Is there a visual studio automatic save configuration setting?

Question

I use the java IDE IntelliJ IDEA and one of the features I like is that there's no saving. Everything's always saved and you just use history navigation. I tend to have both editors open and I'm always forgetting to save in VS.

I'm running vs 2008 with resharper 4.5 but as far as I can tell this isn't achievable or configurable. Any suggestions?

Milena

Answer 1

For VS 2019, the Auto Save File extension seems to work as expected.

It saves individual files on lost focus, can save all files when VS loses focus and can also save all after an inactivity delay.

In VS 2015, I used to use NoMorePanicSave2015.

It does an equivalent of Ctrl+Shift+S when Visual Studio loses focus, which saves all your files, including solution and projects.

Senatorial

OK, I edited the answer but c'mon, a link to a useful plugin is clearly what the question was asking for. Btw, was it you who just downvoted my answer? If yes, was it just because of that? – Bushtit

Not the downvoter, but thanks for editing; looks better now. Including some reference makes it clear at least what the answer did if ever the link dies. – Nihon

As of now, the NoMorePanicSave2015 link you provided is not working. But I guess no one is using VS 2015 now. – Hemistich

An extension/plug-in that makes the job, is always welcome. – Osana

Answer 2

Follow these steps to auto save documents in Visual Studio:

1. Go to Tools -> Options
2. Go to Environments -> Documents
3. Enable automatically save files when visual studio is in the background, as depicted in this screenshot

It worked in Visual Studion 2022

Deva

why save only when in background? :) I need it to autosave all the time. this seems dumb to me. yet another great usability feature from microsoft vs team. – Ricoricochet

Answer 3

Another plugin: CBAutoSave

This extension can automatically save modified documents, projects, and the solution whenever Visual Studio loses focus.

Saving of modified documents is on by default, while automatically saving projects and the solution is not. All options are configurable through the Visual Studio options dialog.

Fuddle

The provided link is broken. I believe it now lives here: vsixgallery.com/extension/b467e5f1-4a69-4ad8-a2a6-0d8bf3932e0e – Astrix

Strange enough, this extension was giving me error "Value cannot be null. Parameter name Value" when I tried closing the Visual Studio (I have 2015). So I had to install similar extension: NoMorePanicSave, which does the same, but does not give me an error (yet :)). – Astrix

I used this plugin before.. had to move to another PC, cannot download it anymore as both links are dead. I don't think the author is still supporting it as well. – Hemistich

Answer 4

In VS2017/19 Community there is Auto-Recover option under tools->options->autorecover. It will not autosave unless there is a crash, so it may be a good compromise.

In VS2019 its under tools->Options->Environment-AutoRecover.

how-to-auto-save-work-on-visual-studio

Kissable

Answer 5

Visual Studio 2008 will probably be the same:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/programming/configure-autosave-autorecovery-of-crashed-projects-in-visual-studio-2005/

However, it's not "no saving" but you can set it down to 1 minute.

Fissionable

Answer 6

Visual Studio 17.2 can now automatically save code documents whenever the application loses focus. This feature can be accessed via Tools > Options > Environment > Document.

Harebrained

Answer 7

There is an autosave, but I must admit that it doesn't seem to always work for me - notably I suspect that it only saves files, but not projects/solutions, or the .user and .suo files. I don't have any links to prove this mind you.

Crellen

how do you enable autosave? – Highsounding

@shieldgenerator7, well it autosaves on run, I don't know if that's a setting or by default (I don't recall ever setting it up). And it does 'recovery' (like Word) in case of a crash. So it's that kind of autosave. – Crellen

Answer 8

Visual Studio 2022 (Enterprise) has auto save option. But you have to enable it.

Navigate from Tools > Options > Environment > Preview Features and Enable the autosave.

here is a screenshot

Leatherjacket

Seems not added to community version. – Goaltender

@ms2r yeah. It has not added to community version. Thanks. – Leatherjacket

Answer 9

I prefer this plugin which auto save whenever there are no errors in the file: VSCode AutoSave

Paradiddle

Answer 10

Version: 1.87.2 (user setup)

OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.22631

Year 2024

File -> Auto Save

Doorknob

This works for Mac version 🎉 – Geiger