Visual Studio Code has 100s of settings, 1000s of extensions, and unnumerable ways to adjust the UI layout to customize the editor. VS Code Profiles let you create sets of customizations and quickly switch between them or share them with others. This topic explains how to create, modify, export, and import profiles.
Create a Profile
VS Code treats your current configuration as the Default Profile. As you modify settings, install extensions, or change UI layout by moving views, these customizations are tracked in the Default Profile.
To create a new profile, you can use the File > Preferences > Profiles > Create Profile menu item (Code > Preferences > Profiles > Create Profile on macOS).
You can create a new profile based on the current profile (Profiles: Create from Current Profiles) or create an Empty Profile. An Empty Profile includes no user customizations (settings, extensions, snippets, etc.).
You can also access the Profile command menu via the Manage gear button in the lower right of the Activity bar.
The Profiles: Create Profile command is also available in the Command Palette (⇧⌘P (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+P)).
Once you choose whether to create a new profile based on the current profile or an empty profile, you are prompted to enter a name for the new profile.
Check the current profile
The current profile name is displayed in several places in the VS Code UI:
- Title bar
- File > Preferences > Profiles
- Manage gear button hover
If you are still using the Default Profile, no profile name is displayed.
The Manage gear button displays a badge with the first two letters of the active profile so you can quickly check which profile you are running.
Edit a profile
You can edit a profile just as you would normally change any VS Code configuration. You can install/uninstall/disable extensions, change settings, and adjust the editor's UI layout (for example, moving and hiding views) like normal. These changes are stored in your currently active profile.
Workspace associations
When you select create or select an existing profile, it is associated with the current workspace and whenever you open that folder, the workspace's profile is active. If you open another folder, the profile switches to that folder's associated profile if one has been set or remains on the last used profile.
Managing profiles
Switch profiles
You can quickly switch between profiles with the Profiles: Switch Profile command in the Command Palette, which presents a dropdown listing your available profiles.
You can also switch profiles by selecting a profile from the list displayed in the Profiles menus, available via the Manage gear button or File > Preferences > Profiles.
Rename a profile
You can rename an existing profile via the Rename command in the Profiles menu.
Delete a profile
You can delete a profile via the Delete Profile command. The Delete Profile drop down lets you select which profile(s) to delete.
Profile contents
The Profiles: Show Contents command (available in the Command Palette or Profiles menus) brings up the Profiles view, where you can review the customizations for the profile.
A profile can include:
- Settings - In a profile-specific
settings.jsonfile. - Extensions - You can remove extensions from the profile by unchecking their entry in the Profiles view.
- UI state - View layout (positions), visible views and actions.
- Keybindings - In a profile-specific
keybindings.jsonfile. - Snippets - In a profile-specific
{language}.jsonfiles. - User Tasks - In a profile-specific
tasks.jsonfile.
When you create a new profile based on the Default Profile, the profile-specific configuration files are populated from your user configuration files. Workspace-specific settings are not automatically included in a new profile.
Export
You can export a profile in order to save it or share it with others. The Export Profile command displays the Profiles view with the contents of the active profile and an Export button. You can unselect various elements of the profile such as extensions or configuration files before you export the profile.
When you select Export, you are prompted for the profile name and whether you want to export to a GitHub gist or your local file system.
Save as a GitHub gist
After you save a profile to GitHub (you'll be prompted to log into GitHub), a dialog gives you the option to Copy Link so you can share your profile gist URL with others. The URL includes an autogenerated GUID and has the format https://vscode.dev/profile/github/{GUID}. The GitHub gist is marked as Secret, so only those with the link can see the gist.
If you launch the profile URL, it opens VS Code for the Web (vscode.dev) with the Profiles view open and the imported profile contents displayed. You can unselect profile elements if you wish and you need to manually Install Extensions (via the download cloud button) if you want to continue using that profile in vscode.dev.
You also have the option to Import Profile in Visual Studio Code, which opens VS Code Desktop with the profile's contents displayed and an Import Profile button.
You can review your gists at https://gist.github.com/{username}. From your GitHub gist page you can rename, delete, or copy the GUID of a gist.
Save as a local file
If you chose to save the profile as a local file, a Save Profile dialog lets you place the file on your local machine. A profile is persisted in a file with the extension .code-profile.
