How to change TFS query result default columns?

Question

I'm using the Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2013 web interface and have created and saved many queries with custom columns, sort orders etc.

However, when creating a new query or doing a "search" (i.e. the "Search work items" control in top right of Queries page) the default columns are always: ID, Work Item Type, Title, State, Assigned To and Tags.

How do I change the default columns so that all new queries will default to my preferred columns?

Thanks

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 02 '15 at 14:01

From an MSDN forum post:

And for these work items which are shipped with TFS Server, the information is stored in the team project template. For example, if you are working with a Agile team project, go to MSF for Agile Software Development v5.0\WorkItem Tracking\Queries, select the query you would like to custom the displayed columns and make changes.

For Visual Studio the change is different. This setting is changed via the registry at this location:

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\<versionNumber>\WorkItemTracking\QuerySettings\ColumnSetting

I haven't found a consistent Name for the key that affects this default between versions so the item you need to change depends on your version. A little trial and error should narrow down which key to change.

MSDN forum source

Please can you clarify how this works for TFS 2013 web access. This HKCU reg would presumably work for a local installation of Visual Studio, however I need this to work for users with web access to TFS, who will mostly not have Visual Studio installed. — DaBozUK, Sep 03 '15 at 08:09
@DaBozUK you have to edit wiq files in the process template for this. — Beytan Kurt, Sep 03 '15 at 10:43

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 03 '15 at 07:32

You have to add your desired columns for every single work item query via editing columns in the Column Options page. I can't figure out you one way to save default column options to use for new created work item queries.

For example, to add other columns in the Search query, you need to click Column Options function in the Editor page to choose columns you want.

How to change TFS query result default columns?

2 Answers2