Allow to open multiple workspaces in the same window

[kdubuc]

Workspace feature is great because we can grouping projects in a top context (microservices projects in a big API workspace). But, only one workspace can be open. This feature can be powerful if multiple workspaces can be open at the same time (in the same window).

And another request : it will be great if :

• Right click on the workspace name should open menu with a "settings" item (which open xxxx.code-workspace).
• Workspace settings should contain a name attribute (to clearly identify the workspace in the left pane in VS Code)

[amandaporto]

Agree, this functionality is really lacking. Working with multiple repos/folders where you want to keep a certain separation from one another (while maintaining easy access) is a bit of a pain right now.

[develleoper]

To clarify, this story is specifically not relating to multi-root workspaces, but rather requesting the ability to display multiple separate workspaces within the same OS window, correct? Asking because I noticed the github issue has the #multi-root label, which I believe may be inaccurate.

[zbentley]

@develleoper that was my assumption as well, and the duplicate issue that was closed in favor of this one also seems to indicate that. I'm not the reporter though.

[MikeChipshop]

Seconding (and the rest!) this.

The ability to have collapsible Workspace folders open in the app at the same time would be a godsend. Currently I'm having to negate this by adding different folders to the initial workspace, but this is far from ideal.

Having the ability to have multiple workspaces open at once would make this an absolute project management powerhouse!

[mookman288]

From a new user perspective, this was my step-by-step experience:

1. Create new workspace.
2. Attempt to rename the workspace to . This failed (see @kdubuc second request.)
3. Add all of the projects for that particular client to this workspace.
4. Attempt to create a second workspace for a different client. This failed.

Coming from Eclipse, my first instinct is to be able to create individual project folders for each project, and I organized that by heading. I agree with @MikeChipshop that multiple workspaces open at once would increase project management utility.

[siran]

I second the proposal.

[coffeeislife12]

I am working with python and I don't want to share my python virtualenv between each project (folders) inside a workspace. As python interpreter setting is applied to a workspace, I need the ability to have multiple workspaces show up in single vscode instance(screen) for better management

[zjp]

The UI makes this idea very intuitive. Before googling how to do this, I thought it was already built-in.

[bigwhitetuna]

Agreed! This would be awesome! I look forward to hearing more about its progress.

[globalfaisal]

It would definitely be very handy to have this feature.

[outpoints]

Support!

[rayholtz]

I am also in favor of this feature. I run VSCode on a vertical monitor, and there's a lot of vertical screen space that could be taken up by multiple workspaces. Thanks!

tl;dr, +1

[HansHovanitz]

I came across this while googling how to do it.

This feature would be very helpful!

[mittalyashu]

We can set the custom settings for each workspace and have multiple workspaces opened inside a single instance of VS Code can make it bit complicated.

Apart from that, it is a good idea to have this feature.

[shane-smith]

@mittalyashu - it is already possible to set custom settings for a folder, and to have multiple folders open inside a workspace. I'm guessing it would need to take a similar approach.

[csears123]

I also agree with this request, to allow multiple workspaces to be opened in the same window. I am constantly switching between projects, and at times work on multiple projects simultaneously. Re-adding a previous folder to a workspace loses the 'name' property I assigned that folder in the workspace settings before removing it. Assigning custom names to my projects is needed for organizing similar named folders across separate projects. Using a workspace to organize all my projects would be a better structure, if allowed to be open in the same window.

I also see added benefits with customizing workspace settings separately for each project for deployment configurations, instead of having to customize every folder individually for deployment.

[mittalyashu]

@shane-smith

it is already possible to set custom settings for a folder and to have multiple folders open inside a workspace. I'm guessing it would need to take a similar approach.

Yes, having multiple folders in a single workspace is easy, and vs code can easily apply the workspace or folder settings.

Just image, how vs code will manage multiple workspaces and it's settings, that means:

Each time we open the file from a different workspace, settings of that specific workspace will apply and this will make the VS Code slower if we open files from different workspaces.

[ClintOxx]

I totally thought this was already a feature until I just tried to use it lol, i definitely support this. I would like to be able to switch between having two different workspaces in the same window

[slaith]

+1 Sublime text does this very well (in full-screen mode on mac). If you open a new workspace or a new folder, it gets added as a tab to the current window. That's the only feature VS Code lacks over sublime right now.

[qzdl]

+1, Agree massively with this; Current UI would lead the user to believe that such functionality exists - coming from Atom this was quite a shock haha

[QuentinDanjou]

I'm dealing with multiple projects as a lot of developers, and having multiple workplace open in the same window as described would be a really nice improvement.

[shane-smith]

I've restructured my workspaces, and have started using folders more actively in my workspaces, in such a way that this is no longer high on my own priority list.

Makes me wonder if, with a bit of experimentation, most of the people requesting this feature might be able to get away with using several folders in a single workspace, instead?

[somebody1234]

@W-Ely could always use (the unofficial) code-server in two tabs with two different workspaces :D

[somebody1234]

but yeah... i've been using multi-root (out of laziness) as an alternative... unfortunately it means startup is insanely painful (100% cpu for around a minute) because every extension looks through every root even though i'm not even touching most of them

[droslean]

This issue is opened for 4 years..... Can someone at least let us know if there are plans to implement it or now?

