Visual Studio Solutions Folder as real Folders

There is a workaround, that actually behaves as expected.

Add a New or Existing Web Site to the Solution. (I usually create a new one.) Just make sure it's created inside your solution folder. (I sometimes even create a "link" to an external folder, e.g. 'Docs' or 'Marketing' on a network share. In that case it's ignored by Git of course.) Make sure to go to the "Project" settings or Configuration Manager to exclude this "Web Site" from Build and Deploy!

Done. Now Solution Explorer will reflect any change in the file system and vice versa (including subfolders).

I (miss)use it for specs, docs, PM and some DevOps scripts that are shared within the team. It's easy to choose, what to include in source control or not, and (if set up correctly) it doesn't conflict with build.

I know the feature is not intended for that use case, but except for the maybe misleading "Project" icon I didn't find any shortages to that hack yet. And there still are use cases where the classical (virtual) Solution Folders that VS provides, fit in the picture. What do you think?

---

No special setting. I don't think it's supported.

You can create real folders in a "project" within the solution, but not in the solution itself.

---

https://i.stack.imgur.com/k71Ve.png

---

The chosen answer suggests it would be possible to use actual projects instead of solution folders, but does not really explain how. I guess what I'm describing here is possibly the least awkward way of achieving that... :-P

The problem with regular project files is that they eventually will be compiled by MSBUILD. And if you want have a project which only contains non-compilable files, that will be an issue.

But some time ago Visual Studio introduced a new project type: Shared Project (.shproj extension). This project type does not get compiled by default, but only when (and only if) it is referenced by another project.

So one part of the trick here is to use shared projects instead of solution folders. It's obviously possible to add a shared project that is never referenced by any other project, meaning we can avoid the issue presented above.

Then, by using <None Include="**/*" /> clause in the .shproj file, we can make it automatically reflect any new files and/or subfolders.

So basically do this:

Create a new folder in your solution.

Add a new .shproj file at the root of this new folder.

Reference the new .shproj in your solution.

For instance, in my case, I've created a DockerDev.shproj, so I can group some docker-related scripts that we run only in our development machines:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- DockerDev/DockerDev.shproj -->
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <ItemGroup>
    <None Include="**/*" />
  </ItemGroup>
</Project>

This .shproj file will keep track of any file, in any subfolder of this new DockerDev folder in my solution.

As far as I could see, this solution works pretty much like what the OP requested: it will work as a non-compilable reference to a folder, and it will automatically reflect any changes made to it.

---

Sara Ford contributed a Macro to add do this. In Visual Studio 2010, if you open your Macro Explorer, you will see a macro called "GenerateSlnFolderOnDirStructure." This will automate the creation of the Solution Folders and add the files.

---

Folder To Solution Folder By Cecilia Wirén - CeciliaSHARP

Remove the hassle of adding several files to solution folder. Just use the context menu for the solution and just below the option of creating a new solution folder you now find 'Add Folder as Solution Folder'. This will create a solution folder with the same name as you selected and add the items inside of that folder to the solution folder. This will not move the files on disk.

---

You can just sync your new solution folder nesting level and also name with the actual filesystem folder and it works like a charm!

Existing project :

Create the actual folder

Create the solution folder with the exact same name

Copy your project folder into the new folder (Actual file system)

(in solution explorer) - Righ-click on same folder

Add => Existing project

Add new project :

Create your solution folders

(Right-click on solution) => Add new project

Change the Location address under the project name you want to add, to the exact same address in your solution folders

---

No, it's not supported. As you suspected, solution folders are simply virtual subentries in the .sln file, nothing to do with the file system.

---

Visual studio has no support for this. I made an extension that does something similar for VS2013 though. It maps solution folders to physical folders on your hard drive, though the mapping is one way (from hard drive to solution). That means a solution folder's contents will reflect the hard drive folder's contents, and not the other way.

With that out of the way, the extension may still be useful. It has support for mapping solution folders to physical folders, filtering files and directories based on regex, and remembering mappings in your .sln file. Properties are non-intrusive so developers without the extension can still open the sln and not be affected.

Hosted on visual studio gallery: https://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/69e19ea6-4442-4cb6-b300-044dd21f02bd

Edit: Uploaded to bitbucket. Now open source. MIT license. https://bitbucket.org/LSS_NorthWind/physical-solution-folders

---

Create "Solution folder". This will create logical folder, but not physical one. Right click to the solution folder and open a new project dialog. But before you click OK, you have to change a project location to your desired physical folder and VS will create it and place the project inside.

---

For C# in Visual Studio 2019 I used this way (Seems to be similar to this answer, but that didn't work at least in C# solutions)

In solution explorer click on switch views

https://i.stack.imgur.com/H9D1W.png

Choose folder view

https://i.stack.imgur.com/mOhT3.png

You can add individual folders to the solution

https://i.stack.imgur.com/VPCKE.png

To get back to the regular view of solution explorer just click switch views again and choose the solution.

