Class names not coloured in Visual Studio 2012

Question

I am evaluating Visual Studio 2012 and am having some problems with the color schema.
Sure enough I was able to overcome the initial discomfort by setting my color for the text editor.
One thing I have not been able to set corrent are the color for the class names. Say you have a line like below.

Class name = new Class();

the entire line is in the same color, expect the new keyword.
I want the word 'Class' to be in a different color like in earlier versions of Visual Studio.
I am not able to set the color for this from the Option.
I have tried chaning color for all fields like plain text, literals, identifier, etc under
Tool -> Option -> Environment -> Font & Colors but still I am not able to fix this. I have also applied custome themes, those are also not helping.
I wouldn't want to install a productivity power tool for such basic preference right ??

Edit:
I'm on Windows 7 x64 and Visual Studio Professional 2012, Version 11.0.50727.1 RTMREL

Also, not all of the font-color types will change immediately. Try exiting and restarting (maybe even rebooting). — RBarryYoung, Oct 10 '12 at 19:12
I'm having the same issues now on Visual studio.. can't apply the settings — hanzolo, Nov 06 '12 at 18:07
See the thread [How can I get user type C# syntax highlighting working again in VS 2012 RC?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10970305/) for a lot of proposed solutions. — Jeppe Stig Nielsen, Mar 23 '13 at 14:56
The solution that worked for me was this: http://stackoverflow.com/a/11003979/1348349. — Fabricio, Apr 17 '13 at 18:17

score 15 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:24

15

The solution I found is a combination of the suggestions found in a mish mash of related threads:

Close Visual Studio and open the VS command prompt as an administrator. Navigate to the devenv.exe file (in Express versions it is titled something along the lines of *express.exe) usually located in C://Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0/Common7/IDE.
Type devenv.exe /setup
Reopen Visual Studio. If everything is all colored now, great! If not, close the tabs and reopen them.

Performing all of step 3 is what has got my coloring to come back to normal.

Here is where I got the suggestions:

Visual Studio 2012 - Intellisense sometimes disappearing / broken

How can I get user type C# syntax highlighting working again in VS 2012 RC?

edited May 23 '17 at 12:24

Community

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answered Jan 15 '14 at 18:57

mlam13

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Just adding the first time you open vs, I think you need to open it with administrator first. probably for people who still fail after step 3. – kirie Jan 18 '15 at 08:16
How to type "devenv.exe /setup"? – Aug 22 '16 at 07:31

score 10 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 01 '13 at 13:12

10

If you're using Productive Power Tools, go to => Tools -> Options -> Productive Power Tools. In main menu, TURN OFF the option: Colorized Parameter Help. I solved my problem, I'm on Windows 8 Pro, Visual Studio 2012 Ultimate.

answered Feb 01 '13 at 13:12

Marcos

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score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 05 '12 at 12:52

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You're on the right track. Under Tools -> Options -> Environment -> Fonts and Colors, you want to change "User Types", first making sure at the top of the dialog that you are viewing the settings for the "Text Editor"

Although, by default with my install of Visual Studio 2012 these were already set, so you may want to try the "Use Defaults" button, unless you've made other changes that you want to keep.

answered Sep 05 '12 at 12:52

G_P

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I am not getting the 'User Types' setting :( I'm on Windows 7 x64 and Visual Studio Professional 2012, Version 11.0.50727.1 RTMREL – Vignesh.N Sep 06 '12 at 06:51
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That is the same setup I have. I did a search, and apparently it's a known issue according to this: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vseditor/thread/07e99040-7474-435f-b69d-c7e8e914586e which links to a supposed fix here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11988077/plain-c-sharp-editor-in-visual-studio-2012-no-intellisense-no-indentation-no – G_P Sep 06 '12 at 12:50

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 10 '14 at 10:14

2

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go to the tools >Option click on enviroment navigation and click on import and export setting and copy the url and open directory from the url and delete all font and color file .which you got setting folder

answered Mar 10 '14 at 10:14

Om Saini

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I didn't delete all the font and color from any of the files there. What i did do was to remove the "CurrentVSSettings" file and replace it with "CurrentVSSettings - 05-27-16". Which fixed the problem. Looks like VS automatically backed up the settings file before i swapped out harddrives, which was when i started experiencing the problem. – RMuesi May 31 '16 at 16:49
I deleted all the files in that Import and Export settings folder and restarted VS 2013 and everything worked fine.Thanks @Om Saini – dotnetdev_2009 Sep 22 '17 at 13:27

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 12 '13 at 21:51

The workaround provided by Donatas on Microsoft Connect works without having to turn off any option of Productivity Power Tools:

There is a workaround without turning off "Colorized Parameter Help". Go to Tools > Options > Environment > Fonts and Colors in Display items select "User Types (Value types)" click Custom next to Item foreground color and in the color picker change Red, Green or Blue by 1, i.e. to make a custom color which basically looks the same. OK on all the dialogs and problem solved.

I had same problem and 'FontandColor' dialog box doesn't shows UserDefinedType Option (It shows for VBUserDefinedType). But, when i turned off "ColourizedParameterHelp" it will show my Defined types in Color. — Rashmin, Aug 17 '15 at 09:28

Class names not coloured in Visual Studio 2012

5 Answers5