Vscode: Add an optional configurable toolbar below the menu

[morozovsk]

Whole my life I used ide where there was a customizable toolbar. I starded to use vscode and stopped to use it after one day. It is impossible to remember all shorcuts. In any other popular ide you can put any menu item on toolbar and use it from time to time.

visual vtudio:

idea:

eclipse:

netbeans:

code blocks:

komodo ide:

atom:

notepad++:

gedit:

github:

WTF MS? VS code? VS users?

Don't tag it "out-of-scope" as you did before with similar requests. Even simple editors have toolbar.
It isn't advanced feature it's basic feature for most people.
Using ide without toolbar is not user friendly for most users. It is vim way.

People really need it like "exit from vim":

FAQ FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE AGAINST THE TOOLBAR:

I don't want to use toolbar so I am against that feature-request.

It is not a problem "it is optional toolbar". If you don't want you can don't use it.

If you want it so why don't you form a team and submit a PR?

People have offered, go look at the many other bug reports made on the same issue. MS has said they would likely reject it. They don't even want to add hooks to make a plugin possible. So it's not a resource issue, it's an ideological one.

Temporary workaround by @GorvGoyl:

It seems like it won't be the high priority feature in foreseeable future so I made this extension which adds handy buttons like beautify, list files, undo, redo, save all etc to the editor menu bar in the VSCode. Shortcut Menu Bar

[morozovsk]

out-of-scope

show me other popular ide without toolbar

39548:

we are closing issues that have been on the backlog for a long time

vijayvepa opened this issue on 4 Dec 2017 15:34
vscodebot closed this on 4 Dec 2017 18:01
... it was a long time ... already two and a half hours :)

18042:

Ticket closed. Thanks for your understanding and happy coding!

Yep! Without vscode :)

[rei-vilo]

Because #18042 has been closed, I've switched to another IDE. Sorry, Microsoft!

[ronnyek]

Sadly I don't think Microsoft or vscode team cares what customers want. This topic had long been almost conspiracy levels of blatant ignoring countless issues.

I too took the notifications as someone on the team who looks on vscode as their baby... Seeing it working their way with no interest to the contrary what so ever.

I've purchased jet brains full subscription and haven't looked back. I'd love vscode to be in my tool box... As a software engineer seeing this sort of feedback to community suggestion.. it just left a real read bad taste in my mouth.

Vscode team won't care they lost a handfull more users... So it is what it is.

[MikeSummit]

I totally agree with OP. The biggest feature gap by far in VSCode is a missing toolbar.

I want an old school ms-office-2003-like toolbar, with toolbars and toolbar buttons. Thoughtful icons, and mouseover to see description and keymap alternates. There should be good default toolbars and they should be customizable by the user. Plugins should be able to define plug-in specific toolbars as well.

A toolbar will drive a lot more adoption and will make it easier for users to learn the keyboard alternates.

I am a long-time Visual Studio, eclipse, and Jetbrains user. I just spent a lot of time setting up and learning VSCode, and I can say VSCode is great except for the missing toolbar. If it had an office-like toolbar I would switch to VSCode exclusively. But without it I'm afraid I will have to go back to Jetbrains.

Microsoft, please stop sabotaging your own future.

[alkorsan]

a temporal solution can be using the status bar to add the commands you need.
this extensions can do that :
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=anweber.statusbar-commands
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=gsppvo.vscode-commandbar
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=gizak.shortcuts
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=fabiospampinato.vscode-commands

and this one can add tasks to the status bar:
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=GuardRex.status-bar-tasks

result:

[jjssoftware]

I'm with @morozovsk and @MikeSummit on this. vs code has so much going for it however lack of feature discoverability, lack of easy navigation and forcing users into a land of Ctrl+Shift+P / the command palette bucket of everything does hold it back IMO.

Toolbars are a must have feature that vs code doesn't have.

Do the right thing. Implement the user interface that is a globally accepted standard in user interface design. Make vs code really usable with default toolbars, plugin specific toolbars and user definable customizable toolbars.

I'm sure this will be a large feature to implement however that should not prevent this feature request getting visibility on the roadmap.

[guardrex]

@alkorsan Please add mine to your list, which provides a good feature to include in a toolbar ...

