Visual Studio Code v1.42 Changelog

This update is all about making your coding workspace smarter and less cluttered. It matters to anyone who writes code because it helps you manage your tabs, catch mistakes before you make them, and customize your screen layout so you can focus better.

What's new

• Rename Preview: When you rename a variable or function, VS Code now shows you a side-by-side comparison (a "diff") of all the changes that will happen across your project. You can check or uncheck specific changes before hitting enter to accept them.
• Panel Placement: The bottom panel (which holds things like the Terminal and Output windows) can now be moved to the left or right side of your screen, not just the bottom.
• Global Tasks: You can now write automated "tasks" (like a script to build your code) that work across all your project folders, rather than having to set them up for every single folder.
• Preview Features: VS Code added early, experimental looks at a "Timeline view" (to see the history of a file), a Search editor, and more.

Improvements

• Open Editor Limits: You can now set a maximum number of tabs you want open at once (the default is 10). If you open a new tab, VS Code will quietly close the tab you haven't used in the longest time. Don't worry, it won't close tabs with unsaved work!
• Smarter Untitled Files: When you open a new, blank file, its tab name will now automatically use the first line of text you type, instead of just saying "Untitled-1." Also, if you copy code from one file and paste it into a blank file, VS Code will automatically guess the coding language and apply the right colors.
• Folded Code Highlighting: When you "fold" (collapse) a chunk of code to hide it and save space, VS Code now gives that section a slightly different background color so you can easily see what is hidden.
• Debug Console Upgrades: The box where you type commands while fixing bugs (debugging) now supports syntax highlighting (colorful text), auto-closing brackets, and remembers what you typed previously.
• Easier Debugging Menu: The starting screen for debugging is much simpler now, showing just one main "Run and Debug" button instead of a cluttered menu.
• Terminal Scrolling: You can now change how fast your mouse wheel scrolls inside the built-in Terminal, completely separate from how fast it scrolls in your code files.
• Accessibility: Screen readers (software that reads text aloud for visually impaired users) now work better with the code suggestion menu, and VS Code is starting to improve screen reader support for Linux.

Fixes

• Fixed an issue where the code suggestion pop-up would accidentally hijack screen readers, making it confusing for visually impaired users to navigate.
• Fixed word wrapping so it works correctly when you use fonts where letters have different widths, instead of assuming every letter is the same size.

Breaking changes

No breaking changes in this release.