How do I make the Solution Explorer, Properties, etc. docked to the right side and in it's normal size?

Question

_{Wednesday, April 3, 2013 4:22 PM | 1 vote}

I tend just use Visual Studio as it comes out of the box, with almost no customization at all, and I've been doing it this way for many years. Well, I'm trying to get out of that habit, and I started to watch a video on Pluralsight by Kate Gregory (?sp) discussing VS 2012 (which is what I'm using), and thought I'd do some customization. So everything's going well when suddenly I don't know what happened, but now the Solution Explorer, Properties, etc. are as wide as the whole of VS 2012. I don't want that. It's very irritating and frustrating to me. And I can't figure out how to pin the thing to the right side where it was. I've tried closing the Solution Explorer, Properties, etc. and reopening them, but that doesn't work. I tried doing a Control-Z and that just undid code changes, it didn't undo this full screen stuff.

So, how do I resize the Solution Explorer, Properties, etc in VS 2012, and then dock it to the right side again?

Rod

All replies (4)

_{Wednesday, April 3, 2013 6:03 PM ✅Answered | 18 votes}

First of all, you can set Visual Studio 2012 windows to float, dock, or dock as tabbed document.  Step 1 is to make sure that your solution explorer is set to dock.  Right click on the title of the solution explorer and click "dock" if it is not already done so.

Second, you will want to decide if you want auto-hide or not.  This can be set with the pin icon next to the close box of a tabbed window.

Once the Solution Explorer is docked and pinned, you can fasten it to the frame you want by clicking and dragging its title bar and dropping it on one of the docking icons that pop up.  There will be several guide diamonds placed about the screen -- drag your cursor to the appropriate one and release the mouse button.  Here's a page with more info about fastening a pane with the guide diamond.  ** This is the step that will allow you to dock the solution explorer to the right side of the ide frame, if you so desire.

And then, once it is docked, pinned, and fastened to the correct spot in the frame, you can resize it by placing your cursor on the left or right side (appropriately) of the solution explorer window and dragging the mouse left or right.  As you hover over the right spot before resizing the window, the cursor will change to a <--> letting you know you're about to resize the window.

Finally, you can arrange the tabs of a frame so that the docked panes appear in the order you chose.  Simply grab the tab in the pane and drag it to your preferred place in the tab arrangement list as desired.  This obviously only applies if there is more than one window docked to the same pane.

If your solution explorer is docked at the extreme left side, it cannot be resized using its left edge.  And similarly, if the solution explorer is docked at the extreme right side, it cannot be resized using its right edge.

_{Thursday, April 4, 2013 3:21 PM}

WOW, I did not know that I could right click on the Solution Explorer! Cool! Man, it's amazing what you can do, if you do some experimenting. Thank you, Wyck!

Rod

_{Thursday, June 13, 2013 3:16 PM}

Sounds pretty silly to say this but I was lost at this for couple of days :) Thank you kindly. My mind is at peace now . 

_{Wednesday, August 21, 2013 6:15 AM}

Just a clarification, the "curtain" you are looking for to drag around, is outside both the scrollbar's (if present) borders and the tabbed window border (like that of the TFS Source Control Explorer) in Visual Studio 2012