font size without resorting to the dialog accessed via the menu?
You can set the shortcut in the Tools -> Options -> Environment -> Keyboard shortcuts for View.ZoomIn and View.ZoomOut. I think they are by default: CTRL + Shift + Comma for zoom out and CTRL + Shift + Period for zoom in .
http://weblogs.asp.net/jgalloway/archive/2010/04/15/visual-studio-2010-zooming-keyboard-commands-global-zoom.aspx
Tools -> Options -> Environment -> Format is the place where you can change as per your need
If you don't have a scroll wheel, you'll have to create your own macro to do this. Check out the first answer in this post:
Shortcut for changing font size in Visual Studio
What is the keyboard shortcut navigate back to the last cursor position in Visual Studio?
It Will not work for red color (-) key. For me it only works for blue color combination.
According to Visual C# 2008 Keybinding Reference Poster it is Ctrl + -. The name of the specific keybinding is View.NavigateBackward.
PS: While researching I also found that Ctrl + . is the same as Shift + Alt + F10. Nice!
ctrl + - (dash) navigates backward.
ctrl + shift + - (dash) navigates forward.
These settings can be found under Environment -> Keyboard:
For Changing the setting in Visual Studio 2019:
Search for view.navigate
CHOOSE "Text Editor" from the "Use new shortcut in:" drop down menu
Select your shortcut
Global doesn't catch for this.
For new VS Code(1.28.2)
Back: Ctrl+Alt+- (dash)
Forward: Ctrl+Shift+- (dash)
The most generic answers is: there is no working default and you need to define your own keyboard shortcuts for View.NavigateBackward and View.NavigateForward.
Why? For most keyboards, the default shortcut is a broken, unusuable combination because VS badly handles the shift and altGr modifiers. MS did not pay attention to portability and internationalisation so much when they redeveloped VS after version 6, and this is still true today. This bug has been there for way more than a decade, nearly two decades. At this rate, it will never be fixed. And yes, I have filled a bug report, and I'm certainly not the only one.
However, their "VSCode" product line does have better keyboard handling as it doesn't depend on the shift or altGr modifiers to identify the key. For example, when you are in text writing mode and press the key that has the dash symbol, without using shift nor altGr, let's say it writes something else, like number 6. To VSCode when it comes to shortcut handling, that's still the dash key for its purpose. As long as a key has the symbol written on it, whether this is painted as the 1st, 2nd or 3rd level doesn't matter, it just that key.
Of course, it's never a good thing to make the default shortcuts use non-alphanumeric symbols, that's always confusing, whether it works or not. The good mature text editors have known that for a long time and should be taken as examples of things done right. In some ways, VS learned a few good things from emacs with shortcuts that are a sequence of two letters, but ultimately screwed up on other parts with the choice of non-alphanumeric bindings, combined with a broken low-level keyboard handling.
This works for me in Visual Code
Navigate backward Alt+←
Navigate forward Alt+→
I started out with VB6 default shortcuts where Ctrl + R brings up the Solution Explorer window.
Now when I hit Ctrl + R I see a status message saying that VS is waiting for me to hit the next sequence in the chord, suggesting to me that I have shortcuts that begin with Ctrl + R but require another keystroke.
This suggests to me that having one or more shortcut sequences that begin with Ctrl + Rinvalidates the Ctrl + R shortcut, which I can understand, but the question is, how do I find what those command are so I can assign a different sequence to them?
Also, shouldn't VS warn me when assigning the first chord shorcut that begins with Ctrl + R that this will invalidate my Ctrl + R shortcut or, it should clear it out so Ctrl + R is no longer a shortcut for the Solution Explorer window.
Anyway, I guess the question is how do I locate the commands that begin with Ctrl + R so I can change them so they dont collide with my Solution Explorer shortcut Ctrl + R?