Import
To import an existing profile, run the Import Profiles command. You are prompted for the URL of a GitHub gist or the file location of a profile via an Import Profile dialog. Once you have selected the profile, the Profiles view opens and displays the profile to import. You can unselect some profile elements if you don't want to import them. Select the Import Profile button and you will now be using the imported profile.
Uses for Profiles
Profiles are a great way to customize VS Code to better fit your needs. In this section, we look at some common use cases for profiles.
Since profiles are remembered per workspace, they are a great way to customize VS Code for a specific programming language. For example, you can create a JavaScript frontend profile that includes the extensions, settings, and customizations you use for JavaScript development in one workspace, and have a Python backend profile that includes the extensions, settings, and customizations you use for Python development in another workspace. Using this approach, you can easily switch between workspaces and always have VS Code configured the right way.
Demos
When doing a demo, you can use a profile to set up a specific configuration for your demo. For example, you can create a profile with a specific set of extensions and settings like zoom level, font size, and color theme. By doing this, a demo will not mess up your normal VS Code setup and you can customize VS Code for better visibility during your presentation.
Education
Profiles can be used to customize VS Code for students to ease the use in a classroom setting. Profiles allow educators to quickly share a customized VS Code setup with students. For example, educators can create a profile with a specific set of extensions and settings needed for a computer science class and then share that profile with students.
Report VS Code issues
One use of an Empty Profile is to reset your editor when you want to report an issue with VS Code. An Empty Profile disables all extensions and modified settings so you can quickly see if the issue is due to an extension, a setting, or is in VS Code core.
Command line
You can launch VS Code with a specific profile via the --profile command-line interface option. You pass the name of the profile after the --profile argument and open a folder or a workspace using that profile. The command line below opens the web-sample folder with the "Web Development" profile:
code ~/projects/web-sample --profile "Web Development"
If the profile specified does not exist, a new empty profile with the given name is created.
Common Questions
Where are profiles kept?
Profiles are stored under your User configurations similar to your user settings and keybindings.
- Windows
%APPDATA%\Code\User\profiles - macOS
$HOME/Library/Application\ Support/Code/User/profiles - Linux
$HOME/.config/Code/User/profiles
If you are using the Insiders version, the intermediate folder name is Code - Insiders.
Where is the UI State globalState.json file?
If you expand the UI State node in the Profiles view, there is a globalState.json entry. This is an in-memory JSON representation of your profile's UI State, describing the visibility and layout of various VS Code UI elements. The file does not actually exist on disk and is just a JSON view of the underlying global state storage.
What is a Temporary Profile?
A Temporary Profile is a profile that is not saved across VS Code sessions. You create a Temporary Profile via the Profiles: Create a Temporary Profile command in the Command Palette. The Temporary Profile starts as an Empty Profile and has an automatically generated name (such as Temp 1). You can modify the profile settings and extensions, use the profile for the lifetime of your VS Code session, but it will be deleted once you close VS Code.
Temporary Profiles are useful if you want to try a new configuration or test an extension without modifying your default or existing profile. Restarting VS Code reenables the current profile for your workspace.
How can I remove the profile from my project?
You can set your project back to the Default Profile. If you'd like to remove all profile workspace associations, you can use the Developer: Reset Workspace Profiles Associations, which will set all local folders currently assigned a profile back to the Default Profile. Reset Workspace Profiles Associations does not delete any existing profiles.
Do profiles sync across machines (via Settings Sync)?
Yes, you can use Settings Sync to move your profiles across various machines. With Setting Sync enabled and Profiles checked in the Settings Sync: Configure drop down, all your created profiles are available.
Why are some settings not exported when exporting a profile?
When exporting profiles, machine-specific settings are not included because these setting would not be applicable on another machine. For example, settings that point to local paths are not included.
3/1/2023
FAQs
What is the disadvantage of using Visual Studio Code? ›
Some potential cons of Microsoft Visual Studio Code include:Limited support for some languages: While Visual Studio Code supports a wide range of programming languages, it may not have as much support for certain languages as other code editors.
