In the top left corned of the Visual Studio Start Page there is a Recent Projects section that lists as standard 10 last opened Project. I am aware that this number can be changed using Tools->Options->Environment->General and then modifying number in Recent Files section
But my question is how could I remove some projects from that recent list?
This blog post answers your question quite nicely. I won't duplicate the author's work here.
Steps to Remove Recent Projects
Close Visual Studio if it is running.
Start the Registry Editor (Start...Run... type regedit).
Navigate to this registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\8.0\ProjectMRUList
Then delete the key that has the project you do not want to keep in the list.
Right click on the Solution icon in Solution Explorer window, change the name of the Solution to a different one. Then double click the project in Recent Projects window. Visual Studio will ask you if you need to delete the project. Click OK to get rid of it.
I'll add an answer for people who are using Visual Studio for Mac:
In the menu bar, choose Files ➞ Recent Solutions ➞ Clear.
Source: https://forums.xamarin.com/discussion/67203/how-do-remove-projects-from-welcome-page-xamrian-studio-for-mac
Related
I am using TFS with Visual Studio 2015. On the Team Explorer Home window it lists solutions from my current workspace. This is a really handy place to open solutions from - however the solutions listed seem to be just a random selection from the workspace. It doesn't even list my recently opened solutions. Is there any way to customise this list?
Cannot be achieved.
However there is a workaround, after checking this option " Open Source Control Explorer to the most recent folder" in Tools→Options→ VSTFS, it will remember your last TFS tree selection and jump the very same branch and sub-folder again.
I have all the projects in a solution folded, so you can't see their files in the Solution Explorer. And a file belonging to one of those projects open. Once I browse to that file pane, the project containing the file is automatically unfolded in the Solution Explorer.
Is there a way to avoid that automatic unfolding?
I'm not 100% sure what you're after, but in the VS 2010 options, under "Projects and Solutions/General" there is an option called "Track Active Item in Solution Explorer".
I've just tried unchecking that and, with a mutiple project solution all collapsed, when clicking into an open code file it doesn't open up the project in the solution window. Try that and see if it produces the result you're after.
Let me know if I've misunderstood your question though!
Is there any way to change the default directory Visual Studio 2010 uses when you add a source file through Add -> New Item?
Add New Item simply adds the item based on which project directory you're currently in or have selected in your Solution Explorer. If you want to change where it gets added then select the target location in the Solution Explorer first.
This behavior is obvious when right-clicking in the Solution Explorer, but it's also the same when using Project -> Add New Item....
Since my comment seems to be the actual answer, I repost:
In the toolbar of Solution Explorer, there's a button "Show all files" (or similar, I'm using the German version). This switches the view to directories, rather than filters. In this view, you can right-click on the desired target folder to add items.
This does not actually change the default directory, but since you have to click somewhere anyway to add an item, this is the easiest approach.
Note that even when only using Visual C++, I'd recommend the Productivity Power Tools extension, which comes with Solution Navigator. In C++, this is not as powerful as with .NET, but it still has several features that are useful in C++ and can fully replace Solution Explorer.
Try going to tools -> options -> Project and Solutions.
I know this post is old... but maybe someone will stumble upon it... like I did today...
I had the same "problem":
I have a dedicated directory for icons.
When I need to add an icon to the resource file, Visual studio takes me to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE"
To fix the problem, after I "browsed" to the desired folder, I right-clicked the favorites of the "open file" dialog and selected "add current location to Favorites".
Next time you will get this dialog, you simply have to look for the folder in the favorites, and click it.
Start menu in Windows 7 has a feature: a programs, pinned to the top, can show a context menu with recently used files:
alt text http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/5149/contextmenustartmenuwin.png
Will Visual Studio 2010 be able to display also recently used Projects and Solutions?
It is possible to pin solution files to the recently used file list.
First make sure you already have Visual Studio pinned to the Start Menu.
Next, drag the Solution file on to the Start Menu so that it is pinned in the main list.
Now select the the Recently Used Files button for Visual Studio so that the list is showing.
Drag the solution file from the main list into the recently used file list.
You can now remove the solution file from the main list.
