Opening files from the VS "Quick find combo"

Ctrl+/ is quickly becoming one of my favorite and most used hotkey in Visual Studio. Pressing it will jump you to the "Quick find Combo" with a ">" already type in for you (which means interpret the text as a VS command).

If you are like me you hate hunting through the Solution Explorer looking for files, especially on large solutions, you might be interested in the Ctrl+/ | ">of " command. 

As Robert Prouse explains:

Here is a cool Visual Studio feature that almost nobody knows about. If you want to open up a file in your solution, but can’t be bothered to dig down through your projects and folders to find it, try this,

  1. Click in the Find box in the toolbar,
  2. Type >of followed by a space, then begin the name of the file you are looking for.
  3. An auto-complete drop down will appear as you type filtering all the files in all your projects in your solution. Continue typing until the list is short enough to fine the one you want. Select it and hit enter.
  4. The file will open in the editor.

openfile

[Quickly Find/Open a File in Visual Studio]

The best part of this auto complete drop down is that it actually gives you a flat list view of all the files in the solution which is just plain cool :)

As if that wasn't enough Aaron Lerch posted The Talented Mr. Edit.GoToFindCombo which lists some other cool features of the "Quick find combo".

Published Wednesday, March 26, 2008 9:25 PM by puzzlehacker
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Comments

# re: Opening files from the VS "Quick find combo"

Really helpful trick.

thanks

Thursday, March 27, 2008 1:36 AM by Maulikk

# re: Opening files from the VS "Quick find combo"

Thanks for the link back. Glad you found it useful.

Thursday, March 27, 2008 10:16 AM by Rob Prouse

# auto solutions

Pingback from  auto solutions

Tuesday, April 01, 2008 1:48 AM by auto solutions

# re: Opening files from the VS "Quick find combo"

Hi i am using the VS2008 and i am not able to find the quick find combo box and the shortcut even is not working for me can any body help..

Thursday, June 19, 2008 7:19 AM by murli krishna

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