Brackets: Close the last project folder

[lelolee]

The inability to close the last project folder makes the editor feels intrusive or just stupid.
I discover the editor just now and it looks pretty good but because of this issue I already know that I will never use again.

[peterflynn]

@lelolee I'm not entirely sure what you're asking, but maybe this will help:

• To open a different project folder, just choose File > Open Folder.
• The previous project you had open will be _entirely closed_ at that point. Brackets does not keep more than one project folder "open" at once.
• Brackets does remember your recent projects in the dropdown list (at the top of the file tree in the left-hand panel). You'll see your last-opened project at the top of that list. _You can remove items from this history list_ -- just hover over the item and click the "X" that appears next to it. (This does not remove the folder on disk, it just removes it from the history of recently-opened folders).

Closing since that hopefully answers the question. Please let me know if not & we can reopen.

[lelolee]

"Brackets does remember your recent projects in the dropdown list... You can remove items from this history list"

But I can not remove the last one!! If I'm not working on a project, I do not want to list a bunch of files that are not related to what I'm doing. I like things simple and clean. Otherwise it is easier to continue to use Eclipse for everything.

[peterflynn]

@lelolee Just to clarify:

You're trying to remove an item from the "history list" section, right? (For example the project called "Getting Started" in the screenshot -- _not_ the project called "ardrone-football" that's at the top).

When you hover the item you want to remove, do you see an "X" like this?

When you click the "X," what happens? Is it removed from the list, but reappears later? Or does the list not visibly change at all?

[lelolee]

[peterflynn]

Ok, so there's nothing left in the history list in your screenshot. What are you looking to delete? The folder name at top ("slider") is the _currently open_ project, so you can't remove that. If you want Brackets to forget about that folder, open a different folder and then remove "slider" from the history list.

If you're looking for a way to have absolutely _no folder open_ in Brackets, that's currently not possible (see this user story)... but what is the use case for having no project open?

[lelolee]

Sadly this is another editor with a big intrusive and unnecessary feature that I will uninstall.

[peterflynn]

@lelolee Can you explain what part of it is intrusive or big/bloated? I'm still confused as to what you need to accomplish that Brackets isn't able to support...

[bagusflyer]

I have the same feeling to this problem too although I have to say Brackets is my favorite editor. Brackets always open last opened project which I don't like. Is it possible to let Brackets to forget last opened folder? Or just open a fresh new copy. Sometimes we only need to open a file to edit. The file doesn't belong to any project. So that adding this file into the last opened project looks very silly.

[peterflynn]

@bagusflyer You can upvote this item on our backlog: Brackets should support having no active project.

The best workflow in Brackets is to open the folder containing all your related files, though. Otherwise, you can't use powerful features like Quick Edit, Quick Open, Live Preview, or Find/Replace in Files. For that workflow, you might be interested in this backlog item: Easy way to open folder/project containing the file you just opened.

[RemeJuan]

More often than not I work on single file updates, which do not need all of brackets features, but as an IDE i still like it, but now I permanently have a folder open of files i am not using.

I want a project open when I am working on a project, but I am not always working on 1 specific project, I quite frankly regret opening a project as I did that almost 3 weeks ago and have not worked on it since yet it is still there. I have 6 files I am busy working on from 5 different projects.

Its a nice fast IDE with useful plugin and one of the worlds most moronic oversights. I have ever seen an IDE that will not let you close a project.

[heavybrea]

I know this is not a "solution" but to get around the issue pointed out I just created a folder on my Desktop called HTML which I will store previously used files and replace the previous folder with this one, that way the only thing I see when I open Brackets is the following:

[Li-ReDBox]

itallman's idea actaully is not too bad until we are allowed not having an active project. I have Getting Started project as the default - the downside is that I just have to remember to pick this up before close Brackets.

[ghost]

The fact I had to google this issue and arrive at this thread means it's obviously going to worry other users. Personally I like a 'blank slate' editor before I get started. Looking at old irrelevant folders upsets me.

[sean3z]

:+1: I'd prefer to be able to start with a clean slate as well. I too Google'd this issue...

[rajeshp]

+1, this issue prevents from removing already opened folder. There is no way to go back clean slate.

[redmunds]

@SoHiggo @sean3z @rajeshp As stated above, this is being tracked in the Brackets should support having no active project user story in our product backlog. Please add your vote there. (Hint: you need to log in to Trello to vote).

[jeffmcmahan]

+1, this issue should be corrected. I open many files from Transmit, which aren't stored on my Mac. That means I have the project listing a directory that is totally irrelevant to what I'm doing; it's annoying.

[ShaunGuarini]

Needs a option for 'Startup' to load last project, load blank project or no project. Simple solution should be added.

