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I used to deal with this when I was working with Adobe AfterEffects. It was (and maybe still is) so buggy that it could crash at any moment. So instead of fixing their buggy code-base their developers added a feature that would periodically auto-save all solution files into a separate (copy) folder. So after a crash you could recover some of your work. (Mine was set on auto-save every minute.)

So I've recently switched to using Visual Studio 2017 to develop my C++/MFC projects. (Before that I worked with somewhat older VS 2008 that used to crash very rarely.) But now VS2017 crashes pretty much every day. And if I forget to click save, it literally takes down last 10-15 minutes of my work, if not more.

I tried reporting this to Microsoft (back in summer of 2018, 6 months ago.) Some of my reports were either closed right away when they needed more proof and I didn't have time to deal with their laziness to read my entire post, but some that were accepted are still open and were never fixed. So I'm done submitting bug reports through that portal.

My only recourse at this point is to ask if there's an auto-save "feature" in VS2017, similar to what Adobe did to their AfterAffects?

Anyone wants to crash it right now? Here's just one bug. Create new project -> Visual C++ -> MFC/ATL project -> MFC Application. Then go to Resource View -> Add Resource -> Accelerator. Then click on "None" where I pointed with an arrow: enter image description here Is your VS2017 still running after that?

c00000fd
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  • Possible duplicate of [How to make visual studio auto-save changes after delay like vscode?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44078068/how-to-make-visual-studio-auto-save-changes-after-delay-like-vscode) – Ken Y-N Dec 25 '18 at 00:59
  • @KenY-N: Auto-recover is a joke. It literally worked in 0% of the crashes I've experienced. – c00000fd Dec 25 '18 at 01:01
  • Yes, I have seen that bug with the accelerator too. I am not sure if it's worth the headache to report it. You have to edit the *.rc file manually. Or use VS2008 to make the *.rc code and copy to VS2017. I have found VS2017 is otherwise stable. Restarting your computer might fix other odd bugs. – Barmak Shemirani Dec 25 '18 at 01:33
  • @BarmakShemirani: Yeah, that's what I ended up doing -- editing the .rc file manually in text editor. The problem is that I remember about it after I click there. (When it's too late and VS already crashed.) And it's just one bug of many. So I can't believe you find it stable. Also I've been using [Visual Studio solution cleaner](https://dennisbabkin.com/utilities/#VSSolutionCleaner) to clean up projects after being opened for a while when Intellisense gets borked up. But that won't clean up those code bugs though. – c00000fd Dec 25 '18 at 01:38
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    `10-15` minutes worth of work? I hit save literally after *every few statements* - whenever there is a *slight* pause in my hand movements. I don't even notice myself doing it now. – Galik Dec 25 '18 at 03:25
  • @Galik: well, I guess I should start doing it too. – c00000fd Dec 25 '18 at 05:03

2 Answers2

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You can find a plugin in the market that does the job.

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=fluffyerug.Autosave2017

soima
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  • I have not enough reputation to comment on @abel 's answer, but it is worth mentioning. Thanks for noting there is a better plugin for this. I guess the one from fluffeyrug is getting outdated. – soima Sep 03 '20 at 12:34
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"Auto Save File" extension has more installs and better reviews than the extension from fluffeyrug.

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=HangjitRai.AutoSaveFile

Abel Wenning
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