Devs should have the option to add a clickable button for each of their tasks.

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=GuardRex.status-bar-tasks

I'd love to RETIRE that!

[ourcore]

Coming from Atom, a customisable toolbar is one of the features I miss the most. I'd rather not have to learn new shortcuts since I should be focusing on the actual code. I hope we get something in the near future! Keep up the great work, Microsoft.

[jjssoftware]

Interestingly this issue has not been closed as out of scope yet and I remain hopeful that this feature will be implemented.

The official 2018 roadmap does talk about "Happy Coding", "we want to make the experience even more pleasant, for both new and existing users" and "eliminate blockers that make it hard for people to adopt VS Code" so without specifically saying that this issue is on the roadmap, it should be on the roadmap and being worked on based on what has been said.

@bpasero has been active in this issue and he is an active VSCode developer. It would be really nice if a Microsoft VSCode team developer could find the time to go on the record in this issue and say what the plan is.

[ronnyek]

Haven't they gone on record and said it's basically not gonna happen for the foreseeable future? That seems like what I understand with all the open and closed issues and stating it's not even just gonna get stuck in the backlog... But more like "not interested" even though the issue has been brought up countless times.

Not trying to start a negative feedback loop or anything... But this topic is a sore one... And I almost feel like there is conspiracy level of anti-toolbar. Someone somewhere decided no amount of feature requests for it will ever result in a general purpose toolbar... And their mind is made

[jjssoftware]

Hi @ronnyek I've seen multiple closed issues similar to this one and I do understand where you're coming from with your stance. I'm trying to stay positive. The fact this issue remains open today gives me hope that there's willingness in the vscode team to consider that this really is a valid suggestion.

I also hope that I'm not deluded :)

I'm happy to repeat that the lack of default toolbars, plugin specific toolbars and user definable customizable toolbars are a real barrier to entry / adoption of vscode for new users and this missing feature is a also and endless productivity inhibitor for those people that are willing to stick with vscode regardless.

[ronnyek]

oh yeah, don't get me wrong... I'm for this change, and like I said I don't want to be a negative feedback loop or anything... Just surprised this issue has stood as long as it has. VS Code is making leaps and bounds as it progresses... and just really really dont understand the opposition to the toolbar. For now I've written off vscode for front end editing in favor of webstorm, but I'd love to have vscode as an option in the future

[aaronclawrence]

Seems so basic, I was very surprised when I didn't find one ... but I guess if the designers have a philosophy of keeping a very minimal UI maybe they feel its not worth the effort to support one

[ewwink]

maybe anyone can try to port this atom toolbar extension https://github.com/suda/tool-bar

[junalmeida]

I started a feature branch with some code that aims to do that fixed toolbar:
https://github.com/junalmeida/vscode/pull/1
Ask me if you want to be part of it.
I already created the initial requirements for a toolbar (ui things such as positioning, etc.) with 3 common basic actions. See the gif I've put on the PR.

There is much work to be done yet.

[isidorn]

@junalmeida hi, currently this feature request (as many others) is open so we can gather more feedback from users, not because we want to tackle it right away.
VSCode is a minimalstic code editor and due to that we would be reluctant to accept a PR which adds a custom toolbar.

As with all feature requests the best first step is to usualy start a discussion and not start coding right away.
Please see our pull request guidelines https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/wiki/How-to-Contribute#pull-requests

Kind regards
isidor

[morozovsk]

@isidorn
atom is a minimalstic code editor:

notepad++ is a super minimalstic code editor:

vscode is a ... vim way code editor.
please delete left panel and top menu! only keyboard shortcuts! only hardcore!

a mouse was invented in 1946 but you force us to use the keyboard.
I use a lot of programs. I don't need to remember key combinations in all programs.

If you want your program to be used along with others you must be compatible. If you don't want to be compatible (ms way), you can do as you want but don't pretend that you care.

