Visual Studio Shortcuts Cheat Sheet

By: Sigve Fast
Published:

Visual Studio, as one of the most widely-used IDEs, comes packed with shortcuts to make our lives easier. But do we know them all? Or even the most useful ones? Here's a quick cheat sheet of the Visual Studio shortcuts that I use to speed up my coding sessions. No ReSharper needed!

Code Assistance

  • Alt + Enter - Code suggestions
  • Ctrl + Shift + Space - IntelliSense List parameter info
  • Ctrl + Space - IntelliSense List members
    This one actually didn't work in my VS, so I added it manually like explained here.

Running & Debugging

  • F5 - Start with debugging
  • Ctrl + F5 - Start without debugging
  • Ctrl + Alt + P - Attach to process
  • Ctrl + Shift + P - Reattach to process
  • F9 - Add/Remove breakpoint
  • Ctrl + Shift + F9 - Delete all breakpoints
  • F5 - Continue execution from breakpoint
  • F10 - Step over
  • F11 - Step into
  • Shift + F11 - Step out
  • Alt + F10 - Apply code changes
  • Shift + F5 - Stop debugging

Build

  • Ctrl + B - Build project
  • Ctrl + Shift + B - Rebuild all projects

Search & Navigation

  • Ctrl + F - Search current file
  • Ctrl + Shift + F - Search solution
  • Ctrl + T - Search and go to files, classes, methods

Editor

  • Ctrl + L - Cut line into clipboard
  • Ctrl + Enter - New line above the current line

File Management

  • Ctrl + Alt + L - Switch focus to Solution Explorer
  • Ctrl + Tab - Switch focus back to Editor
  • F2 - Rename file or directory
  • Ctrl + S - Save focused file
  • Ctrl + Shift + S - Save all

Project Management

  • Ctrl + Shift + A - Add new item
    Pro tip: You can add directories from this menu by typing the path you want the item to be placed. E.g.: My/Custom/Path/MyClass.cs
  • ctrl + shift + D - Create New Project Folder
    This one actually didn't work in my VS, so I added it manually like this: Go to Tools → Options → Environment → Keyboard → select Project.NewFolder and assign a shortcut. I selected Ctrl + Shift + D. Select Solution Explorer in the drop-down list and click assign. You can find a more detailed explanation here.

I hope this cheat sheet helps you navigate Visual Studio more efficiently. If you've got more shortcuts that you swear by, do share in the comments! Happy coding! 🚀