• Article

Open File Dialog Box

Use the Open File dialog box to open an existing file from disk. You can also use this dialog box to open an already opened file using different language encoding options.

To access this dialog box, select Open from the File menu and then choose File. This dialog box also appears when you are opening files from other elements, such as the External Tools dialog box. From the File menu, select Open, and then choose Project/Solution to open the similar Open Project dialog box.

Note

Before opening a project or component in Management Studio, determine the trustworthiness of its code. The act of opening the project or component in a Management Studio may execute its code in a trusted process on your local machine.

Option

  • Look in
    Locate the existing project folder from this drop-down menu. Selecting a folder from this list displays the contents of the folder in the primary pane.

My Places Bar

  • Desktop
    Displays the files and folders located on the desktop.

  • My Projects
    Displays the files and folders in the users Projects folder.

  • My Computer
    Displays the contents of your floppy disk, hard disk, and CD-ROM drive.

Folder List

  • File name
    Use this option to filter the files and folders that are displayed. Enter a full or partial file name on which to filter. You can use the asterisk (*) as a wildcard.

  • Files of type
    Use this option to filter the contents of the folder or directory selected in Look in for a particular file type.

  • Open With and Encoding Options
    To use the Open With Dialog Box to specify an editor for the target file, select the small rectangle at the right of the Open button and choose Open With. If necessary, you can also specify a language-encoding scheme to apply when opening the selected file. To do so, select a program in the list that contains "with Encoding" and choose Open to display the Encoding Dialog Box. This button is not always available.

Toolbar

  • Navigate Back
    Returns the most recently viewed folder, drive, or internet location.

  • Up One Level
    Navigates the tree to the next highest folder in the tree view.

  • Search the Web
    This button is not available.

  • Delete
    Deletes the selected files or folders from storage.

  • New Folder
    Displays the New Folder dialog box. Use this option to create a new child folder under the folder selected in the Look in drop-down list box.

Views

Provides options for arranging and viewing the contents of the item selected in the Views drop-down list box.

  • Thumbnails
    Displays thumbnails for items in the display pane.

  • Tiles
    Displays files and folders as large icons.

  • Icons
    Displays files and folders as small icons.

  • List
    Displays files and folders in a list format.

  • Details
    Displays the name, size, type, and last-modified date of files and folders in a list format. To sort by a particular detail, click its column header.

  • WebView
    This command is not available.

Tools

Select a tool to apply to the item selected in the contents pane.

  • Delete
    Deletes the selected file or folder from storage.

  • Map Network Drive
    Opens the Map Network Drive dialog box.