Comfortably work with any number and type of documents
in Visual Studio 2022 and SQL Server Management Studio

You love to write code, not scan the document well for a file name you need to switch to, and then scan the file menu drop-down list, and then resort to Solution Explorer or search. Only to repeat it a minute later when you need to switch to another document! And when you open two files with the same name there is now a game to guess the right tab from the two identically looking ones. Or maybe you recently edited a file and now don't remember its exact name - no help for you to reopen recently saved files, all tabs look the same now. Switching just between two open documents back and forth is not possible with a single keyboard shortcut and no additional windows!

You switch documents in Visual Studio hundreds of times a day and naturally want it to be a non-event, not a little quest breaking your flow again and again. The Tabs Studio extension completely replaces Visual Studio tabs and gives you precise control how to view open documents and navigate between them.

All open document tabs are always visible in Tabs Studio, in multiple rows if needed. There is no need for the file menu drop-down list, no need to manually pin tabs, the tabs keep stable order and ready for your commands:

Tabs Studio automatically groups together in an extended tab corresponding C++ source and header files, WPF markup and code-behind, ASP UI and code-behind, form code and designer, WCF service and code, and other open documents that differ only in the extension. It saves screen space, lets you quickly switch between corresponding files and conveniently organizes tabs:

It is possible to create custom corresponding file grouping rules. For example, if you use doc, ctl, and vm file name prefixes for documents, controls and view models, the following files docOrders.xaml, docOrders.xaml.vb, vmOrders.vb, ctlToolbar.xaml, ctlToolbar.xaml.vb and vmToolbar.vb can be grouped like this:

You can quickly open corresponding files from a tab context menu, with a keyboard shortcut, and set them to open automatically when you open one of the files.

Multiple sorting and grouping rules can automatically sort tabs by name, path, and group them by project, extension and other criteria. Super groups of tabs can be visually separated with a margin or even placed on separate rows, for example, each row for each project:

If you prefer the vertical tabs layout, you can select it in Visual Studio 2022 or Tabs Studio options:

Tab coloring rules automatically set tab background and foreground colors based on an extension, project and other document properties:

You can manually highlight tabs with several predefined colors:

Modified documents are marked with a yellow bar and saved documents are marked with a green bar. It allows you quickly spot recently edited documents as they are usually more important for your current task and less numerous than documents opened just for reading code:

Tabs Studio can automatically add a folder or a project name to document titles for disambiguation, when it detect two or more tabs with the same name:

Keyboard shortcuts are available to switch to a next/previous tab or extension, to reorder tabs and to directly navigate to the first 20 tabs. If you do use direct navigation, you can turn on tab numbers:

Especially useful for SQL Server Management Studio, where tabs are usually named SQLQuery1.sql and SQLQuery2.sql, is the ability to manually add a custom comment to a tab title or automatically assign it based on the document contents:

Tabs Studio supports latest Visual Studio 2022/2019/2017 and SQL Server Management Studio 19/18. Support for older IDE versions going back to VS 2008 and SSMS 2012 is provided in a separate installer. The complete supported IDE list is VS 2022/2019/2017/2015/2013/2012/2010/2008 and SSMS 19/18/17/2016/2014/2012.

A Tabs Studio Business license costs $99 for one workstation (volume discounts are available). A Tabs Studio Personal license costs $49 and allows you to use Tabs Studio on any number of computers or electronic devices. If you a student, a hobbyist or for another reason can't afford the full price, contact us and we will provide a reasonable discount. Purchase of a license includes one year of software updates and technical support. After one year you can continue to use Tabs Studio as is or renew to the latest version for half the price.

The latest Tabs Studio v5.3.0 was released on March 9, 2023. ▼ Download fully functional 30-day trial

 

"[Tabs Studio] is a brilliant plugin. I struggled a bit to get the configuration right, but after that it works nicely." Fernando Hidalgo

"Great extension. Significant time-saver. I've used this for years across multiple versions of Visual Studio and it's always been rock solid for me. Worth the price." Jesse Johnson

"This is one of the few 'must have' add ons for VS. I've been using it for quite a while now I simply can't imagine going back to the standard confusing tabs. Sergey constantly enhances it and has been very responsive when issues have come up. Get it - you'll be happy you did." Nick Hustak

"Amazing add-in, configure your tabs just the way you want them. Solid, I've never run into anything beyond a minor display bug (1 pixel overrun when using it in SQL Management Studio before it was really supported) that the developer worked with me personally to get fixed. Everyone who keeps more than 5 files at a time open should use this." David Corby

"I've been using TabsStudio for quite some time now. It's one of those products that make working on large projects just that little bit easier. I'll be honest and say that every now and then a problem will crop up but I don't think Sergey have ever taken more than a day or 2 to not just respond but fix the issue I've been having. If you work on projects that require you to have more than a few files open at a time, you'll know how difficult Visual Studio can make it for you to navigate to the correct one. TabsStudio fixes that. I will, gladly, recommend this product to anyone." Stuart Hemming

Read other reviews by developer community on Visual Studio Marketplace and our site.