Visual Studio

Question

Is there a keyboard shortcut in Visual Studio (aside from CTRL+TAB and selection) that would take me from inside a document directly into the solution explorer? I don't want to customize any shortcuts or change any default behavior.

See: www.visualstudioshortcuts.com/2012/ (Though 2010 version is not available, it is still very useful). — Chris W, Feb 16 '17 at 14:09
Possible duplicate of [Visual Studio: Shortcut to scroll solution explorer to current file](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/14937284/visual-studio-shortcut-to-scroll-solution-explorer-to-current-file) — MemeDeveloper, Mar 06 '19 at 13:51
@stepanian fair point on primacy if this is earlier. I just meant duplicate i.e. they are the same. I was just linking them up for those doing admin. — MemeDeveloper, Mar 07 '19 at 05:03
@stepanian also I answered on this question not that - as I saw the date was earlier. Thanks — MemeDeveloper, Mar 07 '19 at 05:04

keyboardP · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-02T20:45:34.890

270

CTRL+ALT+L

should shift focus to the Solution Explorer.

For visual studio 2012 use:

CTRL+[ + S this selects your current document in the solution explorer.

edited Feb 02 '13 at 20:45

answered Jun 04 '11 at 18:54

keyboardP

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Thanks! And I assume ctrl + alt + l and then select the file with an arrow to come back? – stepanian Jun 04 '11 at 18:57
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Yup, press `Enter` to select the file, or `Escape` to just jump back to the document window without selecting the file :) – keyboardP Jun 04 '11 at 18:58
It also seems like ctrl + tab brings you back to the initial document with it selected (saving you the enter key press). Every second counts! – stepanian Jun 04 '11 at 19:01
Oh sorry, by `selected` I thought you meant actually opened. `Escape` will return to document, whilst keeping the selection, but it won't open the file. (Similar to ctrl + tab). `Enter` will actually open the file. – keyboardP Jun 04 '11 at 19:05
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In VS 2015, you can select "View" from the toolbar menu to see all the direct shortcuts for shifting focus to different windows. The same tricks (Escape, Enter) work for all of these. – Sitric Dec 28 '15 at 18:52

marapet · Answer 2 · 2015-01-26T20:31:25.060

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When using VS 2012 with the Visual C# 2005 keyboard mapping scheme:

CTRL+W, S

I find this easier to memorize: All shortcuts beginning with CTRL+W are for opening or navigating to W indows:

CTRL+W, S: S olution Explorer
CTRL+W, E: E rror list
CTRL+W, R: R esourceview
CTRL+W, A: Command window (A ction ...)
CTRL+W, T: T askview
CTRL+W, Q: Find Symbol Results
CTRL+W, X: Toolbo x
CTRL+W, C: C lassview
CTRL+W, P: P roperties
CTRL+W, B: B ookmarks
...

edited Jan 26 '15 at 20:31

answered Jan 05 '13 at 21:33

marapet

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Thank you for precising the keyboard mapping scheme ! I've been looking for using the shortcut Ctrl+W+S for the solution explorer since i installed a new VS2012 ! – hemma731 May 14 '14 at 10:07

score 23 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 25 '12 at 11:46

23

In Visual Studio 2012 you can now use CTRL+; as this is the default keyboard shortcut for the solution explorer search box.

answered Oct 25 '12 at 11:46

Baldy

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`Ctr+'` opens team explorer. `Ctrl + ,` opens "file selector".. Pretty handy shortcuts. – arviman Nov 13 '14 at 12:33

score 14 · Answer 4 · edited Jul 26 '13 at 06:19

14

On my windows 7 machine : Ctrl+ALT+L locks the computer.

