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Is it possible to export/import bookmarks from any Visual Studio?

Jeroen
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parzival
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  • I think bookmarks are specific to the source code in a project and they are automatically loaded, when you load a project. – Searock Mar 05 '11 at 10:39
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    @Searock But if I have more than one (the "same" projects), and made bookmarks into one, how to export/import them to the others (it is questions)? Jon gave acceptable answer. – parzival Mar 06 '11 at 17:01

3 Answers3

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A better solution to standard bookmarks...

Go to Tools/Options/Environment/Task List and add a new tag to record them. I wanted to use the phrase MARK but this word is too common in my code, so I'm using BOOKMARK set as low priority.

Whenever I want to leave a bookmark I just type //BOOKMARK: this is a bookmark, and that's it, simple! To view them just open the Task List window and sort by priority or description and scroll down.

This is hugely better than standard bookmarks because they ...

  • are 'pinned' with the actual code and don't drift
  • can be shared with your own multiple environments and with other developers
  • are never lost if you suffer a problem with Visual Studio
  • are still searchable and readable in other editors eg notepad
  • you could create different tags to group different types of bookmarks together
userSteve
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  • You had my hopes up for a moment. Unfortunately in C++, it only shows tasks for opened files, not very useful. The Task List is better than Bookmarks because it sticks with the line of code, but at least you can jump to a Bookmark even if the file is not open. – Pierre Aug 09 '16 at 14:16
  • @Pierre, looks a well known problem with C++ some suggest using Ghostdoc or Resharper to fix it. See these other threads ... https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/vstudio/en-US/1296549f-05d6-44ab-854c-2d73426e641f/task-list-in-visual-studio-2012-only-shows-currently-selected-files-todo-comments?forum=visualstudiogeneral http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8794314/visual-studio-todo-task-list-not-showing-up http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2165120/view-all-todo-items-in-visual-studio-using-ghostdoc http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9282626/visual-c-todo-task-list-not-showing-elements – userSteve Aug 11 '16 at 08:34
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    This is a smart idea. But it pollutes the source code. – smwikipedia Jan 08 '19 at 03:11
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    if you do this, then how to remove it when you are now pushing your code to source control? – Alexander Nov 01 '19 at 06:02
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    @Alexander it may be desirable to retain the bookmarks in source control if they make navigating the code easier. Alternatively you could use a unique phrase for the bookmark which won't interfere with other users, eg BOOKMARK_USER1 – userSteve Nov 03 '19 at 18:18
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The bookmarks are stored in the solution's SUO file. So in theory you can import/export them by copying that file around, or placing it in source control. In practice, that would be a bad idea because that file is meant to be developer-specific and overwriting it will cause collateral damage in addition to importing the bookmarks.

However, if you have a specific scenario in mind where that is not a problem you can try doing it.

Jon
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It is not possible using any of the tools I have found.

However there is an alternative and you can import and export breakpoints.

A problem with this is that if the source code ends up differing from when the breakpoints were added.

The breakpoints will faithfully stay at the lines which were marked and may not be indicative of an interesting place.

A way to mitigate this would be to save the breakpoints and check them in with a changeset into your source control, that way they would at least be faithful against a specific cut of the code.

An alternative, if you have Visual Studio Ultimate, is to use the code map feature. And build up pertinent parts of the code path(s) you are interested in.

brumScouse
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  • +1 for suggesting Code Map--and often overlooked tool. My current project has gotten large enough and I have the need for different "views" of it, since it has several technical areas that don't easily map to functional requirements. I really liked your Code Map idea and I'm going to start using it--thank you. – Jazimov Oct 24 '19 at 17:34