How to maximize Visual Studio panels?

Question

Is there a way to quickly maximize (and then restore) Visual Studio 2010 panels? For instance, I'd like to temporarily maximize the Output window or unit test results window. In Eclipse, I would just double-click the window tab, but in VS, this undocks the window.

The desired behavior is: double-click to maximize the window, then double-click it again to restore the panel to its original position.

What version of Visual Studio? – Chad Levy Jun 24 '10 at 00:06 — Chad Levy, Jun 24 '10 at 00:06

score 66 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 24 '10 at 20:39

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Use this keyboard shortcut: Shift-Alt-Enter It will maximize your current panel similar to Eclipse, but it will use the full screen unfortunately, not just the whole Visual Studio window. I prefer the way Eclipse does it, but this does help in Visual Studio land.

answered Jun 24 '10 at 20:39

Evil Engel

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Alt+Shift+Enter maximizes the current editor, not the tool window for me in VS2010. – Borek Bernard Jun 25 '10 at 10:46
thanks - this works in VS2008, i.e., as @Borek said, just current editor, but still better than nothing... – Ingvald May 10 '12 at 12:16

score 27 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 14 '13 at 06:54

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This feature has been added to Visual Studio Productivity Power Tools 2013 ("Double click to maximize windows"), which is free to download.

This new feature allows double-clicking any window tab to maximize it to full-screen mode and restore it back to its initial docked state - without having to worry about float operations or changes to your window layout.

answered Nov 14 '13 at 06:54

Ramkumar

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Why isn't this included in VS by default (both are MS products)? Oh right, productivity is optional... Anyway, in case of VS 2015, the link is: [Productivity Power Tools 2015](https://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/34ebc6a2-2777-421d-8914-e29c1dfa7f5d). – rustyx Nov 28 '15 at 14:49

Chad Levy · Answer 3 · 2010-06-24T02:18:34.460

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In Visual Studio 2010, you can double-click the title bar of a given panel to put it into float mode, then use it just like any other window (maximize, Windows 7 dock, etc.). Ctrl-double-clicking it again will turn it back into a docked panel.

You can also right-click on the title bar and select Dock as Tabbed Document to display the panel in the same way the code windows are displayed.

edited Jun 24 '10 at 02:18

answered Jun 24 '10 at 00:08

Chad Levy

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Double-clicking the title bar will float the whole group, Ctrl-clicking does nothing and if I chose "Dock" from the menu, it will dock just the current window, not the whole group. That is hardly usable. – Borek Bernard Jun 24 '10 at 00:59
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@Borek: Sorry, I meant `Ctrl-double-click` to redock the window. – Chad Levy Jun 24 '10 at 02:17
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+1 for the `Ctrl + double-click` functionality. Very useful indeed! – informatik01 Aug 26 '13 at 01:20
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btw If "Productivity Power Tools" plugin is installed, it disables by default the `Dock as Tabbed Document` feature (though it's not greyed out, but clicking on it has no effect). Disabling "Document Well Plus" feature in the "Productivity Power Tools" setting enables it again. Just found this out by experimenting. But the `Ctrl + double-click` method **still works**, even with "Document Well Plus" feature enabled! – informatik01 Aug 26 '13 at 01:34

samus · Answer 4 · 2017-10-27T15:07:00.537

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In Visual Studio 2017, on a focused tab

Alt + -, F

Alt + Space, X (see UPDATE)

UPDATE (Windows 10)

Win + Up

edited Oct 27 '17 at 15:07

answered Aug 07 '17 at 12:21

samus

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Win + Up, Up, Dwn, Dwn, Lt, Rt, Lt, Rt, B, A, START enters the matrix – samus Oct 27 '17 at 15:10

score 4 · Answer 5 · edited Mar 29 '18 at 19:21

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From the View menu, pick Full Screen menuitem.

Note: when you select the View menu, you will notice that the shortcut for selecting Full Screen is mentioned, Shift+Alt+Enter (which was mentioned previously in the Answers).

Platform: Visual Studio Professional 2017, Version 15.5.7 on Windows 10, 64-bit

edited Mar 29 '18 at 19:21

Xavier Guihot

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answered Mar 10 '18 at 20:15

Red Rooster

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on VS 2019, this only maximizes the code editor window, even if you have the focus on another window (e.g. output) – Paulus Dec 03 '19 at 08:45

score 3 · Answer 6 · answered Jun 24 '10 at 08:18

Closest the Eclipse behavior is to follow these steps:

Right-click the window title bar, select Float
Double-click the window title to maximize
Right-click the window title, select Dock

After these steps, double-clicking and Ctrl+double-clicking the window maximizes / restores itself

score 2 · Answer 7 · edited Mar 29 '18 at 19:20

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Here it is as a key board shortcut for commando types:

Ctrl+Tab Switch to your desired window/panel.
Alt+- Show the dock menu.
T Choose 'Dock as tabbed document'

edited Mar 29 '18 at 19:20

Xavier Guihot

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answered Sep 18 '14 at 15:23

Shaun Luttin

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Not bad, but when I dock a floating window back as a tabbed document, it goes to the standard pane where I have code, even if it initially came from the bottom pane, etc. Any idea if there's an easy way to say, "Go back from whence you came?" Still, decent workaround for small laptop screens, thanks. – ruffin Nov 24 '15 at 15:16

Brian · Answer 8 · 2010-06-24T01:21:23.053

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Right click title bar, then choose 'float', it will only get that window, not the whole panel. Then double-click to maximize.

Also, the commands are

Window.Float
Window.Dock

and you can assign them keyboard shortcuts under tools\options. So for example I mapped them to Ctrl-Shift-F7 and Ctrl-Shift-F8, and then after once maximizing the Output window, henceforth if I have the output window docked, I just focus it and then a key makes it big and other puts it back, hurray.

edited Jun 24 '10 at 01:21

answered Jun 24 '10 at 01:13

Brian

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I see, the tab itself doesn't behave the same as the title bar of the window. – samus Aug 07 '17 at 12:12

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Jul 13 '17 at 21:17

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If you have already installed Productivity Power Tools 2017 (PPT), and the double click file tab is not working or any other feature in PPT, just reset the PPT and it should work just fine after restarting visual studio 2017.

answered Jul 13 '17 at 21:17

Ashraf Sada

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How to maximize Visual Studio panels?

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