Changing the Toolbox Controls Layout in Visual Studio

Changing the Toolbox Controls Layout in Visual Studio

As a Visual Studio users we all are familiar with what is Toolbox and what is the purpose of it. The Toolbox displays icons for controls that we can add to Visual Studio projects. we can open the Toolbox, by just clicking the Toolbox option in the View menu.  By default all the control represents with an Icon and control name.

This definitely helps us find the controls faster using the name and use them in application.  However, when there is a project which have lot many control set some time it is difficult to find as we need to scroll through or find them.

Related Post : Search Toolbox controls in Visual Studio

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If you are familiar with icon, in that case you can just change the layout from List View to Horizontal.  Right click on the control tab section and un-checked the “ListView” options.

 

Must Read :  Drag and Drop XAML Controls from Toolbox to Document Outline

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This will change the control layout in a horizontal mode by placing the control side by side and would be easier for your to access.

Changed Layout of Controls

Note: This layout change will only applicable to the tab where you unchecked the “List View” options. Rest other places control layouts will remain same ( As  shown in below screenshot the layout changes applied for “Common XAML Controls” not for “All XAML controls”)

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Related Tip :How to Place your reusable code into Toolbox in Visual Studio?

To revert it back, you can just select back the “ListView” option in the particular Tab. Incase there are many layout changed and you want them back as earlier, you can “Reset” the toolbox .

Hope this helps !

Abhijit Jana

Abhijit runs the Daily .NET Tips. He started this site with a vision to have a single knowledge base of .NET tips and tricks and share post that can quickly help any developers . He is a Former Microsoft ASP.NET MVP, CodeProject MVP, Mentor, Speaker, Author, Technology Evangelist and presently working as a .NET Consultant. He blogs at http://abhijitjana.net , you can follow him @AbhijitJana . He is the author of book Kinect for Windows SDK Programming Guide.