Visual Studio: Quick Way to Open Solution Explorer
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If you can’t find the Solution Explorer in Visual Studio, don’t worry. This guide shows you how to open it, pin it, and make sure it stays visible every time you launch the IDE.
Table of contents
How to Open Solution Explorer in Visual Studio?
Use the View panel
Follow these steps to access Solution Explorer and manage your project files easily.
- Open Visual Studio
Open Visual Studio and load your project.
- Open View menu
Click View from the top menu bar.
- Click Solution Explorer
Select Solution Explorer from the dropdown list.
- Use keyboard shortcut
Press Ctrl + Alt + L as a shortcut to toggle Solution Explorer
- Pin it
Click the Pin icon if you want to keep the window visible.
- Drag it
Drag the Solution Explorer tab to reposition or dock it anywhere in your workspace.
If you’d like to further customize your workspace, learn how to change the Visual Studio theme.
To quickly review code differences while working on projects, learn how to compare two files in Visual Studio and keep both views open for easier editing.
Why Use Solution Explorer?
Solution Explorer helps you:
- View all files, folders, and references in your solution.
- Add or remove files directly.
- Manage build configurations and project properties.
- Navigate between multiple projects in one solution.
To improve efficiency when managing multilingual projects, see how to change language in Visual Studio.
When working with multiple branches or experimenting with code updates, you can stash changes in Visual Studio to save your progress safely before switching tasks or testing new features.
Before making new project changes or running builds from Solution Explorer, learn how to stop a build in Visual Studio to avoid unnecessary delays and resource usage.
FAQs
You might have closed it accidentally. Go to View > Solution Explorer or press Ctrl + Alt + L to reopen it.
Yes. Right-click the Solution Explorer tab and select New Solution Explorer View to open a separate one.
No. Visual Studio Code uses a File Explorer instead of Solution Explorer, though both serve similar purposes.
Right-click your project in Solution Explorer and choose Build or Rebuild to compile it. You can also read how to compile in Visual Studio for a detailed guide.
Conclusion
Opening Solution Explorer in Visual Studio takes just a few clicks or a quick shortcut. Whether you’re editing files or managing dependencies, keeping this panel open ensures a smoother development workflow.
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