How can you include/reference a file in a project without copying it to the project directory?

Question

I am writing an application in Visual Studio 2008. I have a help file that I want to be included in the output of my project. I want the most recent version of my help file to stay in a folder that is not my visual studio project directory. For example C:/Helpfiles.

I want to include this file in my Visual studio project so that when I build the project I get the most recent version of the file (which is in C:/helpfiles) in my project output. If I just "add existing" and select the help file will it grab the latest version from C:/helpfiles every time I build?

Dave · Accepted Answer · 2021-01-27 10:55:30Z

11

When you go to the "Add" dialog, select the file, then instead of clicking add, click the drop down arrow and select "Add as link":

This will keep the file in the original location and not copy and import it into the current project.

edited Jan 27, 2021 at 10:55

Dave

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answered Feb 16, 2010 at 18:42

casperOne

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1 Comment

Matt Connolly Over a year ago

Does this only work for c# projects? I don't see the Add As Link option for my c++ project.

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