Toolbar

The toolbar provides commands to quickly import or export settings and to perform other useful operations.

Note: If the toolbar isn't visible and you've already installed Settings Switcher, right-mouse click anywhere in Visual Studio's toolbar tray and select Settings Switcher.

Drop-down List

Selecting an item in the drop-down list immediately imports those settings into Visual Studio. Your selection is also remembered across Visual Studio sessions.

The drop-down list contains all of the .vssettings files in the directory where Visual Studio is configured to export the current settings file:

Tools > Options > Environment > Import and Export Settings > Automatically save my settings to this file

Note: Settings Switcher does not detect when you change this setting. You must restart Visual Studio for the changes to take effect.

Export Current Settings

Saves the current settings to a file.

By default, you are prompted to choose a path for the file, but you can enable an option to overwrite the currently selected file in the drop-down list.

See Options for details.

Export Solution Settings

This button is only enabled when Visual Studio has an active solution.

Clicking this button saves the current settings to the solution's settings file, which is a file that has the same name and location as the solution file (.sln) but with a .vssettings extension. If the file exists, then it is overwritten.

Clicking this button also adds the solution settings file to the solution. It is recommended that you check the solution settings file into source control to share common settings with other developers.

Anytime that you open a solution that has a solution settings file, its settings are automatically applied, unless you've already associated the solution with a different settings file in the drop-down list. Settings Switcher associates a solution with the settings file that you select from the drop-down list, allowing you to ignore the solution settings file if you choose.

See Solution Settings for details.

Format Solution

Formats all files in the solution.

A warning dialog is always displayed before the operation is performed, allowing you to cancel it.