Adding a guideline to the editor in Visual Studio

Question

Introduction  I ve always been searching for a way to make Visual Studio draw a line after a certain amount of characters   Below is a guide to enable these so called guidelines for various versions of Visual Studio   Visual Studio 2013  Install Paul Harrington s Editor Guidelines extension for VS 2013  Visual Studio 2010 and 2012   Install Paul Harrington s Editor Guidelines extension for VS 2010 or VS 2012  Open the registry at  VS 2010  HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft VisualStudio 10 0 Text Editor VS 2012  HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft VisualStudio 11 0 Text Editor and add a new string called Guides with the value RGB 100 100 100   80  The  first part specifies the color  while the other one  80  is the column the line will be displayed  Or install the Guidelines UI extension  which is also a part of the Productivity Power Tools   which will add entries to the editor s context menu for adding removing the entries without needing to edit the registry directly  The current disadvantage of this method is that you can t specify the column directly    Visual Studio 2008 and Other Versions  If you are using Visual Studio 2008 open the registry at HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft VisualStudio 9 0 Text Editor and add a new string called Guides with the value RGB 100 100 100   80  The first part specifies the color  while the other one  80  is the column the line will be displayed  The vertical line will appear  when you restart Visual Studio   This trick also works for various other version of Visual Studio  as long as you use the correct path   2003  HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft VisualStudio 7 1 Text Editor 2005  HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft VisualStudio 8 0 Text Editor 2008  HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft VisualStudio 9 0 Text Editor 2008 Express  HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft VCExpress 9 0 Text Editor   This also works in SQL Server 2005 and probably other versions

User · Accepted Answer

This is originally from Sara s blog   It also works with almost any version of Visual Studio  you just need to change the  8 0  in the registry key to the appropriate version number for your version of Visual Studio   The guide line shows up in the Output window too   Visual Studio 2010 corrects this  and the line only shows up in the code editor window    You can also have the guide in multiple columns by listing more than one number after the color specifier   RGB 230 230 230   4  80   Puts a white line at column 4 and column 80  This should be the value of a string value Guides in  Text Editor  key  see bellow    Be sure to pick a line color that will be visisble on your background  This color won t show up on the default background color in VS  This is the value for a light grey  RGB 221  221  221    Here are the registry keys that I know of   Visual Studio 2010  HKCU Software Microsoft VisualStudio 10 0 Text Editor  Visual Studio 2008  HKCU Software Microsoft VisualStudio 9 0 Text Editor  Visual Studio 2005  HKCU Software Microsoft VisualStudio 8 0 Text Editor  Visual Studio 2003  HKCU Software Microsoft VisualStudio 7 1 Text Editor  For those running Visual Studio 2010  you may want to install the following extensions rather than changing the registry yourself    http   visualstudiogallery msdn microsoft com en-us 0fbf2878-e678-4577-9fdb-9030389b338c http   visualstudiogallery msdn microsoft com en-us 7f2a6727-2993-4c1d-8f58-ae24df14ea91   These are also part of the Productivity Power Tools  which includes many other very useful extensions

User · Answer

If you are a user of the free Visual Studio Express edition the right key is in   HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft VCExpress 9 0 Text Editor    note the VCExpress instead of VisualStudio  but it works

User · Answer

If you are a user of the free Visual Studio Express edition the right key is in   HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft VCExpress 9 0 Text Editor    note the VCExpress instead of VisualStudio  but it works

User · Answer

Visual Studio 2017   2019  For anyone looking for an answer for a newer version of Visual Studio  install the Editor Guidelines plugin  then right-click in the editor and select this

User · Answer

This will also work in Visual Studio 2010  Beta 2   as long as you install Paul Harrington s extension to enable the guidelines from the VSGallery or from the extension manager inside VS2010   Since this is version 10 0  you should use the following registry key   HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft VisualStudio 10 0 Text Editor   Also  Paul wrote an extension that adds entries to the editor s context menu for adding removing the entries without needing to edit the registry directly   You can find it here  http   visualstudiogallery msdn microsoft com en-us 7f2a6727-2993-4c1d-8f58-ae24df14ea91

