Visual Studio: set focus to text editor

Question

Is there a shortcut to set the focus easily to the editor where my code is? I don‘t want to cycle through anything or hide something else, I want a direct shortcut to jump with the focus to the editor. My focus is anywhere in VS and I want to set it to the editor.

Example scenario: I‘m writing code (focus is in the text editor) and then press F5 to run the code. The Output View opens and gets the focus and even keeps it even if the program has terminated. I now want to switch the focus back to the editor without using the mouse. Or I switch focus to the Solution Explorer with Ctrl+Alt+L to look something up and then want to go back to coding without touching the mouse.

I‘m using Visual Studio Professional 2017 if it makes any difference.

Answer 1

In VS2022 I think it's set to Esc by default.

The keyboard command is Window.ActivateDocumentWindow, which can be found here if you wanted to assign it to a different keyboard shortcut:

Tools > Options > Environment > Keyboard > Window.ActivateDocumentWindow

Answer 2

You can simply do it by hitting one of the following

• Ctrl + Tab
• Ctrl + F6

Answer 3

I find the the action workbench.action.focusActiveEditorGroup

So bind something with that, like ctrl+q

To make the shortcut work through terminal add it to setting.json

// setting.json

"terminal.integrated.commandsToSkipShell": [
    "workbench.action.focusActiveEditorGroup",
 ]

Answer 4

There is no such shortcut for Visual Studio, but you might create one with the help of this AutoHotKey script:

SetTitleMatchMode, 2
#IfWinNotActive, Visual Studio
F4::WinActivate, Visual Studio

I have chosen here the F4 key, but you may choose any other key.

After installing AutoHotKey, put the above text in a .ahk file and double-click it to test. You may stop the script by right-click on the green H icon in the traybar and choosing Exit. To have it run on login, place it in the Startup group.

---

A solution for returning to the text-editor while Visual Studio has the focus is by using the hotkey Ctrl+Tab.

Answer 5

Editor management

Ctrl+F4, Ctrl+W Close editor
Ctrl+K F Close folder
Ctrl+\ Split editor
Ctrl+ 1 / 2 / 3 Focus into 1st, 2nd or 3rd editor group
Ctrl+K Ctrl+ ←/→ Focus into previous/next editor group
Ctrl+Shift+PgUp / PgDn Move editor left/right
Ctrl+K ← / → Move active editor group

From https://code.visualstudio.com/shortcuts/keyboard-shortcuts-windows.pdf

And for other Operating Systems - https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/getstarted/keybindings

Answer 6

I've found myself craving such a shortcut key too just now.

Harrymc mentioned Ctrl+Tab in his post. While that seems to do the trick, if I were to double-hit it by accident, it'll jump to another editor tab.

So I thought I'd try to find a more fool-proof way.

I noticed that focus could be returned to the last edited file somewhat tediously via the menu-system, with "Window >> Windows... >> Activate".

So I've personally settled for automating those steps via AutoHotKey. In this script example, I'll bind it to "Alt+."

#IfWinActive ahk_exe devenv.exe
!.::
Send, !w
Send, w
Send, {Enter}
return
#If

Answer 7

I'm on VS2019: using ESC sets focus back to the editor.

However, if the pane is set to auto-hide (not pinned), it doesn't seem to hide unless your mouse cursor is outside of the pane.

Answer 8

Tools > Options > Environment > Keyboard > Window.ActivateDocumentWindow

Set any hotkey you want.