How can you disable Gutter Indicators in VS Code?

Question

In VS Code, if there's version control in a folder you're working in, it will try and indicate what lines are new and what lines are changed with little color patches in the "gutter" section. Actually, both on the left side near the line numbers, and also on the right side in the scroll bar. Is there a way to turn that off?

Kaja

If somebody found this because they can't see the gutter git colors - make sure it's on (opposite setting from answers below), and make sure you open the file from the Git SCM by "Open File" - it may be a different path than relative (which doesn't work righ now). – Volume

Answer 1

It is possible to change it in settings.json Ctrl+,

"scm.diffDecorations": "all" | "gutter" | "overview" | "none"

---

Or you can make them transparent:

"workbench.colorCustomizations": {
    // Gutter indicators (left)
    "editorGutter.modifiedBackground": "#0000",
    "editorGutter.addedBackground": "#0000",
    "editorGutter.deletedBackground": "#0000",
    // Scrollbar indicators (right)
    "editorOverviewRuler.addedForeground": "#0000",
    "editorOverviewRuler.modifiedForeground": "#0000",
    "editorOverviewRuler.deletedForeground": "#0000"
}

Denominational

Nice. Didn't work at first, but I just had to reload the entire editor after the change. – Kaja

This disabled git completely. I just want to disable gutter indicators. – Indefensible

Although this does indeed remove it, I want to preserve all other git functionality. I've raised an issue. github.com/Microsoft/vscode/issues/37975 – Raffle

To preserve GIT functionality and just hide the gutter indicators, see my answer below. – Pneuma

Does anyone know where the supported colors are documented? Update: found it – Alika

just incase someone wanted to only hide the expansion, go to SCM: Diff Decorations Gutter Action and change it to none – Tahmosh

Answer 2

Just go to Settings and search for "Scm Diff Decorations" and set to none.

Pneuma

Is there a way to choose two of them? I just don't want it on the overview ruler. – Stanwin

Answer 3

1. Go to File> Preferences> Settings> Features> SCM.

   Shortcut: [ Ctrl ][ Shift ][ P ] > Preferences: Open User Settings> Features> SCM.

2. Set Diff Decorations to none.

Note that setting other options like the Gutter options shown below may remove some parts of it, but may leave the little red arrow while setting the Diff Decorations option to none will remove everything.

Montgolfier

Answer 4

Look under Settings -> Features -> SCM -> Diff Decorations and set to none

Scapula

How do I get to settings? Do I navigate to preferences then Settings and then search for Features? In my VS code there is only one feature related to the Terminal. Do I use the command palette? – Abercromby

Answer 5

If you arrived here, wanting to turn this feature off because you kept clicking on the SCM gutter bars by accident and accidentally opening the diff when you don't want to, this may be of value to you.

As an alternative to turning this useful feature off, consider setting the "SCM: Diff Decorations Gutter Action" instead. This setting controls what happens when you click on the gutter bars; setting to "none" prevents them from being clickable. This allows you to keep the visual information they provide while getting rid of the unwanted behavior.

    "scm.diffDecorationsGutterAction": "none", // suppress opening diffs in margin ("gutters")

Megawatt

Answer 6

In Visual Studio 2022 Under Tools --> Options --> Text Editor --> General --> Remove tick from Track changes.

Jocelynjocelyne

This is about Visual Studio Code, not Visual Studio. – Strobila