Arranging and Using Windows in Visual Studio

  • Article

The integrated development environment (IDE) provides various tools and options to help you position document and tool windows and move among them. When you arrange windows, the IDE remembers the layout between sessions so that you do not have to reposition windows every time. For example, if you change the docking location of Solution Explorer and then close Visual Studio, the next time that you start, Solution Explorer will be docked in that same location.

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Description

Kinds of Windows

Discusses the differences between tool windows and document windows in the IDE.

How to: Arrange and Dock Windows

Describes how to dock, auto hide, and tile windows, and also how to reset the window layout.

How to: Move Around in the Development Environment

Describes how you can cycle through open windows in the IDE, by order of usage. Also describes how you can jump to specific documents.

Customizing Development Settings in Visual Studio

Contains information about settings combinations and how settings affect window layouts, keyboard shortcuts, and other elements in the IDE.