How to: Exclude Files from a Project Output Group

When a project output group is added to a deployment project, all of the files within the project output group are added to the project. In some cases, you may not want all of the files to be deployed; to prevent them from being deployed, you can exclude them. For example, the Content Files output group for a Web project might contain a debug.htm file; to prevent this file from being deployed, you can exclude it.

Note

The dialog boxes and menu commands you see might differ from those described in Help depending on your active settings or edition. To change your settings, choose Import and Export Settings on the Tools menu. For more information, see Working with Settings.

To exclude files through the ExcludeFilter property

  1. In the Name column of the File System Editor, select a project output group.

  2. On the Action menu, choose ExcludeFilter.

    The Filter dialog box is displayed.

  3. In the Filter dialog box, click the Add Filter button.

    The Add Filter dialog box is displayed.

  4. In the Add Filter dialog box, type the name of the file or files to be excluded. The file extension must be included; wildcard characters can be used to exclude groups of files.

    For example, you might type Debug.htm to exclude a specific file, or you might type *.txt to exclude all text files.

    Note

    Files can also be excluded from a project in Solution Explorer. Files that are excluded from a project are not included in a project output group.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Add and Remove Project Outputs in the File System Editor

Reference

Properties for the File System Editor

Other Resources

File Installation Management in Deployment