How to view an HTML file in the browser with Visual Studio Code

Question

How can I view my HTML code in a browser with the new Microsoft Visual Studio Code   With Notepad   you have the option to Run in a browser  How can I do the same thing with Visual Studio Code

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VSCode Task - Open by App bundle identifier  macOS only        quot version quot    quot 2 0 0 quot      quot tasks quot                  quot label quot    quot Open In  Firefox DE quot          quot type quot    quot process quot          quot command quot    quot open quot          quot args quot     quot -b quot    quot org mozilla firefoxdeveloperedition quot    quot   file  quot           quot group quot    quot build quot          quot problemMatcher quot              quot presentation quot              quot panel quot    quot shared quot            quot focus quot   false           quot clear quot   true           quot reveal quot    quot never quot

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Here is a 2 0 0 version for the current document in Chrome w  keyboard shortcut   tasks json         version    2 0 0        tasks                            label    Chrome                type    process                command    chrome exe                windows                      command    C   Program Files  x86   Google  Chrome  Application  chrome exe                              args                        file                               problemMatcher                          keybindings json           key    ctrl g        command    workbench action tasks runTask        args    Chrome      For running on a webserver   https   marketplace visualstudio com items itemName ritwickdey LiveServer

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For Mac - Opens in Chrome - Tested on VS Code v 1 9 0   Use Command   shift   p to open the Command Palette       Type in Configure Task Runner  the first time you do this  VS Code will give you the scroll down menu  if it does select  Other    If you have done this before  VS Code will just send you directly to tasks json  Once in the tasks json file  Delete the script displayed and replace it by the following            version    0 1 0        command    Chrome        osx              command     Applications Google Chrome app Contents MacOS Google Chrome              args       file          Switch back to your html file and press Command   Shift   b to view your page in Chrome

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If you re just on Mac this tasks json file          version    0 1 0        command    open        args       file            is all you need to open the current file in Safari  assuming its extension is   html    Create tasks json as described above and invoke it with   shift b     If you want it to open in Chrome then          version    0 1 0        command    open        args     -a    Chrome app      file         This will do what you want  as in opening in a new tab if the app is already open

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probably most will be able to find a solution from the above answers but seeing as how none worked for me  vscode v1 34  i thought i d share my experience  if at least one person finds it helpful then  cool not a wasted post  amiirte     anyway  my solution  windows  is built a-top of  noontz s  his configuration may have been sufficient for older versions of vscode but not with 1 34  at least  i couldn t get it working       our configs are nearly identical save a single property -- that property being  the group property  i m not sure why but without this  my task would not even appear in the command palette    so  a working tasks json for windows users running vscode 1 34          version    2 0 0        tasks                            label    Chrome                type    process                command    chrome exe                windows                      command    C   Program Files  x86   Google  Chrome  Application  chrome exe                              args                        file                               group    build                problemMatcher                          note that the problemMatcher property is not required for this to work but without it an extra manual step is imposed on you  tried to read the docs on this property but i m too thick to understand  hopefully someone will come about and school me but yeah  thanks in advance for that  all i know is -- include this property and ctrl shift b opens the current html file in a new chrome tab  hassle free     easy

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In linux  you can use the xdg-open command to open the file with the default browser          version    0 1 0        linux              command    xdg-open              isShellCommand   true       showOutput    never        args       file

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Openning files in Opera browser  on Windows 64 bits   Just add this lines      version    0 1 0    command    opera    windows          command       Program Files  x86  Opera launcher exe      args       file        Pay attention to the path format on  command   line  Don t use the  C  path to exe runme exe  format   To run this task  open the html file you want to view  press F1  type task opera and press enter

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my runner script looks like            version    0 1 0         command    explorer         windows              command    explorer exe               args       file        and it s just open my explorer when I press ctrl shift b in my index html file

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Here is the version 2 0 0 for Mac OSx          See https   go microsoft com fwlink  LinkId 733558      for the documentation about the tasks json format    version    2 0 0      tasks                  label    echo          type    shell          command    echo Hello                      label   chrome          type   process          command    Applications Google Chrome app Contents MacOS Google Chrome          args                file