For me : Shift+ALT+L works. (This could also be a resharper configuration)

edited Jul 26 '13 at 06:19

Rohit Vipin Mathews

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answered Apr 18 '12 at 07:38

AyKarsi

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Yes, Shift + Alt + L is resharper – Rory Dec 17 '20 at 19:46

score 13 · Answer 5 · edited Nov 09 '16 at 02:26

13

shortcut ctrl [, S will focus current open file/document in solution explorer.
setting checkbox to true in "Track active in Solution Explorer" will automatically focus current open file/document in solution explorer (Tools->Options->Projects and solutions->General->"Track Active Item in Solution Explorer"=true

edited Nov 09 '16 at 02:26

Nissa

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answered Jan 05 '13 at 20:07

Mirvel

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khellang · Answer 6 · 2013-01-07T18:10:59.617

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The default keyboard shortcut for opening/jumping to Solution Explorer is Ctrl + Alt + L.

edited Jan 07 '13 at 18:10

answered Jun 04 '11 at 18:58

khellang

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score 10 · Answer 7 · answered Mar 08 '15 at 14:29

10

Extended above : command name for sync tab with solution explorer is "SolutionExplorer.SyncWithActiveDocument"

answered Mar 08 '15 at 14:29

Nigrimmist

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what monsters. How completely undiscoverable is that? You saved me ages <3. – Quibblesome Dec 01 '22 at 10:14

score 6 · Answer 8 · answered Mar 06 '19 at 14:11

2015 and 2017 (by default) VS 2017 Shortcuts

Ctrl + [, S

Runs Keyboard Shortcut

SolutionExplorer.SyncWithActiveDocument

ReSharper

In Visual Studio 2015 and 2017 (by default) Resharper Docs

Shift + Alt + L

Which runs Resharper's Keyboard Shortcut

Resharper.Resharper_LocateInSolutionOrAssemblyExplorer

Both

Focus Solution Explorer
Highlight document
Scroll / expand nodes (as required to show that document)

Difference

Resharper's version also works with decompiled code. Locating decompiled symbols in the Assembly Explorer window.

To customise / it doesn't work :

Tools > Options > Environment > Keyboard
Search shortcut name (e.g. SolutionExplorer.SyncWithActiveDocument)
Assign (in Global) to Keyboard shortcuts as you like

score 3 · Answer 9 · edited Nov 09 '16 at 00:59

3

ctrl + [ + S.

This shortcut will highlight the currently opened document in solution explorer.

edited Nov 09 '16 at 00:59

Nissa

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answered Jul 05 '16 at 08:02

Sathish

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score 3 · Answer 10 · answered Jul 21 '16 at 23:03

I had this problem on a new machine build with VS 2013 and R# 8.2.

Keyboard option Resharper.Resharper_LocateInSolutionExplorer was correctly set to Shift+Alt+L, but it seemed to be only opening a parent folder and not selecting the actual file. As recommended in another post I enabled "Track active in Solution Explorer" in the VS Options.

This didn't fix the problem and wasn't what I want because in very large solutions I don't want the solution explorer jumping around to the current file in use. I disabled the Track feature and restarted VS, the LocateInSolutionExplorer feature then started working correctly. Some sort of shortcut precedence issue?

score 2 · Answer 11 · answered Oct 16 '13 at 08:27

2

For AZERTY keyboards like mine, the default shortcut is Ctrl+), Ctrl+S

answered Oct 16 '13 at 08:27

Charles HETIER

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score 1 · Answer 12 · answered Apr 23 '21 at 11:10

Ctrl+Alt+L works fine even in VS 2019.

But if you have reassigned the above key to some other command (by mistake in my case) then the name of the command is View.SolutionExplorer

You can search it in the Tools -> Options -> Environment -> Keyboard or just do Ctrl+Q and search keymap.

And then search View.SolutionExplorer in the Show commands containing: and assign whichever key you want.

score 0 · Answer 13 · answered Apr 17 '17 at 23:26

We just upgraded from VS2013 to VS2017, and I had to go looking for how to auto-select the active tab in the Solution Explorer. I often have to look for a document by finding a text-string from a screen, and love to have it select the document so I can see where it is.

Tracking the active document has been default behavior for a long time. VS2017 brought over ALL my other preferences, but not this one. Glad I found this thread--Thank you.

Visual Studio - Shortcut to Navigate to Solution Explorer

13 Answers13

Visual Studio

ReSharper

Both

Difference

Linked