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Use this section to configure the integrated development environment (IDE), including the status bar, Close and Auto Hide actions, and Visual Studio start up behavior. You can access these settings by selecting Tools > Options from the main menu bar and expanding the All Settings > Environment > General section.
To configure related Environment settings, see Configure Environment > Visual Experience options.
Use this page to configure the integrated development environment (IDE), including the color theme, status bar, Close and Auto Hide actions, and Visual Studio start up behavior. You can access these settings by selecting Tools > Options from the main menu bar and expanding the Environment > General section.
Visual Experience settings
The following General options are available for the Visual Experience.
Color Theme
Choose the Blue, Blue (Extra Contrast), Dark, or Light color theme for the IDE or select Use system setting to use the current Windows theme.
You can install predefined themes and create custom themes by downloading and installing the Visual Studio Color Theme Designer for the version you're currently using, as follows:
- Color Theme Designer for Visual Studio 2022
- Color Theme Designer for Visual Studio 2019.
- Color Theme Editor for Visual Studio 2017
After you install more colors or themes, the extra colors appear in the Color theme list.
Note
Want even more themes to choose from? Check out the wide range of custom themes on the Visual Studio Marketplace. To see examples of new Visual Studio 2022 custom themes based on Visual Studio Code, see the Introducing a collection of new Visual Studio themes blog post.
Separate font settings from color theme selection
When you select this option, your Color Theme setting doesn't affect your font settings (Environment > Fonts and Colors). Your font settings are saved independently.
Use Windows High Contrast settings
By default, Visual Studio uses the Windows High Contrast settings. You can toggle this off but you must then restart your computer.
Apply title case styling to menu bar
The menu labels in Visual Studio are presented in title case styling by default, such as File and Help. If you prefer to see the labels in all uppercase (FILE), select this option.
Use compact menu and search bar
By default, Visual Studio combines the top menu bar and search bar into a single widget, which increases the available vertical space in the IDE. If you prefer separate widgets, select this option. When you change the option, you must restart your computer.
Hide Copilot menu badge
By default, Visual Studio includes a badge icon for Microsoft Copilot on the main menu bar. When you select the icon, the Copilot pane opens. If you prefer not to include Copilot on the menu bar, select this option. If you change this option, you must restart your computer.
Optimize rendering for screens with different pixel densities (requires restart)
This option enables or disables per-monitor dots per inch (DPI) awareness (or PMA). When PMA is enabled, the Visual Studio user interface appears crisp in any monitor display scale factor and DPI configuration, including across multiple monitors. To enable PMA, you need Windows 10 April 2018 Update or later and .NET Framework 4.8 or later. (If the prerequisites aren't satisfied, the options aren't available in the UI.) If you change this option, you must restart your computer.
Note
- In Windows 10, if the Let Windows try to fix apps so they're not blurry setting is enabled, and you select this optimization setting, there's negligible effect.
- Windows 10 includes the Program Compatibility Troubleshooter. Attempting to fix the appearance of Visual Studio by using the troubleshooter isn't recommended. The Windows 10 setting and troubleshooting tool aren't available in Windows 11.
Automatically adjust visual experience based on client performance
Specifies whether Visual Studio sets the adjustment to the visual experience automatically or you set the adjustment explicitly. This adjustment can change the display of colors from gradients to flat colors, or restrict the use of animations in menus or popup windows.
Enable rich client experience
Enables the full visual experience of Visual Studio, including gradients and animations. Clear this option when you're using Remote Desktop connections or older graphics adapters. These features might yield poor performance when attempting to support the full visual experience. This option is available only when the Automatically adjust visual experience based on client performance option isn't selected.
Use hardware graphics acceleration if available
Uses hardware graphics acceleration if it's available, rather than software acceleration.
Other settings
The following options are available for the Visual Studio Environment.
General settings
The following General options are available for the Visual Studio Environment.
Items to show in Window menu
Customizes the number of windows that appear in the Windows list of the Window menu. Enter a number between 1 and 24. The default value is 10.
Items shown in recently used file lists
Customizes the number of most recently used projects and files that appear on the File menu. Enter a number between 1 and 24. The default value is 10. This is an easy way to retrieve recently used projects and files.
Show status bar
Displays the status bar. The status bar is located at the bottom of the IDE window and displays information about the progress of ongoing operations. If you change this option, you must restart your computer.
Close button affects active tool window only
Specifies that when you select the Close button, only the tool window that has focus is closed and not all tool windows in the docked set. By default, this option is selected.
Auto Hide button affects active tool window only
Specifies that when you select the Auto Hide button, only the tool window that has focus is hidden automatically and not all tool windows in the docked set. By default, this option isn't selected.
On startup, open
Customizes a different default action when Visual Studio launches. In the On startup, open list, choose from Start window (which lets you open a new or existing project), Most recent solution, or Empty environment.