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here is how you can run it in multiple browsers for windows       version    0 1 0     command    cmd     args      C      isShellCommand   true    showOutput    always     suppressTaskName   true    tasks                         taskName    Chrome             args     start chrome -incognito     file                                  taskName    Firefox             args     start firefox -private-window     file                                  taskName    Edge             args       file                        notice that I didn t type anything in args for edge because Edge is my default browser just gave it the name of the file   EDIT  also you don t need -incognito nor -private-window   it s just me I like to view it in a private window

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For Mac  set your tasks json  in the  vscode folder  file contents to the following and use SHFT COMMAND B to open         quot version quot    quot 2 0 0 quot        quot tasks quot                            quot label quot    quot Chrome Preview quot                quot type quot    quot shell quot                quot command quot    quot open -a  Applications Google   Chrome app test html quot                quot problemMatcher quot                    quot group quot                      quot kind quot    quot build quot                    quot isDefault quot   true

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I am just re-posting the steps I used from msdn blog  It may help the community  This will help you to setup a local web server known as lite-server with VS Code  and also guides you to host your static html files in localhost and debug your Javascript code  1  Install Node js If not already installed  get it here It comes with npm  the package manager for acquiring and managing your development libraries  2  Create a new folder for your project Somewhere in your drive  create a new folder for your web app  3  Add a package json file to the project folder Then copy paste the following text        quot name quot    quot Demo quot       quot version quot    quot 1 0 0 quot       quot description quot    quot demo project  quot       quot scripts quot           quot lite quot    quot lite-server --port 10001 quot         quot start quot    quot npm run lite quot            quot author quot    quot  quot       quot license quot    quot ISC quot       quot devDependencies quot           quot lite-server quot    quot  2 5 4 quot          4  Install the web server In a terminal window  command prompt in Windows  opened on your project folder  run this command  npm install  This will install lite-server  defined in package json   a static server that loads index html in your default browser and auto refreshes it when application files change  5  Start the local web server   Assuming you have an index html file in your project folder   In the same terminal window  command prompt in Windows  run this command  npm start  Wait a second and index html is loaded and displayed in your default browser served by your local web server  lite-server is watching your files and refreshes the page as soon as you make changes to any html  js or css files  And if you have VS Code configured to auto save  menu File   Auto Save   you see changes in the browser as you type  Notes   Do not close the command line prompt until you   re done coding in your app for the day It opens on http   localhost 10001 but you can change the port by editing the package json file   That   s it  Now before any coding session just type npm start and you are good to go  Originally posted here in msdn blog  Credits goes to Author    Laurent Duveau

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Open Extensions Sidebar  Ctrl   Shift   X   Search for open in browser and install it   Right click on your html file  and select  quot Open in Browser quot   Alt   B

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Ctrl   F1 will open the default browser  alternatively you can hit Ctrl   shift   P to open command window and select  View in Browser   The html code must be saved in a file  unsaved code on the editor - without extension  doesn t work

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One click solution simply install open-in-browser Extensions from the Visual Studio marketplace

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Open custom Chrome with URL from prompt       version    2 0 0      tasks                  label    Open Chrome          type    process          windows              command      config chrome executable                   args     --user-data-dir   config chrome profileDir       input url            problemMatcher                    inputs                  id    url          description    Which URL           default    http   localhost 8080          type    promptString                Open custom Chrome with active file       label    Open active file in Chrome      type    process      command    chrome exe      windows          command      config chrome executable           args     --user-data-dir   config chrome profileDir       file        problemMatcher           Notes   if necessary  replace windows property by other OS replace   config chrome executable  with your custom chrome location  e g   C  Program Files  x86  Google Chrome Application chrome exe  replace   config chrome profileDir  with your custome chrome profile directory  e g   C  My Data chrome profile  or leave it out You can keep the variables like above if you want  To do so  add following entries in settings json - user or workspace -   adjust paths to your needs     chrome executable    C  Program Files  x86  Google Chrome Application chrome exe    chrome profileDir    C  My Data chrome profile     You could re-use these variables e g  in launch json for debugging purposes   runtimeExecutable      config chrome executable