Beta 1 doesn't seem to support this yet. Its easily possible by using the new Taskbar APIs and specifically the custom categories feature. I think their main problem might be that the solution files are associated with an app called VSLauncher.exe (this small app determines what version of VS to load when you launch a SLN file).
If you want to "pin" your fav solution files to any version of VS, one option this is (I currently used this with VS 2008 and 2010 Beta 1:
Open Explorer and browse to any SLN file you want to pin.
Drag it and pin on the taskbar (it will pin to VSLauncher.exe; this is okay)
Now just repeat the steps for other SLN files.
When you click on a SLN file from the above pinned program's jumplist, another instance of VS2010/VS2008 will launch. It won't show your recent projects or solutions, but atleast it allows you to pin your fav/recent solutions manually. I think you can use this for CSProj or other project files as well.
I want to clear the list of projects on the start page...how do I do this? I know I can track it down in the registry, but is there an approved route to go?
There is an MSDN article here which suggests that you just move the projects to a new directory.
However, as you mentioned, the list of projects is kept in the registry under this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\<version>\ProjectMRUList
and the list of recent files is kept in this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\<version>\FILEMRUList
Note For Visual Studio 2015:
The location has changed. You can check out this answer for details.
Some people have automated clearing this registry key with their own tools:
Visual Studio Most Recent Files Utility
Add-in for cleaning Visual Studio 2008 MRU Projects list
PowerCommands for Visual Studio 2008
Features
Clear Recent File List
Clear Recent Project List
Clear All Panes
Copy Path
Email CodeSnippet
Insert Guid Attribute
Show All Files
Undo Close
Collapse Projects
Copy Class
Paste Class
Copy References
Paste References
Copy As Project Reference
Edit Project File
Open Containing Folder
Open Command Prompt
Unload Projects
Reload Projects
Remove and Sort Usings
Extract Constant
Transform Templates
Close All
If you try opening up a project that can no longer be found, Visual Studio will prompt you for permission to remove it from the MRU list. So if you temporarily rename an appropriate top level folder to fake the projects' disappearance, you can get rid of the projects one by one.
In Visual Studio 2015 all the history lists (including search history, file MRU and project MRU) are now located at:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\14.0\MRUItems
You will see a different GUID folder for each list, and a sub-folder called Items in each of them. Find the Items folder that contains the relevant list, and just delete its parent GUID folder.
Visual Studio will re-create the GUID folder together with a new Items child folder, next time it wants to add something to the list again.
I found the MRU editor from Code Project a great tool for that. No problems with it, and it works on 2003, 2005, and 2008.
Note: This answer is specific to Visual Studio 2010.
If you don't want to manually edit the registry, you can use PowerCommands for Visual Studio 2010.
PowerCommands 10.0 is a set of useful extensions for the Visual Studio
2010 adding additional functionality to various areas of the IDE.
The specific command for clearing the registry from the extension is:
Clear Recent Project List This command clears the Visual Studio recent project list. The Clear Recent Project List command brings up a
Clear File dialog which allows any or all recent projects to be
selected.
The PowerCommands can be installed with the Visual Studio extension manager: Tools > Extension Manager > Online Gallery: search for PowerCommands for Visual Studio 2010.
Try Recently Used Files: a free addin for Visual Studio that manages MRU files on a per-project basis:
Supported for VS 2010, 2012, 2013.
For Visual Studio 2012, 2013:
http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/a61cbd1d-b5a2-490b-a6bb-f0ea3ecf214a
For Visual Studio 2010:
http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/45283881-5a62-4dc1-8ffb-4cbc02709947
For Visual Studio 2013:
Open the Run dialog (Press Win + R)
type: regedit
navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Microsoft > VisualStudio
click 12.0 then the files will show up on the right side.
Look for the "LastLoadedSolution", right click then click Modify
change the value to 0.
This worked for me.
I'm not sure if this solution has been posted somewhere here, but if you have VS 2013 Update 5 you can open start page, and right click project below "Recent" list, and choose "Remove from list". I don't know how about other VS versions, maybe this feature is available.
I had this issue as applied to VS 2017 where you do not have any MRU items in the registry as in the previous versions. The solution was, on the other hand, simple: go to "Tools->Extensions and Updates" and install "Power Commands for Visual Studio". After they have been installed, your File menu will look as shown below.
Just click the menu item to clear the project MRU.