Why do so many people use Visual Studio Code? ›Robust and extensible architecture
Architecturally, Visual Studio Code combines the best of web, native, and language-specific technologies. Using Electron, VS Code combines web technologies such as JavaScript and Node. js with the speed and flexibility of native apps.
- On Windows/Linux - File > Preferences > Settings.
- On macOS - Code > Preferences > Settings.
Visual Studio Code is one of the popular text editors used by professionals and recommended to new coders. Being one of Microsoft's renowned software, VS code is free to use, open-source, and compatible with Windows, Linux, and macOS.
Do companies use VS Code? ›We have data on 18,229 companies that use Visual Studio Code. The companies using Visual Studio Code are most often found in United States and in the Information Technology and Services industry.
How do I sync settings profiles in VS Code? ›- Step 1: Search for “Settings Sync” in the Command Palette. The default shortcut to open the Command Palette: ...
- Step 2: Turn on Settings Sync and sign in. Currently, you can sign in using a Microsoft/GitHub account (I use GitHub). ...
- Step 3: All done!
- Open Visual Studio Code.
- Use cmd+shift+p to open the Command Palette.
- Type "Open Settings (JSON)" and press enter.
- In the settings.json file, search for the property terminal.integrated.profiles.osx , it should look similar to this: ...
- Add this property: ...
- Save the file.
To profile a Python script, open it up in VS Code, open the command palette and search for Profile with Austin , or press Shift + F5. If you already have a file with Austin samples, open the panel, head to the FLAME GRAPH view and click the OPEN button to select the file.
What is better than VS Code? ›Atom, Visual Studio, Eclipse, IntelliJ IDEA, and WebStorm are the most popular alternatives and competitors to Visual Studio Code.
What is the most used IDE? ›| Rank | IDE | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Visual Studio | 28.11 % |
| 2 | Visual Studio Code | 13.72 % |
| 3 | Eclipse | 11.92 % |
| 4 | pyCharm | 8.62 % |
Is Visual Studio Code the best IDE? ›
Visual Studio Code (VS Code)
Visual Studio Code is an open source and free-for-use project created by Microsoft and available for macOS, Windows, and Linux. It supports a lot of major languages, including Rust. Currently, VS Code is one of the best code editors around and the most-used editor for Rust development.
Click Users. Click Add New User. Enter the user's first and last name, and then click Create. In Access Code, enter the user's desired code.
Where does VS Code store user settings? ›...
Depending on your platform, the user settings file is located here:
- Windows %APPDATA%\Code\User\settings. json.
- macOS $HOME/Library/Application Support/Code/User/settings. json.
- Linux $HOME/. config/Code/User/settings. json.
VS Code is comparatively faster. Visual Studio has a free editor for developers to use but also comes with a better and paid IDE version. VS Code is completely free of cost and is open-source. VS engages the best and the most advanced IntelliSense.
What language is VS Code written in? ›Visual Studio Code
Should I use VS Code or Visual Studio for C++? ›If you need to collaborate with team members on development or debugging, then Visual Studio is the better choice. If you need to do serious code analysis or performance profiling, or debug from a snapshot, then Visual Studio Enterprise will help you. VS Code tends to be popular in the data science community.
Do Google engineers use VS Code? ›“Various teams at Google are using Visual Studio Code extensively in a number of projects, including Chrome, Angular and more.
Do most programmers copy code? ›Certainly, the majority of developers do copy code most of the time. This might be their own code that they previously produced, code from public repositories, open-source code, or most often code from StackOverflow's answers and comments!
What percent of developers use VS Code? ›In the Stack Overflow 2021 Developer Survey, Visual Studio Code was ranked the most popular developer environment tool among 82,000 respondents, with 70% reporting that they use it.
How do I run a user Profile Synchronization? ›Go to SharePoint Central Administration >> Application Management >> click Manage service applications. On the Manage Service Applications >> click in the Name column of the User Profile Service Application. In Manage Profile Service page >> Under Synchronization section, click Start Profile Synchronization.
How do I sync my info profile? ›
- Tap in the top right of Facebook.
- Scroll down and tap Settings.
- At the bottom, tap Accounts Center.
- Tap Profiles.
- Tap the Facebook and Instagram profiles you want to sync.
- Tap next to Sync profile info to turn name and profile picture syncing off or on.
