REALLY dumb question!

[Michael Hesse]

Hi,

I have managed to mess up the arrangement of windows in IDE. I can't seem
to get the Properties Window and Class View to show up at the same time.

Is there a simple way to restore the default arrangement of windows in the
IDE

Thanks

 

[Brian Bischof]

This is NOT a dumb question. I hate losing windows in the IDE b/c it takes
forever to get them to fall back in place again. No matter how carefully I
try to position them, when I let go of the mouse they always end up in the
wrong place. Arghh!!! I would have thought that by now MS would have an
easier way to dock windows.

I hope someone posts a good tip on how to do this b/c it would make things
much easier.

Brian

 

[Klaus Löffelmann]

Michael,

* Tools/Options Environment/General
* Button: Reset Window Layout

should do it. I hope, I hit the right captions, since I'm working with the
German version of Visual Studio.

Hope this helps,

Klaus

 

[JH]

Go to Tools .....Options.....Environment.......General......and click the
Reset Window layout.

Hope this will help

 

[Scott M.]

Uh, Tools...Options and then hit the really big button that says: "Reset
Window Layout".

By the way, the trick to positioning a window where you want it is to:

Watch the window border outline as you drag the window. If the outline is a
thick line, the window will not "dock" when you let go. If the window
"snaps" to be a thin line and changes its shape, then it will dock to the
main IDE in the size/position shown by the outline.

To dock a window to the left or right of the screen, drag the window by its
title bar (KEEPING YOUR MOUSE IN THE VERTICAL MIDDLE OF THE SCREEN) to the
extreme left or right of the screen. When the border "snaps" to form the
outline of a thin vertical rectangle, let go.

To dock a window so that it shares the same space as another window (and so
each window will have a tab on its bottom to go from one window to another),
drag a window until the TIP OF THE MOUSE POINTER is touching the title bar
of the window to share space with. You will see the border outline change
to include the tab.

 

[Michael Hesse]

Well if it's not a dumb question, then someone at Microsoft has done
something pretty dumb.

Not exactly the first time for that.

 

[Guest]

The IDE settings are stored in XML format in a file called 'devenv.xml'. This file can be found under your profile folder...

C:\Documents and Settings\<YourLoginName>\Application Data\Microsoft\VisualStudio\7.1

Make sure that all instances of the IDE are closed down and then simply delete this file. The next time the IDE is started again this file will be recreated and you will be back to the default IDE window view.

NOTE: There is also a file called 'devenv.xml' under the 'Common7\IDE' folder of the VS.NET installation directory. DO NOT delete this file as is the default one and is needed to recreate a new version that resides under your own profile folder.

Gary

 

[Michael Hesse]

Thanks to everyone. I knew it had to be something simple, but I
appreciate all the help.

Michael

 

[Chris Dunaway]

Is there a simple way to restore the default arrangement of windows in the
IDE

The others have already told you how to reset the window layout. I just
wanted to post to let you know that the next version of VS.Net (Whidbey)
makes docking extremely easy. When you drag a window it pops icons in all
the places that you dock the window. It takes away all the guesswork in
docking windows.

So, relief is on the way.