This document provides a peek into what's next for Visual Studio. It captures some of the significant features we are currently committed
and a rough timeframe for when you can expect to see them. It is not a comprehensive list of all new features in Visual Studio but is intended
to provide some visibility into our principal investments. These feature sets and delivery timeframes are current and are subject to change.
Visual Studio will continue to ship to its Preview and Release audience by following the Visual Studio release rhythm
process. You can install the latest Preview from the Preview downloads page.
Once the features are vetted in the Preview they are promoted to Release.
| Feature |
Visual Studio Versions |
Availability |
Workloads or Standalone Installer |
| Enable preview features in Visual Studio from Tools -> Options settings. |
2019 |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Redirect async-related exception throws to Exception Helper. |
2019 |
In Preview |
All Workloads |
| Resize, minimize, and maximize the start window. |
2019 |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Drag and drop files onto the start window. |
2019 |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Search in recent projects/solutions within the start window. |
2019 |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Easily view most recently used items in the start window through grouping. |
2019 |
In Preview |
All Workloads |
| See improved search accuracy, relevancy, and highlighting in a project template search. |
2019 |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Pin and remove recently used templates in the New Project Dialog. |
2019 |
Released |
All Workloads |
| See selected values within the filters in the New Project Dialog. |
2019 |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Visually indicate newly installed templates in the New Project Dialog. |
2019 |
Released |
All Workloads |
| See optimized task visualization in the Parallel Stacks window. |
2019 |
|
All Workloads |
| Navigate forward and backward though your diagnostic investigations while using the Profiler. |
2019 |
In Preview |
All Workloads |
| Manage CR-LF RoundTripping and mixing of tabs/spaces with an improved Editor. |
2019 |
In Preview |
All Workloads |
| Improved UI and discoverability of the DebuggerDisplay attribute. DeveloperCommunity suggestion. |
2019 |
In Preview |
All Workloads |
| Search in the installer for individual components. |
2019 |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Use the command line or .editorconfig in Visual Studio to define Code Style/Analyzers enforcements. |
2019 |
In Preview |
All Workloads |
| Use single sign-on across Visual Studio and Azure CLI tools. |
2019 |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Support non-32-bit references for T4 text template code generation. |
2019 |
|
All Workloads |
| Add an option to hide template arguments in the Call Stack window while debugging C++ code. |
2019 |
Released |
All C++ Workloads |
| Receive notifications about deprecated NuGet packages in the restore graph. |
2019 |
Released |
All .NET Workloads |
| Get .NET Core and .NET Standard support for T4 text template generation, Code Clone Detection, Class Designer Diagrams, and Dependency Diagrams. |
2019 |
|
All .NET Workloads |
|
Profile DB activity in ASP.NetCore apps via the Diagnostics Hub Windows. |
2019 |
Released |
All .NET Workloads |
| See Object favorites in EE Windows. |
2019 |
Preview |
All .NET Workloads |
See faster profile loading of the Performance Profiler's CPU Usage tool. |
2019 |
Released |
All .NET Workloads |
| Run .NET Unit Tests against projects that target multiple .NET frameworks (e.g., .NET Framework and .NET Core). |
2019 |
Released |
.NET Desktop, ASP.NET, .NET Core |
| Integrate 3rd party test frameworks (e.g., xUnit and NUnit) with Real-Time Test Discovery. |
2019 |
|
.NET Desktop, ASP.NET, .NET Core |
| Use the WinForms designer with .NET Core 3.0 projects. |
2019 |
|
.NET Desktop, .NET Core |
| See reduced UI Delays in XAML Tab Switching for .NET Core 3 apps. |
2019 |
Released |
.NET Desktop,.NET Core |
| Tooling to enable you to add UWP XAML Islands into WPF and WinForms applications. |
2019 |
In Preview |
.NET Desktop,.NET Core |
| Enable Diagnostic Tools (including Memory Profiler) for .NET Core 3 desktop projects. |
2019 |
|
.NET Core |
| Enable CPU profiler for .NET Core .nettrace CPU traces. |
2019 |
|
.NET Core |
| Provision and publish to the Azure Function Premium Plan. |
2019 |
|
ASP.NET, Azure, .NET Core |
| Provision and configure Application Insights from the publish profile summary page. |
2019 |
In Preview |
ASP.NET, Azure, .NET Core |
| Added Android Q support. |
2019 |
|
Xamarin |
| Use AndroidX NuGet packages in your Android applications. |
2019 |
|
Xamarin |
| Create Android App Bundles when publishing Android applications. |
2019 |
Released |
Xamarin |
| Android startup performance improvements up to 50% faster with Startup Tracing. |