:angry:

[junalmeida]

@isidorn I got your point but I guess that a discussion was already started here in this topic and others. Anyway, I started coding this as a POC for myself, trying to understand all the guidelines used and the UI code. If this is not the direction of the official VSCode team, no problem, but this is the beautiful of open source: anyone can fork and do experimentation, and this does not necessarily mean that a PR will be accepted. ;)

[MichelZ]

This is a really weird decision and will definitely be a big blocker for me personally to adopt vscode (and I imagine many other users, too)

[ShivanshuKantPrasad]

Also due to lack of toolbar everything gets dumped on the status bar. There are extensions that clutter the status bar very badly like git-history, cmake. Since you cannot disable status-bar icons individually, there is not space for rather important things.

[poke]

VSCode is a minimalstic code editor and due to that we would be reluctant to accept a PR which adds a custom toolbar.

While I can perfectly understand that, it’s not like that is the necessary action here. It would be perfectly fine to expose some drawable area for extension authors so that they could ship toolbars through extensions. That way, the core editor wouldn’t have to support it fully, and the default experience certainly wouldn’t be affected by it.

If you just look at the recent developments, it’s clear that VS Code is already moving away from that “hard core” functionality where everything is done through configuration files. A complete configuration GUI shipped, so it’s clear that VS Code is now also accepting more mouse-centric use cases. Having a toolbar would certainly be a good idea there even if it would be just for a smaller subset of users. It’s just that it would open up a lot of possibilities for additional extensions.

[ahdung]

+1

[kryptus36]

I don't see why a toolbar can't be an optional feature. Want super minimal? Turn it off. Want quick access to functions via mouse? Turn it on. Heck implement it as a plug in if needed. But these hard line stances against what users want kill projects (see Amarok for example). VSC is amazing in so many ways, but the lack of a toolbar is annoying to many people, obviously.

[agrvaibhav]

Please please please.. I badly need toolbar.. I am absolutely paralyzed without it.. don't know how to navigate between files.

[BenHayat]

In VS Code's header, under the Menu line, could you please another toolbar of Icons for the most used functions, like Save File, Open File, and etc. Like Visual Studio. We need to be able to configure it ourselves to add/delete items.

[BenHayat]

I'm not going to wait forever from MSFT to add this (if ever). Buying jetbrain's WebStorm.

[NotWearingPants]

+1
I still prefer using the keyboard for everything, but this new (and rather basic) UI element gives new possibilities for extensions and configuration that might convince me otherwise.
I would turn it off, but I still would want it to exist as a possiblity if I ever want it.

[cmeyerPfcu]

Sadly.. but I hope this helps...
Visual Studio Code keyboard shortcuts for Windows
https://code.visualstudio.com/shortcuts/keyboard-shortcuts-windows.pdf

[ronnyek]

I think everyone appreciates the info... as that's my primary reason for for asking for a toolbar.... so many commands to remember or to search through with command window commands.

I really dont think it'd take all that much work to build said toolbar... but the problem is I'm afraid the vscode devs still have no interest, no plans, no second thoughts about a toolbar. I'm fairly confident a pull request with the toolbar functionality would largely just disappear into the ether.

[cmeyerPfcu]

Completely agree, in general whatever is a need in your business, if it’s fulfilled, you get more presence!

Carole

I think everyone appreciates the info... as that's my primary reason for for asking for a toolbar.... so many commands to remember or to search through with command window commands.

I really dont think it'd take all that much work to build said toolbar... but the problem is I'm afraid the vscode devs still have no interest, no plans, no second thoughts about a toolbar. I'm fairly confident a pull request with the toolbar functionality would largely just disappear into the ether.

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[CollinChaffin]

30+yr I.T. veteran who loves commandline more than GUIs but absolutely must agree with the OP that it is ludicrous for this GUI editor not to have even the most basic of toolbars (even as an optional feature that could then be disabled for Windows-OS GUI app developers/users who are suddenly so anti-basic-GUI-features).

To further support (without intending to shame) Even the most basic of the most basic notepad replacements have the ability to add even the most basic of toolbars - far more traditionally anti-GUI-featured than those noted above, or even my long-time goto of Notepad++ - is EVEN VIM FOR WINDOWS as shown below. When a UNIX VI port can afford the code to throw in a toolbar for their GUI...I'm sure you get the point.