User · Answer

For those who use Visual Assist  vertical guidelines can be enabled from Display section in Visual Assist s options

User · Answer

If you are a user of the free Visual Studio Express edition the right key is in   HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft VCExpress 9 0 Text Editor    note the VCExpress instead of VisualStudio  but it works

User · Answer

The registry path for Visual Studio 2008 is the same  but with 9 0 as the version number   HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft VisualStudio 9 0 Text Editor

User · Answer

The registry path for Visual Studio 2008 is the same  but with 9 0 as the version number   HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft VisualStudio 9 0 Text Editor

User · Answer

I found this Visual Studio 2010 extension  Indent Guides  http   visualstudiogallery msdn microsoft com e792686d-542b-474a-8c55-630980e72c30  It works just fine

User · Answer

If you are a user of the free Visual Studio Express edition the right key is in   HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft VCExpress 9 0 Text Editor    note the VCExpress instead of VisualStudio  but it works

User · Answer

If you are a user of the free Visual Studio Express edition the right key is in   HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft VCExpress 9 0 Text Editor    note the VCExpress instead of VisualStudio  but it works

User · Answer

The registry path for Visual Studio 2008 is the same  but with 9 0 as the version number   HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft VisualStudio 9 0 Text Editor

User · Answer

With VS 2013 Express this key does not exist  What I see is HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft VisualStudio 12 0 and there is no mention of Text Editor under that

User · Answer

Without the need to edit any registry keys  the Productivity Power Tools extension  available for all versions of visual studio  provides guideline functionality   Once installed just right click while in the editor window and choose the add guide line option  Note that the guideline will always be placed on the column where your editing cursor is currently at  regardless of where you right click in the editor window     To turn off go to options and find Productivity Power Tools and in that section turn off Column Guides  A reboot will be necessary

User · Answer

This works for SQL Server Management Studio also

User · Answer

With VS 2013 Express this key does not exist  What I see is HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft VisualStudio 12 0 and there is no mention of Text Editor under that

User · Answer

For VS 2019 just use this powershell script  Get-ChildItem  quot    env LOCALAPPDATA  Microsoft VisualStudio 16 0   quot     Foreach-Object      dir          regFile    quot    dir FullName  privateregistry bin quot     Write-Host  quot Loading    dir BaseName  from    regFile   quot     amp  reg load  quot HKLM  TMPVS  quot   quot  regFile quot    New-ItemProperty -Name  quot Guides quot  -Path  quot HKLM   TMPVS  Software Microsoft VisualStudio    dir BaseName  Text Editor quot  -Value  quot RGB 255 0 0   80 quot  -force   Out-Null        Sleep -Seconds 5    might take some time befor the file can be unloaded    amp  reg unload  quot HKLM  TMPVS  quot     Write-Host  quot Unloaded    dir BaseName  from    regFile   quot

User · Answer

The registry path for Visual Studio 2008 is the same  but with 9 0 as the version number   HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft VisualStudio 9 0 Text Editor

User · Answer

The registry path for Visual Studio 2008 is the same  but with 9 0 as the version number   HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft VisualStudio 9 0 Text Editor

User · Answer

If you are a user of the free Visual Studio Express edition the right key is in   HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft VCExpress 9 0 Text Editor    note the VCExpress instead of VisualStudio  but it works

User · Answer

This will also work in Visual Studio 2010  Beta 2   as long as you install Paul Harrington s extension to enable the guidelines from the VSGallery or from the extension manager inside VS2010   Since this is version 10 0  you should use the following registry key   HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft VisualStudio 10 0 Text Editor   Also  Paul wrote an extension that adds entries to the editor s context menu for adding removing the entries without needing to edit the registry directly   You can find it here  http   visualstudiogallery msdn microsoft com en-us 7f2a6727-2993-4c1d-8f58-ae24df14ea91

User · Answer

For those who use Visual Assist  vertical guidelines can be enabled from Display section in Visual Assist s options

