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When I mark a word (of any kind) I would like all occurrences (in that particular file) of that word to be highlighted in the scrollbar on the right hand side.

This was a feature in VS2015 and VS2013. I cannot imagine that they removed it, I just don't know how to switch it on. None of the apparent possibilities in Tools -> Options (image) helps me. enter image description here

Ps. I am using Visual Studio 17 Professional. Thank you.

Richard
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ToFo
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    This is now a new feature in Visual Studio 2022 17.4 (on by default), but it highlights both text in the editor and annotates the scrollbar. It can be toggled on or off using `Options | Text Editor | General | Show selection matches`. – Aaron Nov 18 '22 at 09:13

5 Answers5

162

This was a feature in VS15 and VS13.

Actually it was not.

It is a feature of the Productivity Power Tools extension. That extension is now just an installer for separate single feature extensions. I think you'll be wanting Match Margin.

For Visual Studio 2022 Match Margin is also available.

habakuk
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Richard
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    I'm curious. I remember this feature being available on VS 2015, but I don't remember installing and extension for it. Was the Productivity Power Tools extension bundled with Visual Studio on former versions? – M Granja Mar 07 '18 at 15:07
  • @MGranja Some highlighting was included in the box, but not for find ((IRC definition/reference highlight was included, which would often appear similar). – Richard Mar 07 '18 at 15:18
  • Yeah, that would explain it then. And them removing it from vanilla VS confused some people, like me. – M Granja Mar 15 '18 at 13:37
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    @MGranja Visual Studio code has this feature built-in, maybe that's what you were thinking of? – jrh Oct 07 '19 at 14:16
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    Also just as a heads up, the default color scheme for Match Margin picks a rather subtle color, when I first loaded it I thought it wasn't working, but it turns out that it picked a color I could barely see, and it drew a very small bar because the file was large. You can change the color by going to Tools -> Options -> Environment -> Fonts and Colors -> Match Color. The color it chooses to show in the scroll bar is the *foreground* (text) color, not the *background color*. – jrh Oct 07 '19 at 14:21
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    Another thing, it matches text, it's not necessarily language aware. E.g., if you have 8 functions with a local variable or parameter named `name`, and you click on `name`, it will highlight every instance of `name` in the file even though it isn't the same variable. Probably best to use this as a quick examination tool for global variables and fields. It's funny because the default identifier highlight system (that doesn't draw to the scroll bar) *is* language aware and will only highlight variables that are in the proper scope. – jrh Oct 07 '19 at 14:25
  • @jrh No, I almost never use VS code. I think Richard's suggestion is more likely. – M Granja Nov 28 '19 at 19:12
18

Right now, the only way I know (without installing new extensions) is to select (double click) the word and hit ctrl-f (find). Scroll map should highlight all occurences (mine are orange)

Tomasz Szalkowski
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15

There's another extension which does exactly this, with options to customize colors and more. it called Word Highlight With Margin.

The extension created by Trung Kien Phan

Screenshots

VS2017/VS2019/2022 Version

Download link from Visual Studio market place - VS2017, VS2019, VS2022

Previous versions:

VS2015

VS2010, VS2012, VS2013

itsho
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1

The setting is in "Options > Text Editor > C# > Advanced" and is called "Highlight references to symbol under cursor": enter image description here

This is using Visual Studio 2019, version 16.1.25.

William
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0

MultiWordHighlight can highlight different words with different color

https://github.com/jendelel/MultiWordHighlight

update

  1. How to install

    Install via Visual Studio Marketplace (https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=jendelel.MultiWordHighlight).

  2. How to use

    Right click on any word under the caret and select Toggle highlight of current word in the MultiWordHighlight menu.

camino
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