View more than one project/solution in Visual Stud

Question

I am new to visual studio and I am experimenting around with some Windows Services. I have created two solutions and I would like to view both of them at once. Without having to click file->recent projects to switch back and forth.

Ideally this could take place in the solution explorer and just nest the projects, but I am only able to view one solution/project at a time there.

Is there anyway to view multiple solutions/projects in Visual Studio?

Answer 1

This is the way Visual Studio is designed: One solution, one Visual Studio (VS) instance.

Besides switching between solutions in one VS instance, you can also open another VS instance and open your other solution with that one. Next to solutions there are as you said "projects". You can have multiple projects within one solution and therefore view many projects at the same time.

Answer 2

Don't know whether this is useful but if you want to work with multiple projects without navigating through projects tree {like multi window} you can try opening VS in another virtual desktop (at least it's possible for Windows 10) by holding Ctrl+win+D. Then open another VS studio and open your other project there. You can switch between projects by Ctrl+win+arrow key {left/right}.

Answer 3

You can create a new blank solution and add your different projects to it.

Answer 4

There is a way to store multiple solutions in one instance of VS.

Attempt the following steps:

1. File > Open > Project/Solution
2. This will bring up the open project window, notice at the bottom where it says options, select add to solution

3. Then select the file you want to add and click open
4. This will then add the solution to your project. You still won't be able to run the same project in a single instance of VS, but you can have all your code organized in one place.

NOTE: This worked for Visual Studio 2013 Professional

Answer 5

Just right click on the Visual Studio icon and then select "New Window" from the contextual toolbar that appears on the bottom in Windows 8. A new instance of Visual Studio will launch and then you can open your second project.

Answer 6

You can have multiple projects in one instance of Visual Studio. The point of a VS solution is to bring together all the projects you want to work with in one place, so you can't have multiple solutions in one instance. You'd have to open each solution separately.