2019 |
|
Xamarin |
| Improve iOS inner development loop, including build, deploy, and debug. |
2019 |
|
Xamarin |
| See improvements to the iOS build host connection. |
2019 |
|
Xamarin |
| Added Xcode 11 support. |
2019 |
Released |
Xamarin |
| Author cleaner XAML when using the XAML designer. |
2019 |
Released |
Universal Windows Platform Development |
| Consume WinRT components from .NET Framework and .NET Core desktop projects. |
2019 |
|
Universal Windows Platform Development |
| Manage signing certificates when generating MSIX packages for sideloading. |
2019 |
|
Universal Windows Platform Development |
| Run tests using pytest. |
2019 |
Released |
Python Development, Data Science, and Analytical applications |
| Run Python tests in open folder WorkSpaces. |
2019 |
Released |
Python Development, Data Science, and Analytical applications |
| Support Azure SQL Data Warehouse for SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT). |
2019 |
|
Extension in the Visual Studio Marketplace. |
| Feature |
Visual Studio Versions |
Availability |
Workloads or Standalone Installer |
| Experience faster search and IntelliSense when opening large codebases using Open Folder. |
2019 |
Released |
All Workloads |
| See your most recently used items in Visual Studio Search. |
2019 |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Run a Code Cleanup operation on all files for a solution in a single gesture. |
2019 |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Get TypeScript 3.5 support. |
2019 |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Get IntelliCode support for both TypeScript and JavaScript. |
2019 |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Use the Time Travel Debugging (TTD) preview with the Snapshot Debugger for ASP.NET apps running on an Azure VM. |
2019 |
Released |
ASP.NET |
| Open solutions with multiple .NET Core projects faster. |
2019 |
|
.NET Desktop, ASP.NET, .NET Core |
| Enforce .editorconfig rules at build time to enable continuous integration (CI) scenarios. |
2019 |
|
.NET Desktop, ASP.NET, .NET Core |
| Use the WPF designer with .NET Core 3.0 projects. |
2019 |
Released |
.NET Desktop, .NET Core |
| Debug faster with XAML hot reload for WPF in .NET Core 3.0. |
2019 |
Released |
.NET Desktop, .NET Core |
| Manage a large number of tests in Test Explorer with enhanced grouping, sorting, and performance improvements. |
2019 |
Released |
.NET Desktop, ASP.NET, Azure, .NET Core |
| Get more relevant suggestions from IntelliSense, including suggestions for types from namespaces not yet included in the file. |
2019 |
|
.NET Desktop, ASP.NET, .NET Core |
| Provision and configure Azure SignalR from the publish profile summary page. |
2019 |
Released |
ASP.NET, Azure, .NET Core |
| Automatically retrieve and publish credentials for Azure Functions from Azure using the subscription you are signed in with. |
2019 |
Released |
ASP.NET, Azure, .NET Core |
| Develop with the full Visual Basic Runtime in .NET Core. |
2019 |
|
.NET Core |
| Add support for partial C++20 conformance in MSVC compilers, libraries, and IDE. |
2019 |
|
Desktop development with C++ |
| Build all the source code in a folder (applicable for CMake projects only). |
2019 |
|
Desktop development with C++ |
| Target the Windows 10 version 1903 SDK. |
2019 |
Released |
Universal Windows Platform Development |
| Use container tooling to build images, troubleshoot container content and configuration, and diagnose runtime issues. |
2019 |
|
Extension in the Visual Studio Marketplace. |
| Reference Shared Projects from VSIX projects. |
2019 |
Released |
Extensibility |
| Use version 16.0 of the VSSDK meta-package. |
2019 |
Released |
Extensibility |
| Tag custom project templates with language, platform, and project type tags through the Visual Studio template manifest to enable filtering. |
2019 |
Released |
Extensibility |
| Feature |
Visual Studio Versions |
Availability |
Workloads or Standalone Installer |
| Use Visual Studio with improved clarity across monitors with varying DPIs. |
2019 |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Checkout and review a pull request inside the IDE. |
2019 |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Filter solution with selected set of projects that you need to work with and save the list for future use. |
2019 |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Collaboratively edit and debug in real-time inside the IDE.. |
2019 |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Search for project templates using language, platform, and project type tag terms in the New Project Dialog. |
2019 |
Released |
All Workloads, Extensibility |
| Build and create .NET Core 3.0 projects including WinForms and WPF. |
2019 |
Released |
.NET Desktop, .NET Core |
| Use enhanced refactoring capabilities for C# projects including "Sync folder and namespace", "refactor class members to base class or interface". |
2019 |
Released |
.NET Desktop, ASP.NET, .NET Core |
