Visual Studio Code v1.73 Changelog

This update brings a bunch of quality-of-life improvements to Visual Studio Code. It matters most to developers who want to save time on annoying chores like searching through massive projects, fixing broken file links, and untangling code conflicts when collaborating with a team.

What's new

• Smarter folder search: When looking at your search results in the sidebar tree view, you can now right-click a folder to instantly include or exclude it from your search.
• Command Center shortcuts: The Command Center (a search bar at the top of the window) now shows a short list of common modes right above your recent files, making it easier to jump to your favorite tools.
• Auto-updating Markdown links: If you rename or move a file that is linked in a Markdown document, VS Code automatically updates the link so it doesn't lead to a dead page.
• New audio cues: The editor can now play sounds to let you know when a background task finishes or fails, or when a "Quick Fix" (a suggested solution to a code error) is available in your terminal.
• Protected branch workflow: If you try to save (commit) code to a "protected branch" (a secure part of a project where direct edits aren't allowed), VS Code will help you automatically create a new branch to save your work instead.
• New Python extensions: Python tools for sorting imports (isort), checking code style (Pylint), and finding errors (Flake8) are now available as separate extensions.
• Dev Container Templates: You can now set up "Dev Containers" (isolated coding environments) using ready-made templates instead of starting from scratch.
• Merge Editor "Accept Combination": When resolving code conflicts (times when two edits clash), a new button lets you automatically combine both changes if they don't directly overwrite each other.
• Accepting both sides: In the merge editor, you can now choose to accept both the incoming and current changes. The editor will simply stack the changed lines on top of each other instead of forcing you to pick just one.

Improvements

• Screen reader word wrapping: Word wrapping (making text jump to the next line instead of scrolling sideways) used to be turned off for screen readers because it caused glitches. This is now fixed, so you can turn it back on.
• Finding accessibility settings: It's now easier to find settings designed for accessibility. There is a new tag and a quick command ("Preferences: Open Accessibility Settings") that filters right to them.
• Outline collapse control: The "Outline" view (which shows a summary of your code's structure) now has a setting to let you choose whether it starts fully expanded or fully collapsed.
• Menu cleanup: The "View" menu at the top of the screen was getting cluttered, so appearance options were grouped into a neat submenu.
• Visual polish: Text boxes, dropdowns, and menus now have rounded corners and clearer icons to match modern styling.
• Secondary side bar colors: If you use a secondary side bar, it now correctly matches the text colors of your main side bar theme.
• Folding limits moved to the status bar: "Folding" lets you hide chunks of code. If you have too much foldable code (over 5,000 sections), VS Code used to pop up an annoying notification. Now, it just quietly shows this limit in the status bar at the bottom of the screen.
• Default folding provider: If you have multiple extensions trying to manage code folding, you can now pick a default one to avoid conflicts.
• Collapse to focus: A new command lets you collapse all the sub-folders inside a specific folder you are focused on, which is great for cleaning up your workspace.

Fixes

• Screen reader degradation: Fixed an issue that made word wrapping behave poorly when using a screen reader.
• Merge editor bugs: Squashed several bugs in the merge editor to make resolving code conflicts smoother and less prone to errors.

Breaking changes

No breaking changes in this release.