User · Answer

For VS 2019 just use this powershell script  Get-ChildItem  quot    env LOCALAPPDATA  Microsoft VisualStudio 16 0   quot     Foreach-Object      dir          regFile    quot    dir FullName  privateregistry bin quot     Write-Host  quot Loading    dir BaseName  from    regFile   quot     amp  reg load  quot HKLM  TMPVS  quot   quot  regFile quot    New-ItemProperty -Name  quot Guides quot  -Path  quot HKLM   TMPVS  Software Microsoft VisualStudio    dir BaseName  Text Editor quot  -Value  quot RGB 255 0 0   80 quot  -force   Out-Null        Sleep -Seconds 5    might take some time befor the file can be unloaded    amp  reg unload  quot HKLM  TMPVS  quot     Write-Host  quot Unloaded    dir BaseName  from    regFile   quot

User · Answer

This works for SQL Server Management Studio also

User · Answer

Without the need to edit any registry keys  the Productivity Power Tools extension  available for all versions of visual studio  provides guideline functionality   Once installed just right click while in the editor window and choose the add guide line option  Note that the guideline will always be placed on the column where your editing cursor is currently at  regardless of where you right click in the editor window     To turn off go to options and find Productivity Power Tools and in that section turn off Column Guides  A reboot will be necessary

User · Answer

This will also work in Visual Studio 2010  Beta 2   as long as you install Paul Harrington s extension to enable the guidelines from the VSGallery or from the extension manager inside VS2010   Since this is version 10 0  you should use the following registry key   HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft VisualStudio 10 0 Text Editor   Also  Paul wrote an extension that adds entries to the editor s context menu for adding removing the entries without needing to edit the registry directly   You can find it here  http   visualstudiogallery msdn microsoft com en-us 7f2a6727-2993-4c1d-8f58-ae24df14ea91

User · Answer

There is now an extension for Visual Studio 2012 and 2013   http   visualstudiogallery msdn microsoft com da227a0b-0e31-4a11-8f6b-3a149cf2e459

User · Answer

Visual Studio 2017   2019  For anyone looking for an answer for a newer version of Visual Studio  install the Editor Guidelines plugin  then right-click in the editor and select this

User · Answer

I found this Visual Studio 2010 extension  Indent Guides  http   visualstudiogallery msdn microsoft com e792686d-542b-474a-8c55-630980e72c30  It works just fine

User · Answer

This will also work in Visual Studio 2010  Beta 2   as long as you install Paul Harrington s extension to enable the guidelines from the VSGallery or from the extension manager inside VS2010   Since this is version 10 0  you should use the following registry key   HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft VisualStudio 10 0 Text Editor   Also  Paul wrote an extension that adds entries to the editor s context menu for adding removing the entries without needing to edit the registry directly   You can find it here  http   visualstudiogallery msdn microsoft com en-us 7f2a6727-2993-4c1d-8f58-ae24df14ea91

User · Answer

I found this Visual Studio 2010 extension  Indent Guides  http   visualstudiogallery msdn microsoft com e792686d-542b-474a-8c55-630980e72c30  It works just fine

User · Answer

If you are a user of the free Visual Studio Express edition the right key is in   HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft VCExpress 9 0 Text Editor    note the VCExpress instead of VisualStudio  but it works

User · Answer

This works for SQL Server Management Studio also

User · Answer

For VS 2019 just use this powershell script  Get-ChildItem  quot    env LOCALAPPDATA  Microsoft VisualStudio 16 0   quot     Foreach-Object      dir          regFile    quot    dir FullName  privateregistry bin quot     Write-Host  quot Loading    dir BaseName  from    regFile   quot     amp  reg load  quot HKLM  TMPVS  quot   quot  regFile quot    New-ItemProperty -Name  quot Guides quot  -Path  quot HKLM   TMPVS  Software Microsoft VisualStudio    dir BaseName  Text Editor quot  -Value  quot RGB 255 0 0   80 quot  -force   Out-Null        Sleep -Seconds 5    might take some time befor the file can be unloaded    amp  reg unload  quot HKLM  TMPVS  quot     Write-Host  quot Unloaded    dir BaseName  from    regFile   quot

User · Answer

The registry path for Visual Studio 2008 is the same  but with 9 0 as the version number   HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft VisualStudio 9 0 Text Editor