But, how necessary is it, and what is the thought behind it? IMO, as much as I use the keyboard, there is just something I have always felt more comfortable with in having a "visual" graphical button if for no other reason - basic file operations. Yep, I fully realize and agree it's hands-down 1000 times faster to hit :wq! but this is one area that 10/10 times I'll gladly take the 4-5 second hit per major file open/save operation to click the toolbar button (if there is one) that I want to say just about EVERY OTHER Microsoft GUI written in the last 35 years other than vscode has made available to it's operators. From the comments above, it sounds like I am certainly not alone in my typical workflow usage that, despite perhaps not being the absolute most time-efficient, is a case where (to preserve my remaining gray hair) comfort, convenience, and simple piece of mind win out over performance.

And, like those above (and many others offline), due to how integral my primary editor is to me, as minor as it may sound the reality is that vscode while having such basic features missing will just not give me enough comfort to make it my primary editor. Yes, there may be 3rd party extensions that add partial working toolbar(s) but when at any time either a core vscode update breaks it, or another extension conflicts and causes the save button to malfunction etc.....toolbars really need to be available in the core vscode for safety and reliability.

---

UNIX-born VIm Windows-port _enhanced only to adhere to Windows GUI standards_ (prior to ~2016+'s apparent new GUI feature(less) standards):

[BenHayat]

Whoever is in charge of VSCode at MSFT should be fired, for ignoring such basic requests. Sounds like the old MSFT again.

[CollinChaffin]

I had not previously seen a VERY quickly "go away I don't want to listen to the people using what I'm developing" issue #11159 where it was asked why of the FEW measly buttons given to users on the side-bar, EXTENSIONS was seen to be something a user would literally BE CLICKING MORE OFTEN than BASIC FILE OPERATIONS:

https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/issues/11159

When you see a DEV close and lock an issue THAT fast and basically say "go away" - I see he's with MS overseas in Switzerland is there seriously not any DEV management on this product that does not see that as a huge issue when MS' customers are now locked out of even chiming in on what clearly is what I would consider to be a seriously embarrassing issue? If I were managing that DEV team I'd be asking the DEV defending that design choice to show me a single human being that could POSSIBLY be clicking a GIANT "extensions" button more often than opening/saving/closing file, after file, after file - and instead defend designing that all THOSE operations should instead take our users multiple clicks through menus and command-bars and typing out commands?!?

I'd bet if you UNLOCKED that issue you would have MANY of your users agreeing as is the case here (which is probably what the quick closing aimed at accomplishing). And @BenHayat you're absolutely correct - back in the late 90's I was actually offered a position @ MS and if I were in that position today, that is exactly the action I would take as well and I would NEVER stand for what I see over in issue #11159 towards users of the product. This product could be far more than it is after this many iterations and the users of the actual product should ALWAYS be afforded a voice when seeking to make improvements. If not, the DEV team winds up writing the app that only meets THEIR needs. And when the DEVs manage the users feedback as seems unfortunately more common these days on Github, sometimes the treatment of the actual people consuming what you are developing winds up looking the same whether it is from a big MS developer, or a couple of teenagers and their first open-source repository. :wink:

[fheidrich]

I would love to have a little toolbar in VS code.
Just a few items would make me happy (back/forward/last-edit position) - maybe VS Code UX team feels toolbars are bad (which I agree if the product default toolbar is too much). That said, it seems toolbars are already there (see pictures) - but the items in there are useless to me, so I just would like to replace them.

[pgmolloy]

I have finally broken down to comment on this. I have been a developer for 30 years and one thing I have learnt is to use the right tool for the particular job ranging from command-line to fully automated delivery. There are reasons for each and as software development tools will change dramatically with advance AI integration a tool bar will become the command line of the past. VS code is missing a fundamental evolutionary component that is the same as leaving out the command line from an IDE. That said my consulting practice uses Visual Studio Professional and JetBrains Ultimate as our two base packages. VS code definitely doesn't match the flexibility of most professional IDE packages without a toolbar. I would not put a first year developer in front of VS code and waste my money on having him/her learn a watered down IDE. Just my honest Opinion.

[ronnyek]

@pgmolloy I have some of the same concerns, I currently primarily use visual studio and webstorm... and they generally work (and in some cases, tend to have more complete plugins that play nicer with other plugins), but there is no illusion that they are as light weight or pleasant to work with as vscode.