Git Status Bar actions
There is a Synchronize Changes action in the Status Bar, next to the branch indicator, when the current checked out branch has an upstream branch configured. Synchronize Changes will pull remote changes down to your local repository and then push local commits to the upstream branch.
- Select Edit ▸ Preferences.
- In the sidebar, click on the + button next to the Profiles label.
- Enter a name for the new profile. You can change this name later.
- Click Create to create the new profile.
- Set your desired profile preferences.
Go to File>Preferences>Setting and search for the Scrollback setting and increase the value to get the number of lines of output you want.
What does profiling mean Python? ›Profiling is a technique to figure out how time is spent in a program. With these statistics, we can find the “hot spot” of a program and think about ways of improvement. Sometimes, a hot spot in an unexpected location may hint at a bug in the program as well.
What does profile do in Python? ›Introduction to the profilers
cProfile and profile provide deterministic profiling of Python programs. A profile is a set of statistics that describes how often and for how long various parts of the program executed. These statistics can be formatted into reports via the pstats module.
cProfile is a built-in python module and is the most commonly used profiler. This profiler traces every function call in your program, and lists out the ones called most often and how long they took on average.
Is VS Code the best IDE for Python? ›PyCharm is the way to go if you want a powerful, focused, and well-configured Python development environment. However, VS Code is preferred if you want something lightweight with the ability to customize. Both are excellent tools that, depending on how you choose to utilize them, can be used for a variety of tasks.
Is VS Code enough for Python? ›Working with Python in Visual Studio Code, using the Microsoft Python extension, is simple, fun, and productive. The extension makes VS Code an excellent Python editor, and works on any operating system with a variety of Python interpreters.
Is VS Code good enough for Python? ›One of the coolest code editors available to programmers, Visual Studio Code, is an open-source, extensible, light-weight editor available on all platforms. It's these qualities that make Visual Studio Code from Microsoft very popular, and a great platform for Python development.
What IDE is used at Google? ›
Cloud Code is a set of IDE plugins for popular IDEs that make it easier to create, deploy and integrate applications with Google Cloud.
What IDE do most Python developers use? ›The most popular IDEs for experienced Python developers are PyCharm and Visual Studio Code. PyCharm is a full-featured IDE that offers many features, including code completion, code navigation, refactoring, and debugging.
What IDE does Amazon use for Python? ›The AWS Toolkit for PyCharm is an open source plug-in for the PyCharm IDE that makes it easier to create, debug, and deploy Python applications on Amazon Web Services.
What is the best coding language to learn? ›- JavaScript. With increasing demand for dynamic, single page web applications, it's nearly impossible to become a professional software developer without learning JavaScript. ...
- SQL. ...
- Rust. ...
- Go. ...
- Python. ...
- Swift. ...
- Ruby. ...
- C#
Findings: Sublime Text is the best coding editor for beginners. It is especially best for HTML and PHP. Apart from that, it supports many other programming languages as well.
Which software is best for coding? ›Python and C++ are two of the best programming languages for software development, though each language has its ideal uses. Python is versatile in its practical applications; developers often use it to power artificial intelligence, machine learning, web, and development.
How do I increase memory limit in VS Code? ›You can increase/decrease the available RAM for VS Code on its Settings. Go to File -> Preferences -> Settings, there you can type files. maxMemoryForLargeFilesMB and change the value for your desired maximum RAM.
What is enable user input in VS Code? ›Go to settings (ctrl+,) -> Search settings -> : Code-runner : Run in terminal - Check this and you will be able to run the code directly in the terminal which takes input. :) Save this answer. Show activity on this post. Make sure you have code runner installed on your VS code.
Why my VS Code is not working? ›Try uninstalling and reinstalling VS Code. If code is still not found, consult the platform-specific setup topics for Windows and Linux. On macOS, you need to manually run the Shell Command: Install 'code' command in PATH command (available through the Command Palette Ctrl+Shift+P).
What are user codes? ›User Code means any digital certificate, identifier, user name or password that may be required to access or use or communicate with or through some or all Trading Systems or Electronic Tools.