In VS 2010, Tools | Options | Environment | Keyboard gets you to the right place. Now, put the cursor in Press shortcut keys, and press the keys you are interested in (so Ctrl + R). The Shortcut currently used by dropdown will then show you all the shortcuts that currently involve the keys you have pressed.
I agree it would be a 'nice to have' for VS to warn about overlapping shortcuts, but note that different shortcuts can have different scopes of effect (in the Use new shortcut in dropdown), so this might not be as easy as it sounds.
The keybindings poster from MSDN might be helpful. It looks Ctrl + R behaves differently depending on if you are debugging or not.
Have a look at IntelliCommand Plugin. This helped me out a lot in learning and remembering the chrod combinations.
Also Learn the shortcut Plugin is pretty cool too.
Is there a keyboard shortcut to display tooltips provided by Visual Studio & Resharper when you hover over a bit of code? I'm already aware of Quick Documentation (Ctrl + Q) and Quick Watch (Ctrl + Alt + Q).
Do you mean Ctrl + K, Ctrl + I? This is the command Edit.Quickinfo.
(sorry, I am unable to add a comment with the PC I have now)
For the single variable, do you mean in debug mode ?
2nd Edit: I think VS names these tooltips 'datatips'. Unfortunately, there is no command to show them, so no possible shortcut.
You can do it by binding this command to a key:
EditorContextMenus.CodeWindow.PinToSource
Unfortunately it works with what you have selected, not with what you are hovering over. Not only do you have to do the extra click, but you need to select the entire variable name and all of its prefixes as well.
Old question but useful to know.
My shortcuts:
PinToSource set to alt-F1
ClearAllDataTips set to shift-alt-F1
CTRL+ALT+Q
It is equivalent to
SHIFT+F9
Is it possible to change how Ctrl + Tab and Shift + Ctrl + Tab work in Visual Studio? I have disabled the popup navigator window, because I only want to switch between items in the tab control. My problem is the inconsistency of what switching to the next and previous document do.
Every other program that uses a tab control for open document I have seen uses Ctrl + Tab to move from left to right and Shift + Ctrl + Tab to go right to left. Visual Studio breaks this with its jump to the last tab selected. You can never know what document you will end up on, and it is never the same way twice.
It is very counterintuitive. Is this a subtle way to encourage everyone to only ever have two document open at once?
Let's say I have a few files open. I am working in one, and I need to see what is in the next tab to the right. In every other single application on the face of the Earth, Ctrl + Tab will get me there. But in Visual Studio, I have no idea which of the other tabs it will take me to. If I only ever have two documents open, this works great. As soon as you go to three or more, all bets are off as to what tab Visual Studio has decided to send you to.
The problem with this is that I shouldn't have to think about the tool, it should fade into the background, and I should be thinking about the task. The current tab behavior keeps pulling me out of the task and makes me have to pay attention to the tool.
In Visual Studio 2015 (as well as previous versions of VS, but you must install Productivity Power Tools if you're using VS2013 or below), there are two new commands in Visual Studio:
Window.NextTab and
Window.PreviousTab
Just go remap them from Ctrl+Alt+PageUp/Ctrl+Alt+PageDown to Ctrl+Tab/Ctrl+Shift+Tab in:
Menu Tools -> Options -> Environment -> Keyboard
Note: In earlier versions such as Visual Studio 2010, Window.NextTab and Window.PreviousTab were named Window.NextDocumentWellTab and
Window.PreviousDocumentWellTab.
Visual Studio 2010 has, built in, a way to solve this.
By default, Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab are assigned to Window.[Previous/Next]..Document, but you can, through
Tools -> Options -> Environment -> Keyboard,
remove those key assignments and reassign them to Window.[Next/Previous]Tab to add the desired behavior.
it can be changed, at least in VS 2012 (I think it should work for 2010 too).
1) TOOLS > Options > Environment > Keyboard
(Yes TOOLS, its VS2012 !) Now three shortcuts to check.