| Customize fonts and colors for specific C# language syntax. |
2019 |
Released |
.NET Desktop, ASP.NET, .NET Core |
| Add SQL Azure databases, and Azure Storage Accounts to existing Azure App Service instances from the publish summary page. |
2019 |
Released |
ASP.NET, Azure, .NET Core |
| C++ Binary Compatibility with Visual Studio 2017 and Visual Studio 2015. |
2019 |
|
Desktop development with C++ |
| Xamarin.Forms 4.0 & Xamarin.Essentials 1.0 templates and tooling support. |
2019 |
Released |
Xamarin |
| Easily set and edit Xamarin.Forms control properties with the new property panel. |
2019 |
Released |
Xamarin |
| Be more productive by using Go-To-Definition and get better XML IntelliSense within Android layouts, resources, and manifest files. |
2019 |
Released |
Xamarin |
| Speed up your build and deployment times with our improvements for build and enhanced fast deployment in Xamarin.Android. |
2019 |
Released |
Xamarin |
| Next-generation Dex Compiler(d8) and Code Shrinker(r8) support in Xamarin.Android. |
2019 |
Released |
Xamarin |
| Debug containers using the streamlined single-project experience. |
2019 |
Released |
ASP.NET, Azure, .NET Core |
| Debug Alpine-based Linux images and latest ASP.NET and .NET Core images. |
2019 |
Released |
ASP.NET, Azure, .NET Core |
| Full featured debugging, interactive window, and IntelliSense experience when using Open Folder with Python. |
2019 |
Released |
Python Development, Data Science, and Analytical applications |
| XAML Edit & Continue supports editing x:Bind bindings. |
2019 |
Released |
Universal Windows Platform Development |
| Enable MSIX packaging for .NET Core 3 Desktop applications. |
2019 |
Released |
Universal Windows Platform Development |
| The Package Manifest Designer is updated to maintain document fidelity: Comments, spacing, namespaces, and any other custom text edits are preserved. |
2019 |
Released |
Universal Windows Platform Development |
| Direct Store submission from the packaging wizard. |
2019 |
Released |
Universal Windows Platform Development |
| VSIX Manifest attribute to mark an extension as "Preview". |
2019 |
Released |
Extensibility |
| VSIX Project Templates use <PackageReference> to declare NuGet dependencies. |
2019 |
Released |
Extensibility |
| Enable NuGet package manager UI to support self-contained package license expression and file |
2019 |
Released |
All .NET Workloads |
| Feature |
Visual Studio Versions |
Availability |
Workloads or Standalone Installer |
Quickly open code you recently worked on or start from one of the most commonly used flows like clone, open, or new project. |
2019 |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Create new projects with an improved search experience and filters using the new list of most popular templates. |
2019 |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Refreshed blue theme. |
2019 |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Updated menu and title bar to increase space for code. |
2019 |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Improved search accuracy for menus, commands, options, and installable components. |
2019 |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Configure specific projects that load when a solution is opened. |
2019 |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Visual health status icon in the document scrollbar to indicate the presence of and provide quick navigation to issues, warnings, and errors in current document. |
2019 |
Released |
All Workloads |
| One-click code cleanup command for documents open in the editor. |
2019 |
Released |
All Workloads |
| New extensibility templates for creating Async Tool Windows. |
2019 |
Released |
Extensibility |
| NuGet client policies to mandate consumption of signed packages from authors or sources you trust. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Create Universal Windows Platform application packages targeting ARM64. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
Universal Windows Platform Development |
| Xamarin.Forms 3.3 templates and tooling support |
2017 and higher |
Released |
Xamarin |
| Initial Xamarin.Android build performance improvements |
2017 and higher |
Released |
Xamarin |
| Xamarin.Android Designer improvements with support for sample data |
2017 and higher |
Released |
Xamarin |
| Reduced Xamarin installation payload size |
2019 |
Released |
Xamarin |
| New in-product acquisition flow for Android emulator |
2019 |
Released |
Xamarin |
| Xamarin.Forms XAML property editor |
2019 |
Released |
Xamarin |
| Support for building .NET Core 2.2 applications |
2017 and higher |
Released |
.NET Desktop, ASP.NET, .NET Core |
| Support for find all references in Razor (.cshtml) files. |
2019 |
Released |
ASP.NET, Azure, .NET Core |
| Snapshot debugger support for Azure VMs, VM Scale Sets and the Azure Kubernetes Service. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
All .NET Workloads |
