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How To Hide and Disable the Minimap Panel in VS Code Editor

The minimap panel in Visual Studio Code displays a preview of the code in the editor and shows you an overview of the file you are editing. It can be useful for quick navigation through long files. However, the minimap takes up valuable space on the right side of the editor. If you find it distracting or unnecessary, you can easily hide or disable it.

What is the Minimap Panel

The minimap panel shows a shrunk down version of the code in the editor. As you scroll through the code, it gives you a bird’s eye view of where you are in the file. The blue rectangle indicates the portion of code visible in the editor window.

Minimap panel

Some developers find the minimap helpful for navigating long files, while others find it distracting. Luckily, VS Code gives you the option to toggle it on or off at will.

Why Disable the Minimap

Here are some reasons you may want to disable the minimap panel:

  • It takes up lateral screen real estate on the right side
  • You find it visually distracting
  • You don’t use it for navigating code
  • You want more space for the code editor window

If you don’t find yourself using the minimap functionality, disabling it can free up valuable space to view more code on the screen.

Temporarily Hide the Minimap

You can quickly toggle the minimap visibility on and off using the View > Toggle Minimap menu option.

Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut:

  • Windows/Linux: Ctrl + Shift + P then run View: Toggle Minimap
  • macOS: Cmd + Shift + P then run View: Toggle Minimap

This will instantly hide or show the minimap panel without changing any settings.

Disable the Minimap Permanently

To completely disable the minimap so it never shows up:

  1. Open the Command Palette with Ctrl+Shift+P
  2. Search for “Preferences: Open User Settings”
  3. Search for editor.minimap.enabled and set it to false
"editor.minimap.enabled": false

Now the minimap will be disabled across all VS Code windows and projects, saving screen space.

Disable Minimap For a Project

You can disable the minimap for only a specific project rather than globally:

  1. In your project folder, create a .vscode folder
  2. Create a settings.json file inside .vscode
  3. Add the following:
{
  "editor.minimap.enabled": false  
}

Now when you open that project, the minimap will be disabled. Enable it again by setting true or deleting that file.

Customize Minimap Behavior

If you want to keep the minimap but change its behavior, VS Code offers several customization options:

Position

By default minimap is shown on the right side. You can position it on the left instead:

"editor.minimap.side": "left"

Size

Make the minimap wider or narrower:

“`json
“editor.minimap.size”: “fill”

- `proportional`: Same width as editor content
- `fill`: Stretches full editor height 
- `fit`: Shrinks to not be wider than editor

### Scale

Increase the zoom level from 1x to 2x or 3x:

json
“editor.minimap.scale”: 2

### Slider

The slider appears when hovering over the minimap to indicate position in the file. Toggle its visibility:

json
“editor.minimap.showSlider”: “always”

- `always`
- `mouseover`
- `never`

### Max Column Width

Limit the maximum width in columns:

json
“editor.minimap.maxColumn”: 80
“`

There are many more customization options for fine tuning minimap behavior in VS Code settings.

Conclusion

The VS Code minimap gives you an overview of code files but takes up lateral screen space. If you find it distracting or unnecessary, you can easily hide it with the Toggle Minimap command or disable it entirely in user settings. You can also customize its position, size, scale, slider, and width to suit your needs. Tweak minimap behavior to optimize your workspace!

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