[allooba]

I hate this feature, I have project that I don't need to edit the original one so I made a copy of my project and start edit the new copy. unfortunately I used Brackets to open the original one and I thought when i open the copy one the previous will disappear but it is not. Now in the tree I have files from old and new one and while it is are the same name I am facing difficulties to differentiate between which one I have to edit. Even that I have files from projects that I already delete it from my computer. Please remove this feature to let us work freely.
I need to have a clean startup, then from file or whatever menu I can access the previous or recent files/projects. Thats' it.
Thanks.

[hawkinbj]

@peterflynn let the users tell you what the "best workflow" is instead of forcing one down our throats.

This "feature" is unbelievably presumptuous.

[rroshan1]

Guys please upvote this item on our backlog: Brackets should support having no active project.
This way we can prioritize the items with good number of upvotes and sooner we could get your suggestions embedded in Brackets.

[Angarsk8]

DX This is really frustrating! Coming from Sublime Text, this feature is really really obtrusive and frustrating! I wish this get fixed soon...

[AvinashK31]

This bug needs to be fix ASAP its very annoying -_-

[junartagulao]

very slow update. its been raised last year, loading last project makes me very irritating doing any project. please fix the bug

[zaggino]

Guys, can we just add a menu option Close project and quit for this? Next startup would open a default project folder?

[zaggino]

We could also support Clear Brackets history in Debug which would delete all the projects in the dropdown (whole state.json file actually). Those options are not hard to implement if they make some people happy. What do you think @abose ?

[abose]

But doesn't extensions store their state data in state.json? Clearing it would be close to reset brackets settings .
Always open with default project instead of Close project and quit ?

[zaggino]

Well, extensions should store their data in preferences (brackets.json), which is a different file. Only temporary data should be stored in state.json so it should be always safe to delete it. Of course there might be extensions which are using Preferences the wrong way.

[abose]

So Clear Brackets history makes sense.
should it be Always open with default project or Close project on quit ?

[redmunds]

I don't think it will be much harder to just make Brackets work without a "project".

First we need to create a list of features that require a project is defined:

1. Find in Files
2. Live Preview
3. Quick Edit
4. Jump to Definition
5. Any others?

Next, implement an API call something like EnsureProjectDefined() that will prompt for a project folder if user tries to use any of those features. Also, any extension that requires a project will also need to use that API call.

It might be useful for EnsureProjectDefined() to have a "notify user if current (any?) doc is outside project" flag.

I think that some people will come to the realization that it's helpful to have a "project", but I suppose there will be some that will want a "ShutdownAndForgetAllProjects" command as discussed above.

[XpressoKen]

This inability to close the last project folder annoys me intensely and stops me using Brackets, which is in all other aspects an excellent editor. The current structure is totally illogical in my view.

[ghost]

Can we seriously not do this yet? It is incredibly annoying, it just hinders me. I'm not sure why anyone would make it like this by design, it just seems strange to not have any options to get rid of it. You shouldn't expect everyone to use Brackets the same way you do, or intended to.

[jerewall]

I absolutely adore brackets, and the fact I can work with all files within the project.. I do however hate the fact you can't close all projects and just work with random single files.. It's insanely annoying. That's my only beef with the program, other than that its perfect. At least give us the options to work with folders, single files, and close all projects (without removing from history)

[redmunds]

@XpressoKen @RaTcHeT302 @jerewall It's really not helpful if you just say what you don't like with no suggestion how to fix it. Did you read my earlier comment where I listed the reasons why a project is required in Brackets? I made a suggestion about how it could be handled, but how would you like those cases to be resolved? Do you not use any of those features and are OK if they are just disabled when no project is defined? This is an open source project -- would anyone care to try to implement a fix?

[XpressoKen]

@redmunds It strikes me that the arrogance of your comment is probably indicative of the attitude of the programers. I am not a programer, just a mere user. Or rather non-user, mainly because of this particularly annoying feature. I look at Brackets occasionally in the hope that common sense might some day prevail but in the meantime I'll stick with SublimeText, Atom and Coda, none of which are plagued by this issue. It's a shame because in so many other respects Brackets has much to be commended for.

[zaggino]

@XpressoKen What arrogance? Saying that this is an open-source project and anyone can contribute? Do you guys just expect that someone will come running to fix your problems? You have source-codes at your disposal here on GitHub so there's nothing blocking you from moving from mere user to a contributor.

@redmunds as a first version, I'd vote to just disable all project related features as it should be probably easiest thing to implement. Not sure, how the UX as a whole should be handled though.

[redmunds]

@zaggino

I'd vote to just disable all project related features...

The reason I asked the question is because I was wondering if people who don't want a project even use those features, but, until I learn otherwise, I suspect that we'd get _more_ complaints for having features disabled for an unknown reason. The next option might be to popup a dialog explaining why the feature is disabled, but at that point you might as well provide a way to select a project folder.