My problem is that we're actually not talking about a huge amount more functionality that's gonna slow code down, or make it not a "lightweight code editor" (that seems to be the excuse I hear most about why we aren't getting toolbars). Conceivably toolbars, and their button configuration would literally be calling those very command pallet commands. Configuration could be a simple config like debugging is (or at least was)

In my opinion... (and this is not necessarily backed by fact....), it's just been decided... someone, somewhere has decided they don't like the idea of a toolbar, and therefore we've had some conspiracy level treatment of issues that even vaguely resemble a toolbar feature request.

IF I was better with css/html, and IF I though there was even a teeny tiny chance of a pull request with this feature.. .would be accepted... I'd put time and effort into this. I'd understand if it was a "we want to do this, we just dont have the time to work on it ourselves". I'm just pretty confident based on previous history and the tens of other related issues that were closed almost immediately, or shortly after creation.... vscode team doesn't want pull requests related to the toolbar. It doesn't match their vision, and they are sticking to their guns.

I'd love to be proven wrong.

[morozovsk]

@ronnyek:

In my opinion... (and this is not necessarily backed by fact....), it's just been decided... someone, somewhere has decided they don't like the idea of a toolbar, and therefore we've had some conspiracy level treatment of issues that even vaguely resemble a toolbar feature request.

@bpasero and @isidorn are our "heroes" :)

[laoshaw]

toolbar is essential for nearly all editors other than vscode, please add it.

[olegchir]

Really need this feature

[ronnyek]

In an effort to appease people working on vscode team at MS as well as customers that feel like this is a necessity, could it even just be a hook for extensibility, so its not screen real-estate or potential overhead just automatically taken?

I'd be real surprised if people that used vscode would be opposed to a toolbar (outside of @isidorn and a few others) if there wasn't significant overhead having a toolbar. Its just a matter of being able to provide it, having toolbars integrate well with code, and not impacting performance

[rei-vilo]

I've found this option called tree view container to add custom buttons on the left bar on Visual Studio Code.

• Documentation at https://code.visualstudio.com/api/extension-guides/tree-view and
• Example at https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode-extension-samples/tree/master/tree-view-sample.

[rei-vilo]

Also of interest, this customisable status bar

• Documentation at https://code.visualstudio.com/api/references/vscode-api#StatusBarItem, and
• Example at https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode-extension-samples/tree/master/statusbar-sample)

And a floating tool-bar extension

• Documentation at https://github.com/JerryGoyal/Shortcut-Menu-Bar-VSCode-Extension

[ronnyek]

I wasn't aware of the last item... seems like this would help... I still think it'd be worth while to develop at least an extensibility point, even if its not that the toolbar themsevles are actually integrated or enabled by default.

Original issue has 103 votes, in addition to all the countless issues that have previously been closed, I'd think that should demonstrate peoples interest in such functionality without having to hack it into already precious status bar realestate etc.

[eb7898]

Am I in bizarro world ?
How is this still lacking a toolbar in 2019 ? Are we going backwards for some reason ?

[morozovsk]

@eb7898, Visual studio and IDEA have a toolbar in 2019. Vscode is not.

[awittaker]

No toolbar option is just bad - but particularly so when browsing as opposed to actively coding (so my hand resting away from keyboard).
The workarounds are all cheese (processed cheese as opposed to a nice Époisses)...
The editor toolbar is too far away at top right of screen.
My status bar is full... and who wants a toolbar at the bottom anyway?
The sidebar takes up too much real-estate.

Any other ideas?

[jjssoftware]

@awittaker another workaround is this extension which is based on the earlier mentioned tree view code:

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=usernamehw.run-commands-view

It's still not a toolbar and it appears in the treeview area to the left rather than in the regular top position where you'd expect to find toolbar buttons / options but it is configurable and it facilitates people not having to remember a plethora of key strokes for random things.