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You can now install an extension View In Browser  I tested it on windows with chrome and it is working   vscode version  1 10 2

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VS Code has a Live Server Extention that support one click launch from status bar   Some of the features    One Click Launch from Status Bar Live Reload Support for Chrome Debugging Attachment

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For Windows - Open your Default Browser - Tested on VS Code v 1 1 0  Answer to both opening a specific file  name is hard-coded  OR opening ANY other file   Steps    Use ctrl   shift   p  or F1  to open the Command Palette  Type in Tasks  Configure Task or on older versions Configure Task Runner  Selecting it will open the tasks json file  Delete the script displayed and replace it by the following          version    0 1 0        command    explorer            windows              command    explorer exe              args     test html       Remember to change the  args  section of the tasks json file to the name of your file  This will always open that specific file when you hit F5   You may also set the this to open whichever file you have open at the time by using     file    as the value for  args   Note that the   goes outside the        so     file    is incorrect  Save the file  Switch back to your html file  in this example it s  text html    and press ctrl   shift   b to view your page in your Web Browser

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CTRL SHIFT P will bring up the command palette  Depending on what you re running of course  Example in an ASP net app you can type in   gt kestrel and then open up your web browser and type in localhost  your port here     If you type in  gt  it will show you the show and run commands  Or in your case with HTML  I think F5 after opening the command palette should open the debugger   Source  link

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Following worked in version 1 53 2 on windows 10 - gt   choose run active file in terminal menu It executed the html file in default edge browser

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InvisibleDev - to get this working on a mac trying using this          version    0 1 0        command    Chrome        osx              command     Applications Google Chrome app Contents MacOS Google Chrome              args                file             If you have chrome already open  it will launch your html file in a new tab

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Updated Answer in 18 April  2020    Click on this Left-Bottom Manage Icon  Click Extensions or Short Cut Ctrl Shift X  Then Search in Extension with this key sentence Open In Default Browser  You will find this Extension  It is better to me   Now right click on the html file and you will see Open in Default Browser or Short Cut Ctrl 1 to see the html file in browser

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Recently came across this feature in one of the visual studio code tutorial in www lynda com  Press Ctrl   K followed by M  it will open the  Select Language Mode    or click on the right hand bottom corner that says HTML before that smiley    type markdown and press enter  Now Press Ctrl   K followed by V  it will open your html in a near by tab   Tadaaa      Now emmet commands were not working in this mode in my html file  so I went back to the original state   note - html tag tellisense were working perfectly    To go to original state - Press Ctrl   K followed by M  select auto-detect  emmet commands started to work  If you are happy with html only viewer  then there is no need for you to come back to the original state   Wonder why vscode is not having html viewer option by default  when it is able to dispaly the html file in the markdown mode   Anyway it is cool  Happy vscoding

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If you would like to have live reload you can use gulp-webserver  which will watch for your file changes and reload page  this way you don t have to press F5 every time on your page   Here is how to do it    Open command prompt  cmd  and type  npm install --save-dev gulp-webserver Enter Ctrl Shift P in VS Code and type Configure Task Runner  Select it and press enter  It will open tasks json file for you  Remove everything from it end enter just following code   tasks json         version    0 1 0        command    gulp        isShellCommand   true       args              --no-color              tasks                            taskName    webserver                isBuildCommand   true               showOutput    always                       In the root directory of your project add gulpfile js and enter following code    gulpfile js  var gulp   require  gulp        webserver   require  gulp-webserver     gulp task  webserver   function          gulp src  app            pipe webserver               livereload  true              open  true                     Now in VS Code enter Ctrl Shift P and type  Run Task  when you enter it you will see your task  webserver  selected and press enter    Your webserver now will open your page in your default browser  Now any changes that you will do to your HTML or CSS pages will be automatically reloaded   Here is an information on how to configure  gulp-webserver  for instance port  and what page to load       You can also run your task just by entering Ctrl P and type task webserver

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