What is a 6 digit login code? ›
Google Authenticator is a software-based authentication token developed by Google. The token provides an authenticator, which is a six digit number users must enter as the second factor of authentication. You need to install the Google Authenticator app on your smart phone or tablet devices.
Which code is written by user? ›Source code (also referred to as source or code) is the version of software as it is originally written (i.e., typed into a computer) by a human in plain text (i.e., human readable alphanumeric characters).
What is the difference between user and workspace settings VS Code? ›VS Code provides two different scopes for settings: User these settings apply globally to any instance of VS Code you open Workspace these settings are stored inside your workspace in a . vscode folder and only apply when the workspace is opened. Settings defined on this scope overwrite the user scope.
How many users does VS Code have? ›VS Code today has 14 million users, reports Microsoft (according to Statista, there are about 24 million developers worldwide), and it gained five million new users over the course of 2020 due to a growing variety of users beyond professional developers and the need for remote development during the COVID-19 pandemic.
How does VS Code save username and password? ›- go to view -> command palette.
- select "Intersystems server manager: Store password in the key chain" from the list.
- click the + symbol on the right side.
- after that, enter unique definition name, IP address and port.
A potential downside of visual communication involves the use of poorly designed visual aids that are difficult to understand or see. If irrelevant information is presented, images can also be distracting and impede the understanding of concepts they should be trying to clarify.
What are the disadvantages of using machine code? ›It is machine dependent i.e. it differs from computer to computer. It is difficult to program and write. It is prone to errors • It is difficult to modify. It is a low level programming language that allows a user to write a program using alphanumeric mnemonic of instructions.
What are the disadvantages of code? ›| Advantages of coding | Disadvantages of coding |
|---|---|
| Validation can further improve accuracy | Value judgements are difficult to code |
| Less storage space required | If people don't know the code it can slow down data entry |
| Faster searching for data | If codes are complicated they might be entered incorrectly |
Though other, more powerful computer languages may have greater capabilities, VBA is still useful today and holds the advantage of being an easier, more basic language to learn. Microsoft. "Getting started with VBA in Office."
What coding language does Visual Basic use? ›Visual Basic was succeeded in 2002 by Visual Basic . NET, a vastly different language based on C#, a language with similarities to C++.
Is Visual Programming easy? ›
It is easier to learn than traditional coding, as visual programming uses graphical symbols and visual elements. It is easier to debug visual programs compared to text-based programming. It is faster and more efficient. It uses visual elements, which can help to remember instructions easier.
What are the weaknesses of a visual learner? ›On the other hand, visual learners struggle with listening to directions and information that is not written out. They may experience difficulty in lecture-oriented classes and often require instructors to repeat information.
Why are visuals better? ›90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual. Visuals are processed 60,000X faster in the brain than text.
What is the main problem of visual communication? ›Some of the disadvantages of visual communication are not all of the concepts can be taught through visual communication, just providing graphs will not communicate everything, it can be distracting as well, since the audience may not listen to the speaker, rather they would be engrossed in the visuals.
Why do programmers not use machine code? ›Disadvantages of using machine code
Machine code is notoriously difficult to write in, understand and debug, simply because it consists of either binary or hexadecimal numbers. Instead, when programmers need direct control, they use another type of low level language called assembly language.
The advantages of low-level languages are: They allow a programmer to create optimised programs. When a computer system has limited resources (processing power and memory) low-level languages allow a programmer to more directly control how the resources are used.
Do programmers use machine code? ›Today programmers rarely write programs in machine language. Instead, they use the clearer assembly languages or high-level languages. These languages are partly responsible for the current widespread use of computers.
What to avoid in coding? ›- Playing it fast and loose. ...
- Overcommitting to details. ...
- Not simplifying control. ...
- Delegating too much to frameworks. ...
- Trusting the client. ...
- Not trusting the client enough.
- Endlessly research technologies without spending time actually writing code. ...
- Treat learning to code like studying for a test. ...
- Let problems in your code pile up endlessly without checking if it's actually working. ...
- Learn to code in isolation.
- Naming things.
- Explaining what I do (or don't do. ...
- Estimating time to complete tasks. ...
- Dealing with other people. ...
- Working with someone else's code. ...
- Implementing functionality you disagree with. ...
- Writing documentation. ...
- Writing tests. ...