2) Window.NextDocumentWindow - you can reach there quickly by typing on the search pane on top. Now this is your enemy. Remove it if you dont like it. Change it to something else (and dont forget the Assign button) if want to have your own, but do remember that shortcut whatever it is in the end. It will come handy later.
(I mean this is the shortcut that remembers your last tab)
3) Now look for Window.NextDocumentWindowNav - this is the same as above but shows a preview of opened tabs (you can navigate to other windows too quickly with this pop-up). I never found this helpful though. Do all that mentioned in step 2 (don't forget to remember).
4) Window.NextTab - your magic potion. This would let you cycle through tabs in the forward order. May be you want CTRL+TAB? Again step 2 and remember.
5) Now place cursor in the Press shortcut keys: textbox (doesn't matter what is selected currently, you're not going to Assign this time), and type first of the three (or two or one) shortcuts.
You'll see Shortcut currently used by: listed. Ensure that you have no duplicate entry for the shortcut. In the pic, there are no duplicate entries. In case you have (a rarity), say X, then go to X, and remove the shortcut. Repeat this step for other shortcuts as well.
6) Now repeat 1-5 for Previous shortcuts as well (preferably adding Shift).
7) Bonus: Select VS2005 mapping scheme (at the top of the same box), so now you get F2 for Rename members and not CTRL+R+R, and F7 for View Code and not CTRL+ALT+0.
I'm of the opinion VS has got it right by default. I find it extremely useful that VS remembers what I used last, and makes switching easier, much like what the OS itself does (on ALT+TAB). My browser does the same too by default (Opera), though I know Firefox behaves differently.
In Visual Studio 2012 or later (2013, 2015, 2017...):
Browse the menu Tools / Options / Environment / Keyboard.
Search for the command 'Window.NextTab', set the shortcut to Ctrl+Tab
Search for the command 'Window.PreviousTab', set the shortcut to Ctrl+Shift+Tab
Navigate to the blog post Visual Studio Tab Un-stupidifier Macro and make use of the macro. After you apply the macro to your installation of Visual Studio you can bind your favorite keyboard shortcuts to them. Also notice the registry fix in the comments for not displaying the macro balloon since they might get annoying after a while.
Ctl + Alt + PgUp or PgDn shortcuts worked to toggle next/prev tab out of the box for me...
After a couple of hours of searching I found a solution how to switch between open documents using CTRL+TAB which move from left to right and SHIFT+ CTRL+ TAB to go right to left.
In short you need to copy and paste this macro:
Imports System
Imports EnvDTE
Imports EnvDTE80
Imports EnvDTE90
Imports System.Diagnostics
Public Module TabCtrl
Public Sub TabForward()
Dim i As Integer
Dim activateNext As Boolean = False
For i = 1 To DTE.Windows.Count
If DTE.Windows().Item(i).Kind = "Document" Then
If activateNext Then
DTE.Windows().Item(i).Activate()
GoTo done
End If
If DTE.Windows().Item(i) Is DTE.ActiveWindow Then
activateNext = True
End If
End If
Next
' Was the last window... go back to the first
If activateNext Then
For i = 1 To DTE.Windows.Count
If DTE.Windows().Item(i).Kind = "Document" Then
DTE.Windows().Item(i).Activate()
GoTo done
End If
Next
End If
done:
End Sub
Public Sub TabBackward()
Dim i As Integer
Dim activateNext As Boolean = False
For i = DTE.Windows.Count To 1 Step -1
If DTE.Windows().Item(i).Kind = "Document" Then
If activateNext Then
DTE.Windows().Item(i).Activate()
GoTo done
End If
If DTE.Windows().Item(i) Is DTE.ActiveWindow Then
activateNext = True
End If
End If
Next
' Was the first window... go back to the last
If activateNext Then
For i = DTE.Windows.Count To 1 Step -1
If DTE.Windows().Item(i).Kind = "Document" Then
DTE.Windows().Item(i).Activate()
GoTo done
End If
Next
End If
done:
End Sub
End Module
The macro comes from: www.mrspeaker.net/2006/10/12/tab-un-stupidifier/
If you never add a macro to Visual Studio there is a very useful link how to do it.