[lc-work]

I would also love to see something like this implemented. I work with a bunch of repositories and would love to be able to group related ones under a single "folder", or in this case, a workspace, but also have them available in a single window (as others have said, switching between windows is not fun).

[reech-dev]

Hi, We would also love to see this feature.
I think the tabbed workspaces across the top is the most sensible idea, and the common way this is solved in other software.
GitKraken has this nailed. It was a god send when they introduced tabs.

Remember Chrome before tabs, seems incredible we didn't have it!

Thanks in advance for adding thie ;)

[page-support]

try the project manager extension, provides easy switching between git or file system folder instances.

[maiconbaum]

I'm using this extension: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=sadesyllas.vscode-workspace-switcher&ssr=false#overview

Works just fine.

[lc-work]

Unfortunately this, and the previously mentioned "Project Manager" extension, do not meet what is being asked here. Users are looking to access multiple workspaces in the SAME window. We don't want to switch workspaces, or open them in different instances of VSCode, we wan't to be able to access them from one window.

[giggham]

looking forward to having this feature in vscode in the future

[jseravalli]

🙏

[Unexpected-Development]

We are either missing something or someone thinks we're idiots. Why is this STILL missing?

[feketegy]

Wow, I was looking for this and thought an issue first opened 5 years ago would surely be implemented by now, given the fact that I can't keep up with the sheer amount of new features implemented anymore.

What is the problem here? Why is this decision not been made yet? This is one of the essential features I would like to see in VSCode. I hate that I have to open X new VSCode windows one for each workspace I'm working on.

EDIT: I'm not talking about multi-root workspaces, but separate workspaces that could have multiple root folders in it.

[fuad-tareq]

@bpasero 800+ thumbs up is way more than your minimum requirement of "20" thumbs up for a backlog candidate to be considered into your roadmap! We deserve at least an update on the ETA for implementation (or consideration of implementation) of this heavily requested feature.

This should go without saying but multi-root workspaces do NOT resolve the need for this because I'd rather not have my editor polluted AND bogged down in speed when I use features like search, indexing, intellisense, etc because they go through 500 different project folders every time.

At the same time, sometimes I just wanna quickly scan a different project of mine from the past for a method or code snippet I've written in the past that I need to use again now... opening a brand new VS Code window for this completely ruins my development flow. I'd like it all to remain in the same window ideally.

[ehuff700]

Please implement this feature I'm begging you

[marc-brouard]

+1 for this feature please

[feketegy]

A new version every other week yet this feature is still missing.

[khalidx]

Wow, @Bacto's solution (in this thread, here: #43188 (comment)) changed the game for me on MacOS. Now I have all my VSCode workspace windows combined into one, with tabs.

[exismys]

This will be a great addition. Currently, when I need to work on different sets of projects, I have to open a new window with new workspace and that is very time-consuming. This will make it easier.

[bsbaixo]

So what is the actual point of having it if we can't have more than one? Just remove that layer of complexity from the code or add in multiple workspaces. I don't understand the logic.

[somebody1234]

@bsbaixo currently workspaces are mostly for saving vscode settings specific for each project (and being able to easily open/switch between projects)

[strawberrymelonpanda]

Still a much needed feature. The way Windows 11 groups apps by default, any app with more than one window becomes a two-step process of taskbar icon->thumbnail->window. I avoid having more than one window per app whenever possible to avoid the clutter.

My ideal, personally, would be being able to split-screen the workspaces with each workspace having its own scoped sidebar/left pane.

[iwangbowen]

It's been 6 years and we're still waiting indefinitely

[sisi-sh]

facts like clearly this request is consistently and still getting a lot of traffic

[rihards-simanovics]

Doesn't look like it's going to be added any time soon, and besides, I found that I really don't need it anyway, makes me less productive when I keep jumping from one codebase to another. Besides, It's not like I'm working on 3 different projects at any given time. Also, I 'm assuming using it with WSL would have been a nightmare, anyway, so will be unsubscribing from this issue, will keep my thumbs up so it doesn't mess up the interest counter.

Also, people, not going to point anyone out, but would you please stop whining. It's an open-source project, don't like something, make a fork, implement it, and make a PR if you have a burning need for it atom source code is right here for you to sift through, took me 2 seconds to find the source code. Complaining about how desperately you need it, won't get this issue any further than it is already, and only annoy those who just patiently sitting here waiting for an update from the maintainers.

[quazardous]

I agree not needed on *nix OS. With fedora/gnome you can use super_or_alt+esc to switch between windows of the same exec (like a sub alt tab). So I found that keeping my windows project centric is not so bad, focus wise.
Seams macOS has its own ways too. It's just on Windows that it really sucks 😊.

[mnpenner]

The issue for me is not that I need multiple workspaces in one window, is that's when I close VS Code it and re-open it, it randomly chooses whatever Workspace I closed last and then spends 2 minutes connecting to WSL or SSH when I just want an empty editor. If it quietly did that in a Workspace tab or something until I focus it, it wouldn't be so bad.

Edit: I just found "window.restoreWindows": "none" -- maybe that's what I wanted this whole time.

[quazardous]

randomly chooses whatever Workspace

You can always browse the folder containing your workspaces files and double click to open the right one

[sisi-sh]

Gonna plug https://github.com/sketchbuch/vsc-workspace-sidebar not mine but great plugin indispensable for me