There are four different window layout states
- Design view – what you see when you launch Visual Studio and do your editing
- Full screen – Toggled by Shift+Alt+Enter in the general development settings. Also found via View – Full screen. The command is View.FullScreen.
- Debugging view – when debugging
- File view – when you open a file via the command line as follows: devenv.exe myfile.txt. You’ll notice that the environment will have no tool windows showing.
Both your tool window layouts and your command bar customizations are saved in these states.
When you shut down Visual Studio in any state, all 4 states are saved. Additionally, all 4 states are saved when you do a Tools – Import Export Settings – Export – Window Layouts.
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