Working with Documents in Microsoft Visual Studio

  • 8/24/2011

04.12 Show Previous Versions

VERSIONS

2008, 2010

CODE

vstipEnv0036

Ever want to go back in time when you save a change to your code that you didn’t want saved? If you use source control, you are usually OK, but if you don’t, this tip is for you.

If you run a Windows Vista or later operating system (excluding Home Editions), you have an option you might not have noticed before called Show Previous Versions. It shows up in various applications, such as Notepad, as shown in the following illustration.

You can also see this option in the Open Project dialog box as well.

When you click Show Previous Versions, you can see prior versions of the current directory you are in, as shown in the following illustration.

Now you can open previous versions of solutions, projects, files, and so forth, and do what you like.