John Wood

VS Tip #2: Easier File Navigation

If there's one thing I hate when programming it's having to switch between the keyboard and the mouse constantly. A while ago I posted a tip to switch open files more easily without using the mouse.

That's useful but since then I've set up another shortcut - this time to open any file, both existing and unopened files, without using the mouse.

The trick is to set up a shortcut key to the Solution Explorer. You do this in Tools/Options in the Environment/Keyboard area. Find View.SolutionExplorer and set up a shortcut key to something like Ctrl+; (semi-colon) - as this isn't used for anything else.

Then, no matter where you are, you can press Ctrl+; to set focus to the solution explorer. Then comes the trick, rather than using the mouse to select a file to open you can just type in the first few characters of the file you want. This finds the file in the solution explorer and selects it. Then press F7 or Enter to open the file and continue editing.

Voilla - you've now got a shortcut key to open any file without using the mouse.

Hope you find it useful.