This is a list of 10 great shortcuts me and my co workers use frequently, we thought you all should know too. Here they are:
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CTRL + “.”: This is actually a shortcut for a shortcut. it is the same as CTRL + SHIFT + F10 which opens the smart tag window and allows you to add Using statements
Or implement interfaces
and much more. -
ALT + CTRL + “e”: This one will open the Exceptions window, which allows you to tell Visual Studio to halt at specific exceptions, halt on all exceptions or selecet some exceptions to ignore.
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CTRL + “k” + “f” and CRTL + “k” + “d”: these two will format the code in the window to be nicely indented. using “d” will format all the document while using “f” will format only selected text. The formatting is for all types of documents, HTML, Xaml, XML, C#… This one is my favorite.
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SHIFT + Del: This one will cut the entire row from the document and past it to the clipboard. No need to select the row, just put the marker there and click SHIFT + Del and it is gone.
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CTRL + “k” + “c” and CTRL + “k” + “u”: These two are for commenting selected text (the “c” options) and uncommenting selected text (the “u” option).
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ALT + ENTER: this little shortcut will open up the Properties window
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CTRL + “k” + “s”: This one opens up the code snippets dialogue within the code
If you want to create code snippets you should read my post about snippy the code snippets editor. -
F12: I think you all know this but still F12 is the shortcut for the “Go to definition” command which will take you to the definition of the object your marker is currently on.
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F9: Another one i think you all know, clicking on F9 will add a breakpoint to the code line your marker is currently at. Clicking F9 again will remove this breakpoint from that line.
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CTRL + ALT + “q”: This one will open the Quick watch window while you debug
That’s all I have for now. If you know of more cool shortcuts we missed, please comment.
Amit
By Vijay Santhanam on Apr 17, 2008 | Reply
CTRL -
and
CTRL SHIFT -
moves the editing cursor to the last/next position
this is great if you decide to edit something somewhere else and you wanna go back to that last method you were editing. CTRL - will save you so much time!
By Bryan Migliorisi on Apr 17, 2008 | Reply
Nice list.
Alt + Enter is also a general Windows shortcut for accessing properties of files, drives, shortcuts, etc. It is a nice keystroke to keep in mind.
By Pablo Marambio on Apr 17, 2008 | Reply
Shift + Alt + Enter (FullScreen mode) is a must know! It helps you to get rid of all the properties, toolbar and other [obstrusive] windows that don’t let you see the code. Hit it a second time and the windows are back.
By knave on Apr 17, 2008 | Reply
CTRL+M+M : Expanding / Collapsing code blocks, e.g. regions/methods.
By Greg Beech on Apr 17, 2008 | Reply
CTRL + ALT + P (attach to process) is very useful when you’re debugging web sites, windows services, etc.
CTRL + R + R (rename) is great for refactoring, particularly if you have ReSharper installed
By Diego on Apr 17, 2008 | Reply
SHIFT + F9 for quick watch
even better than CTRL + ALT + Q
By Matt Brunell on Apr 17, 2008 | Reply
Ctrl+Shift+B — Build solution
Ctrl+J — Intellisense, list members
Ctrl+Shift+Space — Intellisense, list parameter info
The list members shortcut is handy. Before I started using this a lot, I would sometimes type ‘this.’ to get a list of members. The parameter info is helpful for seeing information about parameters you already typed in.
By Terry Aney on Apr 17, 2008 | Reply
Lot of items can be accessed from the ‘Context Menu Key’ (assuming your keyboards have that key…the one that looks like a little menu)…
CTX+Q - Quick Watch
CTX+D - Definition
CTX - same as CTRL+. above
I generally can get almost anything done with CTX+key or CTX then a quick combo of down and right arrows.
Anyway, just my preference, by no means the end all.
By Dmitry Moskalyk on Apr 18, 2008 | Reply
You can also open properties window just by pressing F4. I like it more than Alt+Enter.
A year ago I was using Ctrl+K,Ctrl+X to insert a snippet, but I have understood that the easiest way to do it is to type snippet name and press “Tab” afterwards.
By Steven on Apr 18, 2008 | Reply
I suggested Ctrl+A then DEL to my … less than able colleagues … didn’t go down well!
Anyway, here’s my favourite - even if it’s not really a shortcut …
Ctrl + space
while coding lets VS finish for you or open intellisense if what you’re type’d is to ambiguos
“string rediculouslyLongName;
ret” then Ctrl + Space gives you
“string rediculouslyLongName;
rediculouslyLongName”
By David Hu on Apr 20, 2008 | Reply
I use F8 and shift+F8 to cycle through search results. It’s a gem for me.
I think, if anything, the VS team should add an option in Visual Studio to annotate all Menu items with their corresponding shortcuts.
By Sam on Apr 22, 2008 | Reply
I am bookmarking this right now. I will have more to say in a few days. Thanks!
By Dylan Vester on Apr 22, 2008 | Reply
You should probably note that some of these are ReSharper only shortcuts. Maybe I missed that somewhere. Just a thought.
By wekempf on May 6, 2008 | Reply
Dylan Vester,
Which shortcuts do you think are ReSharper only shortcuts? I don’t own ReSharper. I’ve been using the majority of these shortcuts for years. The few that were new to me worked.
By Amit on May 6, 2008 | Reply
Non of them are resharper shortcuts. I know that because I dont use resharper as it takes more resources than Windows Vista :). I am more of a Visual Assist kind of guy.
Amit