Visual Studio Code v1.83 Changelog

This update is all about making your coding workspace cleaner and easier to navigate. It matters a lot to developers who juggle multiple projects, use screen readers, or just want their coding software to feel a little faster and more organized.

What's new

• Smarter Command Palette search: The Command Palette is the search bar where you find all the app's tools (usually opened by pressing Ctrl+P or Cmd+P). Since there are thousands of commands, it now shows a "similar commands" list so you can find what you need even if you don't type the exact name perfectly.
• Profile icons: You can set up different "profiles" in VS Code (like separate accounts for school, personal, or work projects with different settings). Now, you can assign a custom icon to each profile so you instantly know which one you're currently using.
• Dedicated row for pinned tabs: Just like a web browser, you can "pin" files you are working on so they stay open. You can now set pinned files to live on a completely separate row above your other open files. You can even drag and drop files between rows to pin or unpin them.
• Notebook symbol navigation: In coding "notebooks" (interactive documents where code and results are mixed together), you can now quickly jump to specific pieces of your code, like functions or variables, using the "Go to Symbol" feature.
• Python debugger update: A "debugger" is a tool that helps you find and fix errors in your code. When debugging Python, you can now choose whether to step through just your own code, or if you want to dig deep into the background system/library code too.
• AI test generation (Preview): If you use GitHub Copilot (the AI coding assistant), there is a new preview feature that can automatically write tests for your code based on the rules and style of your current project.

Improvements

• Compact editor tabs: You can now shrink the height of the tabs at the top of your open files. This gives you more screen space for your actual code.
• Better settings search: When you search in the Settings menu, it shows fewer results to cut down on clutter. It also organizes the results better so the most common settings show up at the top.
• Smarter editor buttons: When you have a lot of buttons at the top of your editor, they used to hide in a "..." menu. Now, important buttons like "Close" or "Split Editor" will always stay visible so you don't lose them.
• Color theme identifiers: When picking a color theme, the app now shows the technical ID name next to the display name. This is super helpful if you use the app in another language but only know the English name of the theme.
• Comment box upgrades: When writing pull request comments (feedback on code shared with a team), the comment box now grows taller as you type more lines. Also, when you mark a comment as "resolved" (fixed), it automatically collapses to get out of your way.
• Auto-save code actions: "Code Actions" are automatic fixes the editor applies to your code. You can now set these to run automatically when the app saves your work in the background, not just when you manually hit save.
• Notebook scrolling control: When running code in a notebook and pressing Shift+Enter to move to the next part, you can now control exactly how much the screen scrolls—whether it shows the whole next block, just the first line, or nothing at all.

Fixes

• Accessibility for comments: Screen readers (software that reads screen text aloud for visually impaired users) now properly announce when a file has comment areas in it. There are also new keyboard shortcuts to jump between different comment threads, and a help menu to explain how to navigate them.
• Opening unresolved comments: The Comments view will now automatically open the first time you open a file that has "unresolved" (still needs to be fixed) comments, so you don't miss important feedback.

Breaking changes

• Code Actions on Save settings: The way you turn on automatic code fixes is changing. The old way used simple "true/false" switches. While those still work for now, they are being phased out. You should start using the new text options: "explicit" (only when you manually save), "always" (when you manually save or when the app auto-saves), or "never".