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How to Open and View Multiple Project Files in VS Code Editor

Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is a popular open-source code editor developed by Microsoft. It provides a lightweight and customizable environment for editing code across different programming languages.

One of the useful features of VS Code is the ability to open and work with multiple project folders within a single interface. This allows you to organize your workspace efficiently when working on multiple related projects.

Here is a step-by-step guide on how to open and view multiple projects in VS Code:

Create a VS Code Workspace

A workspace in VS Code refers to the entire environment containing one or more project folders. To create a workspace:

  1. Launch VS Code
  2. Click on File > Add Folder to Workspace
  3. Select the project folder you want to add
  4. Repeat steps 2-3 to add more project folders

Once you add multiple folders, VS Code will automatically create a workspace file with .code-workspace extension.

Open an Existing Workspace

If you already have a workspace file from previous sessions:

  1. Launch VS Code
  2. Click File > Open Workspace
  3. Select the .code-workspace file

All the projects associated with that workspace will be loaded.

Manage Multiple Projects

Once you open a workspace with multiple projects, you can easily navigate and manage different projects from the VS Code interface:

  • The Explorer panel shows all files and folders of projects in the workspace. You can quickly switch between them from here.
  • You can have files from different projects open in the editor at the same time. This allows you to work on multiple projects simultaneously.
  • Using Ctrl+P, you can quickly search for and navigate between files from different projects.
  • The Status Bar at the bottom shows the currently active project. You can switch projects quickly from the status bar.

Customize Workspaces

You can customize VS Code workspace to better suit your workflow when working with multiple projects:

  • Create separate launch configurations for each project’s runtime/debugger.
  • Install extensions on a per-workspace basis using the .code-workspace file.
  • Override user and workspace settings differently for each workspace.
  • Save and open workspace files to quickly switch contexts between unrelated projects.

Conclusion

Working with multiple project folders is efficient and organized with VS Code’s workspace feature. Make sure to leverage workspaces, the explorer panel, multi-root functionality, and custom configurations to optimize your workflow.

With the steps outlined in this guide, you should be able to seamlessly open, manage and customize multiple projects in VS Code.

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