[zaggino]

I believe we should reopen this?

[abose]

https://trello.com/c/RFi7TFyj/412-brackets-should-support-having-no-active-project tracks this feature and has a significant number of upvotes. This issue can be kept closed as this is already tracked.

[mikael1000]

I also find this annoying. Just tried this editor and I like it. However I actually don't like how the sidebar looks at all. When a file is open it is listed twice in the sidebar, taking up space and just makes it harder to overview everything.
How can I have 3 files open at the same time (js, css and html)? Or even more files? I also want to move around the order of the opened files on the screen. The way sublime works should be standard. Right now Sublime is better. But the colors brackets use makes it easier to look at.

[jasonpearl]

From a UX perspective, the history of projects should not be omnipresent. Maybe an initial screen asking you if you want to reference previous files, but more often than not, you've moved on from those. A big miss here for sure.

[redmunds]

the history of projects should not be omnipresent ...
... more often than not, you've moved on from those

I agree that it would be nice of Brackets did no require at least 1 project -- it just a matter of someone stepping up to do the work. But, if you mouse over a project entry in the list you get an "x" icon that you can click on to remove it from the list to keep only projects that you currently use in the list. I wish all MRU lists had that feature.

[bootthis]

I got here from google. I mistakenly chose "open as brackets" my appdata folder....I will be uninstalling brackets even thought it looked like a great editor. I will check back if you ever implement this feature (avoid opening the last project, whcih wasn't even a project in my case).

thanks for your work!

[BladeMight]

And what if i edit only one file, not project, i must see that last project?

[ghost]

I know this thread is pretty old but until now it seems like Adobe is not interested in changing that unnecessary behavior. This tool is almost useless to people who need an editor to just edit single files (not all files are being organized in a project).

[vikrantnegi]

Must have feature. I don't want to have any opened folders or files. Vote here Brackets should support having no active project.

[krehbein]

I use a simple work-around that lets me clean up the panel. Make an empty folder in your file system, name it anything keeping in mind it will have this name in Brackets. I named my folder "[[[]]]". Open that folder as a project. Presto, no more list of of project files you don't want to see. Also, nice thing is you can still jump around to other Projects by selecting the down arrow next to the project name and most importantly come back to this empty project when you want the left panel cleaned up.

Ideal? No, but good enough for me.

[ChrisARaymond]

@MordecaiEldrige Nothing in the history of Adobe indicates they listen to any customer feedback. Just check out Forums on Photoshop functionality.

[vatnoise]

So it's only posible to close the previous project if I open a folder? What if I want to edit a single file?

[RemeJuan]

You use a proper editor like Atom that actually gives a damn about it's users feedback and does not ignore a glaring issue that users have been complaining about from the VERY beginning.

[pleaz]

create temp folder and use as project than delete that folder, after that relaunch brackets and you will see error and will can to delete that folder from project

[jeffmcmahan]

@pleaz, I hope that's not a suggested workaround?

[DrewHamilton727]

I keep an empty folder on my desktop named "clear." But I agree, this should be fixed. Should be able to just X out the current project folder. I upvoted the issue on their Trello board, but it seems like it isn't getting much attention.

[ChrisARaymond]

@DrewHamilton727 wrote:

I upvoted the issue on their Trello board, but it seems like it isn't getting much attention.

I've come to the conclusion that many companies set up user forums for show but don't actually address user requests. Witness Adobe, Google and Apple. There are threads on Google forums that are 3-4 years old with the same request repeatedly being ignored or brushed aside.

[solancer]

This is serious.. someone needs to fix this.

[redmunds]

It's interesting to me that some people seem to be really passionate about this feature, yet I asked a set of questions in this comment in this discussion thread almost a year ago to help determine how to solve this problem and I have not received a single response.

If you care about this issue, then please read this comment and respond: https://github.com/adobe/brackets/issues/8339#issuecomment-142336936

[mackenza]

@redmunds I don't want to lump myself into the group of above comments from people who decide to use such wonderful communication techniques as "I am uninstalling because of this feature" and offer no help or even suggestions on what would be better but...

your comment in https://github.com/adobe/brackets/issues/8339#issuecomment-142336936 doesn't read like a set of questions you are seeking answers for. It reads more like a proposed solution/design. It is right on track, imo, and I think we should look at implementing something like that. But I can kind of see why people weren't necessarily leaping to answer you ;)

As for the list, here are my expectations of how they would behave outside an open project:

1. Find in Files - could we implement a "Find in Open Files..."? so the scope would be open buffers rather than the project?
2. Live Preview - I would expect this to be disabled. This should not be hard to explain as the root of the live preview site is now a project setting (and the only one at that)
3. Quick Edit - I would expect that the trigger for this would not work without a project. If we have to, instead of the current message about no context being available, we could simply say "No Project Defined"
4. Jump to Definition - similar to Quick Edit.
5. Any others? - I can't think of any but even if they pop up, I think we could scope them to a project feature or not.

