Visual Studio Code v1.72 Changelog

This update is all about making your coding experience smoother and less annoying. It matters to anyone who writes code, especially people working on teams where merging changes is a daily task, because it fixes a bunch of little annoyances that interrupt your workflow.

What's new

• Customizable toolbars: You can now right-click any button in a toolbar and hide it if you don't use it. Hidden buttons go into a "More Actions" menu, and you can always reset the toolbar later if you miss them.
• Audio and video previews: You can now play certain audio (WAV, MP3, Ogg, FLAC) and video (H.264, VP8) files directly inside VS Code. Just keep in mind that for video files, both the video and audio formats need to be supported to get sound (for example, an MP4 with AAC audio won't have sound because AAC isn't supported yet).
• Tree view search: When you search your code, you can now view the results as a "tree" (grouped by folder) instead of just a flat list, making it easier to see where things are.
• Terminal Quick Fixes: If you make a typo in a terminal command, VS Code will now suggest corrections. It can also help you set up an "upstream remote" (a link between your local project and the main online project).
• Nested Git repo support: If your project uses "submodules" (smaller, separate projects saved inside your main project folder), VS Code will now detect and display them properly.
• Pin frequently used tasks: You can pin your favorite tasks to the top of the "Run Task" menu so you don't have to hunt for them.
• Markdown link validation: If you write Markdown files, the editor will now automatically check if your links to headers, images, and other files are actually correct.
• Dev Containers Features: If you use "Dev Containers" (isolated, pre-set coding environments), you can now easily add and share extra tools and features for them.
• Merge editor updates: When you and a teammate edit the same file and create a "merge conflict" (competing changes), VS Code has a special tool to fix it. It now uses text labels like "Accept Incoming" or "Accept Both" instead of confusing checkboxes. It also has a new "base view" so you can compare the conflicting changes against the original file.

Improvements

• Smarter autoscrolling: Before, if you clicked and dragged your mouse to select text and hit the edge of your screen, the editor would scroll way too fast. Now, it scrolls at a manageable speed based on how close your mouse is to the edge.
• Better hover menus: The little pop-up boxes that appear when you hover over code used to disappear too easily, making it hard to click the buttons inside them. Now, they stay open as long as your mouse is moving toward them.
• Extension management: The Extensions menu now sorts add-ons that need your attention (like pending updates or ones that need a restart) to the top of the list. It also has a new "Recently Updated" section so you can see what changed in the last week.
• Tree view Find control: The search bar inside file trees can now be moved up or down if it's blocking something you need to click, and it remembers your last search.
• Simpler file pasting: You can now turn off "incremental naming" (which automatically adds a number to a file name if you paste a duplicate). Instead, it will just ask if you want to replace the existing file, which is how most normal computer file browsers work.

Fixes

• Merge editor logic: In the past, the merge editor tried to show conflicts without changing the file on your computer, but this was confusing and didn't always match how Git works. This has been fixed: it now recomputes the file from scratch, automatically fixing simple conflicts and resetting complex ones to a safe starting point.
• Security and bug patches: This release includes a couple of follow-up updates (1.72.1 and 1.72.2) that quietly fixed several security issues and general bugs behind the scenes.

Breaking changes

• Merge editor is now optional: The 3-way merge editor will no longer open automatically when a conflict is detected. You now have to manually click "Resolve in Merge Editor" if you want to use it.
• App folder warnings: VS Code will now show a warning if you try to edit files inside its own application folder, which is a common mistake that can break the app.