| Enable Repeatable builds for PackageReference based projects. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
All .NET Workloads |
| Try the Visual Studio Live Share Preview to get your team started with real-time collaborative editing and debugging. For additional ongoing updates to the preview, see the changelog. |
2017 and higher |
In Preview |
Available as a Preview extension in the Visual Studio Marketplace. |
| Try the Visual Studio IntelliCode Preview to get AI-assisted IntelliSense, and the ability to infer coding style conventions for your projects. |
2017 and higher |
In Preview |
Available as a Preview extension in the Visual Studio Marketplace. |
| Submit symbols for your NuGet.org packages to a symbol server that is integrated with the Visual Studio debugging experiences. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
All .NET Workloads |
| Search in watch windows while debugging. |
2019 |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Dataset visualizer for Core CLR. |
2019 |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Out of process VS debugger for C++ to enable the VS debugger to use a 64 bit process when debugging C++ applications - resolving many out of memory performance and reliability issues. |
2019 |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Support for TypeScript 3.1 |
2017 and higher |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Feature |
Visual Studio Versions |
Availability |
Workloads or Standalone Installer |
| Faster redesigned experience for switching between Git branches. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Implement your own CodeLens using the public CodeLens API. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Support for TypeScript 3.0. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Use cross-platform authentication when restoring NuGet packages from VSTS using MSBuild or the .NET Core command line interface (dotnet.exe). |
2017 and higher |
In Preview |
All .NET Workloads |
| Create, build and deploy applications using Kubernetes and Helm charts to Azure Container Service (AKS). |
2017 and higher |
In Preview |
ASP.NET, Azure, .NET Core |
| F5 to run applications in Container Environment for Kubernetes (AKS). |
2017 and higher |
|
Azure |
| Migrate local settings from your Azure Function project to your Function App in Azure from the Publish Summary Page. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
ASP.NET, Azure, .NET Core |
| Use Library Manager to define JavaScript and CSS dependencies and restore them to your projects (e.g., from CDNJS) as a replacement for Bower. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
ASP.NET, .NET Core |
| Live Unit Tests run 40% faster after making edits. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
.NET Desktop, ASP.NET, .NET Core |
| Code style violations are automatically fixed when formatting a document. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
.NET Desktop, ASP.NET, .NET Core |
| Improved reliability for the XAML designer with fallback controls and the ability to disable custom code from running while using the designer. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
Universal Windows Platform Development |
| Support for iOS 12 and Android P. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
Xamarin |
| Split View Editor support for Xamarin.Android. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
Xamarin |
| Split View Editor support for Xamarin.Forms Previewer. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
Xamarin |
| Xamarin.Forms Toolbox support. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
Xamarin |
| Xamarin.Android axml text editing improvements. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
Xamarin |
| Xamarin.Android incremental build improvements. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
Xamarin |
| Faster Xamarin.Android rebuilds with experimental Android Asset Packaging Tool v2. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
Xamarin |
| Auto generated Xamarin.Android resource IDs in Code-behind. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
Xamarin |
| Further Xamarin.Forms IntelliSense improvements. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
Xamarin |
| Leverage the improved Python debugging experience - including better performance, and Flask template debugging. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
Python Development, Data science and Analytical applications |
| See richer IntelliSense completions for Python modules, including results from typeshed files. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
Python Development, Data science and Analytical applications |
| See "just my code" in the debugger in C++. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
Desktop Development with C++ |
| IntelliSense in C++ templates |
2017 and higher |
Released |
Desktop Development with C++ |
| C++ Code Analysis warnings (including C++ Core Checkers) are displayed as squiggles in the editor |