Oh and /wave... long time, no talk :)

[redmunds]

Thanks for responding @mackenza -- good to see you back in these parts!

Your idea of how this feature should work is quite different than mine -- this is why I asked. OK, here's a more direct question for everyone interested in this feature:

Certain features require that a project be defined (see this comment for initial list, but there may be others). If you were to attempt to use one of these features, would you rather that:
A. You are prompted for a project folder
B. Those features are disabled (i.e. nothing happens). In the case of Find in Files, open files could be searched -- maybe a new "Find in Open Files" command makes sense.

[mackenza]

I think VSCode does the right thing and if we did something similar, this problem would be addressed to most people's satisfaction:

• there is a setting for whether the last folder is opened on load. Code has 3 settings, none, one, and all because it can open multiple folders so Brackets could just limit that to true/false since it cannot open multiple.
• if setting is not "none" then when Code opens if starts with the previous open folder.
• if the previous folder is not valid (i.e. it's been deleted or moved), the editor starts up in "single file mode" (my name for it). Single File Mode hides the sidebar and opens up an empty editor. _no error is issued_
• In Single File Mode, certain project-centric features such as Git and Debug don't work and (because there is a UI for them on the sidebar) give a message that you don't have a folder open so therefore the feature doesn't work.
• other project/folder features like "find in files" give no error but obviously if you try to find something and there are no files available, your search "fails" but in a graceful way (0 results).
• go to definition/ go to symbol etc. either fail with a message ("no symbol information for that file") or just do nothing (go to definition does this).

+1-ers: Does this capture the desired functionality well enough?

If so, I imagine PRs are welcome ;)

[nukkerone]

Thanks for the suggestion, Im switching to Atom.
Not being able to close a project sounds really stupid. It is driving me nuts.

[nathankc]

I moved to Brackets because Atom was intolerably slow on opening. I came from Notepad++ which I really liked but wanted something with a little more 'oomph' - but may go back to Notepad++ simply because of the 'clean slate' feature I can have over there. I too came to this thread searching for a solution : p

[swimtwobirds]

I found this thread via Google, only to discover that this issue has been dragging on for 2 1/2 years. I just opened a .git folder to have a look at it. That's all, just to look at it. Now I can't close it. The fact that I can't close a folder that I'm not using is driving me crazy, to the point where I am probably going to move to another editor.

[RemeJuan]

@swimtwobirds,atok works well, better than brackets ever did, and they do not hate thier users either...

[swimtwobirds]

It appears that the "solution" to this problem is to create an empty folder on one's desktop and then drag and drop it onto the Brackets workspace. This will clear the workspace of the prior folder and its contents. It is unbelievable that I was just effectively told by this app that I can't close a dot folder and its contents. It is also unbelievable that in 2 1/2 years Adobe has not addressed this.

Edit: Just discovered that people have been complaining about this since at least April 2012: https://trello.com/c/RFi7TFyj/412-brackets-should-support-having-no-active-project

[igsoap]

OK the sidebar have two part. The dark grey part called "Working Files". shows your current files. and the light grey part shows a folder. I want to be able to resize or completely hide the light grey part. because if I am editing directly from a FTP, such a filezilla. I dont need nor maintain a local folder. It bugs me because the dark grey panel only allow 1/4 of the total space, so if you have too many working file open, you have to scroll in that tiny space to switch between files, while that huge chunk of light grey folder panel is completely useless.

[ChrisARaymond]

I think the real solution is to choose another product from another company that might deign to actually respond to customer feedback.

[mikael1000]

WOW. Are people still in this loop about this issue? I have switched over to Atom and Sublime. I use both of them and I love them.

[MKlund]

This, and the way find in files works, are my biggest issues with brackets so far. Please fix.

[RemeJuan]

@MKlund give up my firend, they closed all similar issues as they are too incompitent to fix it, even thoguh every other IDE and Text editor has this feature, they are apparently unable to figure out how.

Strange seeing as Atom is open source, and even more strange is that Atom is sharing much of the same technology stack, yet the developers at adobe are too stupid to figure this out, they apparently even too stupid to checkout Atoms repo and look around to see how they did it, using a similar stack, whereby they could even 'borrow' code.

Guess that is why I no longer use adobe product, if they too stupid to figure out something so simple, something that people have been able to do for decades, what else is wrong with them???

[ficristo]

If it is so simple and you are so clever @RemeJuan you can open a PR to fix this.
That said insults here are not welcome. Locking.