User · Answer

The registry path for Visual Studio 2008 is the same  but with 9 0 as the version number   HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft VisualStudio 9 0 Text Editor

User · Answer

Visual Studio 2017   2019  For anyone looking for an answer for a newer version of Visual Studio  install the Editor Guidelines plugin  then right-click in the editor and select this

User · Answer

This works for SQL Server Management Studio also

User · Answer

With VS 2013 Express this key does not exist  What I see is HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft VisualStudio 12 0 and there is no mention of Text Editor under that

User · Answer

For those who use Visual Assist  vertical guidelines can be enabled from Display section in Visual Assist s options

User · Answer

There is now an extension for Visual Studio 2012 and 2013   http   visualstudiogallery msdn microsoft com da227a0b-0e31-4a11-8f6b-3a149cf2e459

User · Answer

The registry path for Visual Studio 2008 is the same  but with 9 0 as the version number   HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft VisualStudio 9 0 Text Editor

User · Answer

With VS 2013 Express this key does not exist  What I see is HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft VisualStudio 12 0 and there is no mention of Text Editor under that

User · Answer

This works for SQL Server Management Studio also

User · Answer

Without the need to edit any registry keys  the Productivity Power Tools extension  available for all versions of visual studio  provides guideline functionality   Once installed just right click while in the editor window and choose the add guide line option  Note that the guideline will always be placed on the column where your editing cursor is currently at  regardless of where you right click in the editor window     To turn off go to options and find Productivity Power Tools and in that section turn off Column Guides  A reboot will be necessary

User · Answer

Without the need to edit any registry keys  the Productivity Power Tools extension  available for all versions of visual studio  provides guideline functionality   Once installed just right click while in the editor window and choose the add guide line option  Note that the guideline will always be placed on the column where your editing cursor is currently at  regardless of where you right click in the editor window     To turn off go to options and find Productivity Power Tools and in that section turn off Column Guides  A reboot will be necessary

User · Answer

This works for SQL Server Management Studio also

User · Answer

There is now an extension for Visual Studio 2012 and 2013   http   visualstudiogallery msdn microsoft com da227a0b-0e31-4a11-8f6b-3a149cf2e459

User · Answer

For those who use Visual Assist  vertical guidelines can be enabled from Display section in Visual Assist s options

User · Answer

If you are a user of the free Visual Studio Express edition the right key is in   HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft VCExpress 9 0 Text Editor    note the VCExpress instead of VisualStudio  but it works

User · Answer

I found this Visual Studio 2010 extension  Indent Guides  http   visualstudiogallery msdn microsoft com e792686d-542b-474a-8c55-630980e72c30  It works just fine

User · Answer

There is now an extension for Visual Studio 2012 and 2013   http   visualstudiogallery msdn microsoft com da227a0b-0e31-4a11-8f6b-3a149cf2e459

User · Answer

This works for SQL Server Management Studio also

User · Answer

For VS 2019 just use this powershell script  Get-ChildItem  quot    env LOCALAPPDATA  Microsoft VisualStudio 16 0   quot     Foreach-Object      dir          regFile    quot    dir FullName  privateregistry bin quot     Write-Host  quot Loading    dir BaseName  from    regFile   quot     amp  reg load  quot HKLM  TMPVS  quot   quot  regFile quot    New-ItemProperty -Name  quot Guides quot  -Path  quot HKLM   TMPVS  Software Microsoft VisualStudio    dir BaseName  Text Editor quot  -Value  quot RGB 255 0 0   80 quot  -force   Out-Null        Sleep -Seconds 5    might take some time befor the file can be unloaded    amp  reg unload  quot HKLM  TMPVS  quot     Write-Host  quot Unloaded    dir BaseName  from    regFile   quot

User · Answer

This works for SQL Server Management Studio also

User · Answer

Visual Studio 2017   2019  For anyone looking for an answer for a newer version of Visual Studio  install the Editor Guidelines plugin  then right-click in the editor and select this

[visual-studio] Adding a guideline to the editor in Visual Studio

Examples related to visual-studio

Examples related to ide

Examples related to registry