Collapse all files at once in Solution Explorer window in Visual Studio

Question

Is there a way to collapse all the files at once in the Solution Explorer window in Visual Studio?

Answer 1

Use the extension Collapse Solution. Usually, this feature comes with ReSharper, but I presume that you are not using ReSharper.

There are also a lot of macros out there that help you do the same. One of them is in ‘Collapse All’ in Visual Studio.

Note: There is no inbuilt way in Visual Studio to actually achieve this. And considering just how practical it is, I would have thought they would have added this kind of feature way back in Visual Studio 2005 itself. I know people have been asking for it for years. But in their infinite wisdom, Microsoft don't consider it important enough.

Answer 2

In visual studio 2013, there is a button in solution explorer - Collapse All

Answer 3

I think this extension have requested functionality - PowerCommands for VS 2010. Also Productivity Power Tools contains solution navigator which also have this feature and much more usefull stuff for solution navigation and search.

Edited: there also a lot of examples of macro, doing this stuff.

Answer 4

Try free VSCommands 2010 Lite extension. It has this and few other free features.

Answer 5

In Visual Studio 2013 you can do it with right click by Solution -> Collapse All

Answer 6

Of course, you can collapse any selected node by pressing '-', but I understand you are probably looking to collapse the entire tree.