11 Visual Studio 2005 IDE Tips and Tricks to Make You a More Productive Developer » Chinh Do

 

Take (Keyboard) Shortcuts

Using keyboard shortcuts is the best way to get things done faster in Visual Studio (and most other computer applications for that matter).

Below are my favorite Visual Studio keyboard shortcuts (I am leaving out the really obvious ones like F5).

• CTRL+ALT+L: View Solution Explorer. I use Auto Hide for all of my tool windows to maximize screen real estate. Whenever I need to open the Solution Explorer, it’s just a shortcut away. Related shortcuts: CTRL+ALT+X (Toolbox), F4 (Properties), CTRL+ALT+O (Output), CTRL+\, E (Error List), CTRL+\, T (Task List).
• F12: Go to definition of a variable, object, or function.
• SHIFT+F12: Find all references of a function or variable.
• F7: Toggle between Designer and Source views.

11 Visual Studio 2005 IDE Tips and Tricks to Make You a More Productive Developer » Chinh Do