I synced the settings and extensions on vscode and I want to revert the changes

Question

So the issue is rather something I caused myself by accident. I was trying to sync two of my computers, a Mac and a Linux. I wanted to sync the Mac to the Linux so I connected my GitHub account to my Mac vs-code when a pop-up displayed that gave two options like "Replace" and "Merge". I wanted to merge the sync but I accidentally hit Replace when all the Settings on my Mac vs-code was replaced.

What errors do you see?

And one thing I noticed is that every time I open the terminal it takes me to a path that was defined in my Linux instead of starting at default or $PATH.

What's the environment and are there recent changes?

Local, I haven't noticed changes except for the starting path in my VS-code terminal.

What have you tried to troubleshoot this?

I did try and I stumbled upon the fact that I can change the terminal's default path in the settings or even in settings.json but I didn't want to cause more problems by overriding any default settings. I also noticed that my Mac vs-code basically just took every setting in my Linux vs-code. Also, only the terminal in my vs-code was impacted the default terminal on my Mac displayed ~ on login.

And because this was annoying me I basically went on and just added cd ~ to my ~/.zsh_profile so that it just brings me back to ~ but I believe that the Linux settings still have an influence over my Mac vs-code settings and I just want to reverse this. Is there any way I can get back my old configuration? If so how can I do this? Can Github possibly have my old configurations? or is there a reset that I can do that will take me to the very first settings?

Harriott

Answer 1

Yes, you can restore all of your tweaks. You just need to follow these steps:

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EDIT: It seems like VS Code has updated since I made this post and certain things have changed. Try these first:

1. Press ctrl + shift + p (open command palette, shortcuts might be different on your machine).
2. Type Settings Sync: Focus on Sync Activity (Local) View.

Edit (Aug 2023): Type Settings Sync: Show Synced Data.

3. You'll notice that the Primary sidebar showing three portions of sync related data. The one you need to focus on is called SYNC ACTIVITY (LOCAL).
4. All the changes that you have done to your preferences will show up there, simply click on back arrow icon next to its title to revert the change.

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Go to File > Preferences > Setting Sync is on (its the last option in the menu).

Then click on Settings sync: Show Synced Data. You'll notice Side Bar open with 2 sections: SYNC ACTIVITY and SYNCED MACHINES. Right click on SYNC ACTIVITY then tick the SYNC ACTIVITY(LOCAL).

Now you can finally revert the changes that you made before Accidental Sync by clicking on the restore icons of each of them.

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BTW sorry for my broken English, I'm not a native.

Capstan

When I right click on SYNC ACTIVITY, I can't see SYNC ACTIVITY (LOCAL). – Squad

The hint with the Right click on SYNC ACTIVITY did it, preem, there i could select my local settings and restore. Thank you very much. – Chavaree

Answer 2

I did something similar and hit "Replace Local" on the machine I wanted to copy over to a new machine. This wiped my extensions and keybindings I've been building up for awhile now and panic ensued. I found out you can undo syncs at Settings Sync: Show Synced Data, but I wasn't seeing my old file contents. For some reason the Sync Activity (Local) view is hidden. I had to turn it on:

... > Views > Sync Activity (Local)

Once I did this I could see my old file contents and was able to click the Restore arrow button on all of them. Crisis averted!

Une

You saved me hours of work! Thank you!!! – Lepidus

Answer 3

I had been using Settings Sync for a while, but my login had expired. I then logged into the wrong account and got a blank settings. All the advice above shows as if this is the first time I've used VSCode and there is a single sync history that does not contain my old settings, and now I've signed in to the correct account I worry that when I start VSCode at home it'll nuke everything there too, tho that at least I might be able to recover using the above...

Albur