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Is it possible to have tab groups in Visual Studio Code somehow?

E.g., I'm working on a project for which I would like to have three groups:

  • The files I'm actively working on
  • Test files, for reference
  • Files for a specific feature, for reference

I do not care too much what a UI for such a Visual Studio Code feature would look like. I just need the grouping for quick and easy tabs access.

One of the options for the UI is to have three meta tabs which would represent the groups, and whenever I click the meta tab, I would like to be presented with the actual respective file tabs.

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  • See editor groups: code.visualstudio.com/docs/getstarted/… Commented Jul 30, 2020 at 10:42
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    @Mark, oh thank you. That resembles a little bit to what I am looking for. But the issue with the editor groups is that they all are opened at once, which makes working with them hard. Because, the screen width is limited. Commented Jul 30, 2020 at 10:51
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    Editor groups can be maximized with a keybinding and switching to another (also via a keybinding) will maximize that group. Commented Jul 30, 2020 at 11:09
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    see also stackoverflow.com/q/62808043/11107541 and stackoverflow.com/q/47889216/11107541 Commented Jan 12, 2024 at 19:35
  • This seems close to a recommendation question as answers would be expected to be about particular Visual Studio Code extensions or plugins. There is a site for such questions. Commented Jan 12, 2024 at 21:53

6 Answers 6

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19

Just recently found a Visual Studio Code extension similar to what you are describing:

Tab Groups

It was initially working with tabs in a little hacky way before VSCode provided the API, so it was iterating through each tab to manipulate them. I'm not sure if that's been updated.

Also, check out the feature with Git branches, extension can autosave and reopen tabs on branch change.

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11

There is a Visual Studio Code feature request for this that you can upvote or where you can check the status of the native implementation.

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10

So far in 2024, the Tab Groups extension is still the best implementation I've found. Unlike the others, this one actually allow you to:

  • keep track of any split editors you already had open
  • view all the groups in a separate side bar window instead of at the bottom of the "Explorer" different side bar icon
  • there are some bugs though

The current options available include:

This functionality being built-in would make it better though, so upvote the current VS Code feature request for it!

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Related meta discussion.
5

Tabstronaut is another extension that adds this sort of functionality. But like the others out there, they're not as good as a native solution due to the restrictions of Visual Studio Code extensions.

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0

You can simply open your project in Visual Studio Code three times, so having three different windows it would be your tabs (make sure you have enabled new windows).

But I wish pinned tabs can just simply go to the separate row (similar to Visual Studio 2022). This would be my solution with Tabs.

In any case, you could also read some documentation: User Interface

For example, there is a solution where you can have "open editors" groups and at the same time have hidden Tabs at all.

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-4

You can use Split Editor which is in the top right corner. You can drag files to the sides and open them in tabs.

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