Re-enable title bar in Visual Studio 2019

Question

I've downloaded the preview version of Visual Studio 2019 and the title bar is disabled by default.

This doesn't work for me as I currently develop C# applications using multiple instances of visual studio at a time, and I like knowing what window relates to which solution, and whether I am running with elevated privileges.

I've found that I can re-enable the title bar by going to the 'Preview Features' section in options, but this will obviously not be in the real release of Visual Studio 2019.

I've searched online, but have only found feature requests to not remove the title bar.

Is there currently any way to re-enable the title bar in VS 2019 (that is not related to the preview features option)?

Syblesybley

Answer 1

It appears that some time around March 2019 the option to restore the title bar through a setting in the IDE was restored. I can confirm that the option remains in the latest release and preview versions of Visual Studio as of June 2019.

Go to:

Tools > Options > Environment > Preview Features

and untick

"Use compact menu and search bar (requires restart)"

Then click "OK" and restart Visual Studio.

---

If the setting gets removed again, it may still be possible to fall back to editing the file CurrentSettings.vssettings. Change:

<PropertyValue name="IsMinimalVsEnabled">True</PropertyValue>

to

<PropertyValue name="IsMinimalVsEnabled">False</PropertyValue>

Look for the file in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\16.0_xxxxxxxx\Settings\CurrentSettings.vssettings (where 16.0_xxxxxxxx will be the version you have installed).

VS2022 Update

The setting is now named UseMinimalMode in CurrentSettings.vssettings

Javierjavler

I have confirmed that this still works with the released version of VS2019 (version 16.0.4). – Puerperal

does a solution to this problem still exist? I was unable to find any instance of "IsMinimalVsEnabled" in my CurrentSettings.vssettings file. – Virgiliovirgin

@Virgiliovirgin I just tried it and the first approach (Tools menu) still works as of version 16.3 released yesterday – Javierjavler

I could not find any of the options in 16.6.2. This is annoying as I am trying to customize the window title to display the TFS branch (to avoid committing to the wrong branch). – Fizz

@Alexei It's present in 16.6.3 under Tools / Options / Environment / Preview Features. There's a fair number of options on that page, so you may have to scroll to find it. – Pneumonic

Still working as of today's 16.11.21. – Munt

Answer 2

The option can be found under "Preview Features" in Options. No idea why that got into the GA release.

Just unselect the compact menu option and restart VS.

Ancon

Answer 3

In VS 2022, this setting has moved to Tools --> Options... --> Environment --> General.

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