There seems to be a limitation using this way (comment from @montonero):

... just open a solution with multiple projects and try to move the projects to some other real folders through the folder view. The issue is VS doesn't update paths to projects in a solution file

---

I've wanted this feature a few times myself, but at the end of the day, you really do NOT want the ability to do this. Think of your Solution (file) as as the root of a web application and think of Solution folders as Virtual Directories (literally and functionally). The contents of a web virtual directory could be physically on a different server altogether. Where Visual Studio muddled up the solution folders concept is by allowing you to create new files inside the folder. You should always "Add Existing" when adding content. When you add existing, it creates a link to the source location of the file.

But as for the reason you do not want solution folders to behave like "physical" folders is because your solution layout may not necessarily use the same convention as your source control layout. Solution folders allow you to customize the hierarchy of your projects so that you can group projects and items together any way you like, and then decide you don't like it and change it again without having to go through the nightmare of moving source control items around and irritating the rest of your team.

---

Note: Yes this is possible you can create a folder on root but its lil bit tricky....

By giving some extra efforts you can do it How? Lets follow the step--

1-Create Folder eg: "newfolder" on root (where your .sln file reside).

2.Copy and paste your projects inside the folder.

3.go to your sln file and find moved projects and append newfolder\ in moved project's address.

4.Save sln file.

5.Open your project and Commit the repository in git or so...

6.Take the repository on fresh location. YOU are done...

if still you are not able to see your folder -----

1.Add a solution folder xyz.

2.Open sln file and change that folder name with your folder name.

Congrats you are done..

If you face any problem just write me for help..

---

Create an empty solution then open .sln file in an editor and put these lines of code after MinimumVisualStudioVersion

Project("{2150E333-8FDC-42A3-9474-1A3956D46DE8}") = "src", "src", "{9D8C3BB1-AEDB-4757-8559-995D12A4E6D0}"

open the solution in vs and you should add the same folder to it now you can see the folder and add a project to it you have a real folder in windows and a virtual one in vs

be sure that you created the projects with that path

---

You can add real folders by choosing "Add new filter" for a Visual Studio project file. You can also do "Add new filter" under an existing folder. Once the folder is created, rename it and add source or header file or whichever suits your project. This is one way I know which lets us create real folders through the Visual Studio IDE.

---

The folder created underneath the solution will be virtual as said. Maybe this might be called a workaround but you can physically create the folder on disk either before or when you add new item/project and Robert should be a sibling of your dad.

ps- on closer look maybe i should explain "bob's your uncle" means your fine/sorted.

---

I have a bit of a workaround for this (it's not great, but it works).

Create a folder in your solution (i.e. "Contoso") Right click on the solution and then click "Open Folder in Solution Explorer" Create the physical folder (i.e. "Contoso") in the solution directory Copy/Create files in the physical folder. Drag the files into the virtual folder in the solution explorer.

It's not great because you will need to manually maintain the file references, but it works for me.

---

Yes, it is possible in Visual Studio 2019 for the project

Though this is an old topic, I will add my answer, because I had the same issue and searched for a solution but it seemed that everyone is 100% sure that there is no way to do it. So I started to experiment with VS 2019, tried a lot of settings, and eventually figured the way out.

1 Button :D

https://i.stack.imgur.com/6ExuW.png

Now you can add files and folders to the project and they will be added to the file system (physically)

https://i.stack.imgur.com/yhJG4.png

My recommendation for C++

Create a root folder inside your project's directory which will contain all the application related stuff (code, headers, data, libs... ). I name it Project Add subfolders as you'd like to structure your code. I prefer the following layout: include, src, data, libs, etc

https://i.stack.imgur.com/jlbJZ.png

Now setup Visual Studio to recognize these folders as headers and sources directories. Click on your project in the Solution Explorer. Note, in my case, it is CrazyDemo, not the Solution 'CreazyDemo' (1 of 1 project) Go to the project properties menu: Project→Properties Open Configuration Properties→VC++ Directories tab Edit Include Directories and set to $(ProjectDir)/Project/include;$(IncludePath) Edit Library Directories and set to $(ProjectDir)/Project/libs;$(LibraryPath) Edit Source Directories and set to $(ProjectDir)/Project/src;$(SourcePath)

https://i.stack.imgur.com/lNXNQ.png

You may use the Scope to This option if you want to focus on 1 project. Just right-click on the Project folder and press Scope to This Note that after this action, in order to open Project Properties you need to click on any of your project files (like main.cpp in the example) and then click on the editable client area (like when you want to change the code) and only after that you'll be able to see the Project→CrazyDemo Properties option. [Visual Studio is Insane 🤦‍♂️]

Finally, you may have a project like this

https://i.stack.imgur.com/B7NGL.png

---