2017 and higher |
Released |
Desktop Development with C++ |
| Use the New AsyncPackage and AsyncToolWindow templates. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
Visual Studio Extension Development |
| Take advantage of extension packs, which are a set of extensions that are installed together. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
Visual Studio Extension Development |
| Publish to the Visual Studio Marketplace using a command line. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
Visual Studio Extension Development |
| Use <PackageReference/> support in VSIX projects. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
Visual Studio Extension Development |
| Try the Visual Studio Live Share Preview to streamlines real-time collaborative editing and debugging. For additional ongoing updates to the preview, see the changelog. |
2017 and higher |
In Preview |
Available as a Preview extension in the Visual Studio Marketplace. |
| Feature |
Visual Studio Versions |
Availability |
Workloads or Standalone Installer |
| Expect full C++17 conformance in Microsoft C++ Compiler and Libraries. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Set a native thread name with the SetThreadDescription API in minidumps, debuggers, and analysis tools. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Use SourceLink authentication with the debugger to reference source files in a repository that requires login credentials. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Multi-cursor and multi-selection editing. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Improved Visual Studio's compatibility with widely-used assistive technologies. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Use language services implemented by the Language Server Protocol. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Faster startup and solution load performance. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Use ASP.NET publish profiles to provide settings when configuring continuous delivery to Azure from Visual Studio. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Setup continuous delivery for Azure Functions using Visual Studio. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Use Step Back feature, a feature of IntelliTrace, for .NET Core. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
All .NET Core Workloads |
| Use JIT debugging for .NET Core. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
All .NET Core Workloads |
| Manage your app secrets with a new connected service for Azure Key Vault in C# apps. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
.NET Web Workloads |
| Publish .NET Core applications to Azure App Service Linux from Visual Studio. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
ASP.NET, Azure, .NET Core |
| Create new F# ASP.NET Core projects. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
ASP.NET, .NET Core |
| Take advantage of improvements to the sort order of Go To All. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
.NET Desktop, ASP.NET, .NET Core |
| Use Automatic iOS Provisioning from Visual Studio. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
.NET (Xamarin) Mobile Development |
| Automatically install the Android API level used by Xamarin.Android project within Visual Studio. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
.NET (Xamarin) Mobile Development |
| Use F# Type Providers in .NET Core 2.1. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
.NET Core |
| Have full support for .NET Core 2.1. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
.NET Core |
| Leverage NuGet package signing and signed package submission on NuGet.org. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
All Workloads |
| Migrate your NuGet package.config (PC) to PackageReference (PR) using the migration tool. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
All .NET Workloads |
| Use additional project types in Visual Studio 2017 Build Tools, including Azure, Office, and ClickOnce. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
Build Tools |
| Customize the Visual Studio installation location to reduce footprint on your system drive. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
Visual Studio Installer |
| Edit templates for Universal Windows Platform controls in the Visual Studio XAML designer targeting Windows Fall Creators Update and above. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
Universal Windows Platform Development |
| Edit visual states and animation in Blend for Visual Studio in Universal Windows Platform projects targeting Windows Fall Creators Update and above. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
Universal Windows Platform Development |
| Add/remove items from a collection using the collection editor dialog box in the Visual Studio XAML Designer for projects targeting Windows Fall Creators Update and above. |
2017 and higher |
Released |
Universal Windows Platform Development |