The philosophy of the Visual Studio tab order is very counterintuitive since the order of the displayed tabs differs from the tab-switching logic, rendering the ordering of the tabs completely useless.
So until a better solution arises, change the window layout (in Environment->General) from tabbed-documents to multiple-documents; it will not change the behaviour, but it reduces the confusion caused by the tabs.
That way you will also find the DocumentWindowNav more useful!
I'm 100% in agreement with Jeff.
I had worked on Borland C++ Builder for several years and one of the features I miss most is the 'correct' document tabbing order with Ctrl-Tab. As Jeff said, "The current tab behavior keeps pulling me out of the task and makes me have to pay attention to the tool " is exactly how I feels about this, and I'm very much surprised by the fact that there aren't many people complaining about this.
I think Ctrl-F6 - NextDocumentWindowNav - navigates documents based on the document's last-activated time. This behavior is a lot like how MDI applications used to behave in old days.
With this taken this into account, I usually use Ctrl+F6 to switch between 2 documents (which is pretty handy in switching between .cpp and .h files when working on c++ project) even when there are more than 2 currently opened documents. For example, if you have 10 documents open (Tab1, Tab2, Tab3, ...., Tab10), I click on Tab1 and then Tab2. When I do Ctrl+F6 and release keys, I'll jump to Tab1. Pressing Ctrl+F6 again will take me back to Tab2.
I guess you want what VSS calls Next(Previous)DocumentWindow. By default, it's on Ctrl(-Shift)-F6 on my VSS 8. On Ctrl(-Shift)-Tab they have Next(Previous)DocumentWindowNav. You can change key assignments via Tools/Options/Keyboard.
In registry branch:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\9.0
add DWORD named "UseMRUDocOrdering" with value of 1.
It will order documents so most recently used are placed on the left. It's not perfect but better than the default misbehaviour.
Updated to VS 2017+, where, according to #J-Bob's comment under #thepaulpage's answer, (emphasis added):
Looks like the commands have changed again. It's now 2017 and the keyboard shortcuts are called Open Next Editor and Open Previous Editor. You don't need any extensions for this.
You can find the options under Settings, which can be accessed via the gear symbol in the lower left, or by the [Ctrl]+, command.
I feel the top answer at the moment is outdated. In Visual Studio 2021 (v1.56), you do not need to install any extensions or mess around with any configuration files. You simply need to do the following steps:
Click the gear icon in the bottom-left.
Select 'Keyboard Shortcuts'.
Search for 'workbench.action.previousEditor' and 'workbench.action.nextEditor' and edit their keybindings by clicking the pencil icon on the left side of the row.
If you do change to 'Ctrl+tab' or any other shortcut that is already in use by another command, it will let you know and give you the option to change those. I personally changed them to 'Ctrl+PgUp' and 'Ctrl+PgDn' so it was just a straight swap.
I don't use Visual Studio (yes, really, I don't use it), but AutoHotkey can remap any hotkey globally or in a particular application:
#IfWinActive Microsoft Excel (application specific remapping)
; Printing area in Excel (# Ctrl+Alt+A)
^!a::
Send !ade
return
#IfWinActive
$f4::
; Closes the active window (make double tapping F4 works like ALT+F4)
if f4_cnt > 0
{
f4_cnt += 1
return
}
f4_cnt = 1
SetTimer, f4_Handler, 250
return
f4_Handler:
SetTimer, f4_Handler, off
if (f4_cnt >= 2) ; Pressed more than two times
{
SendInput !{f4}
} else {
; Resend f4 to the application
Send {f4}
}
f4_cnt = 0
return
These are two remappings of my main AutoHotKey script. I think it's an excellent tool for this type of tasks.