[olegchir]

@awittaker "actively coding" is not a universal solution for everyone. Web developers spend half of their time in a browser, adjusting layers and using things like Chrome Developer Tools. Game developers have no choice but to constantly switch between editor and a game. Both switch to Photoshop and other software to quickly draw or create something. Therefore most of the time they have a mouse in the hand, and it's far better to continue using the mouse to do everything. I think we should have both modes in VSCode - for keyboard-centric people and for mouse-centric people. Maybe even a "main menu" is not enough - personally I'd like to have an option to create something like a vertical tray to mimic Photoshop behavior or a ribbon from MS Office. As a completely optional thing for very specific tasks, of course - I mean, it's not necessary to mirror every function from a command box into menu items. Just give an opportunity to create owner-drawn menus and boxes, and that's all. Sorry to say, I have to move to Theia or even IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition because of this, there are no options left.

[MikeSummit]

Ideal Toolbar Feature Requirements:

1. As close as possible to MS Office 2003 dockable toolbar. (If you have never used this, it was the best example of a perfect toolbar).
2. Includes a set of default toolbars with related tools grouped together.
3. Ability to float or dock toolbars individually. Docking can be to top, bottom, left, or right.
4. Ability to show or hide toolbars
5. Ability to create new toolbars
6. Ability to add and remove tools to default and user-created toolbars.
7. Built-in tools are associated to VSCode functions and commands. User tools can be associated to user scripts or macros.
8. Hovering over a tool shows the name, short description and keyboard equivalent, to help discover and learn VSCode features and equivalents.
9. User can config individual tools to show icon, show text name, or show both.
10. Tools can be single click commands (like Save), drop down list of commands (like Build, Build All, …), or text entry (like font size).
11. Toolbar config and customizations can be exported and imported in human-readable JSON. Import can be additive or destructive.
12. Simple API and object model for creating sophisticated tools and toolbars. Intelligent state machine to reactively enable/disable tools based on context.
13. NOT like current MS Office Ribbon. Takes up too much space and too often requires 2-3 clicks instead of one.

[Mike-Honey]

I believe I have the dam buster to break through this and restore some sanity: Accessibility.

By not including or even allowing for toolbars, the VS Code team and Microsoft are taking a position that they are happy to exclude users who are vision-impaired. Such users can increase their text editor font sizes and use voice reader and editing tools, but find text-based menus very difficult to use.

So Microsoft, do you value the contribution of vision-impaired people? Or are you happy to continue to exclude them from this product and the jobs and opportunities that require it's use?

[NickMaev]

It turns out that the VSCode is a hype project by Microsoft since it "came" to opensource.
MS won't allow VSCode to become a competitor for the Visual Studio XXXX which is laggy and slow.
It's not hard to understand this resistance of the main contributors due to their profile details. They have a job in Microsoft and they could get fired.
Waiting for the forks of the VSCode with toolbars.

[ronnyek]

@NickMaev visual studio itself works great and provides a lot above and beyond vs code. That being said, vscode is ultimately microsoft's project right, wrong or indifferent.

I've been a big advocate of adding toolbars because its what at least many consumers (including myself) have been asking for and complaining about for just ages.

tl;dr; - I don't think there are any obligations for them to add toolbars, but I'd think just the sheer number of issues submitted, submitted and closed, submitted and marked as dupes, submitted and marked out of scope etc. seems to indicate that people want this, and product management or however else vscode development gets managed has some beef against it. (I've yet to hear a legitimate reason why they are so opposed)

Microsoft, just acknowledge peoples wants/desires, and if it really is one or two people that are adamantly against toolbars... please just say so. I'll go contribute my time and efforts into adding it to the already existing forks.

[kryptus36]

This bug is now the black hole the devs have filters to ignore. It allows people to vent and hope it may actually happen. It prevents new bugs from getting opened on the issue while nothing will ever be done with it. It happens when software development is driven by blind ideology instead of user need.

[nickcoad]

Surely this could be done with an extension? Why does it need to be in the core product? It is already the most popular code editor, indicating most of its users are perfectly happy with the lack of a toolbar. This is a 100% perfect scenario for an extension. Get coding guys!

[morozovsk]

This is a 100% perfect scenario for an extension.

It sounds smart... but hey! vscode doesn't support api for creating toolbars. Get reading the ticket guys!

[ronnyek]

Surely this could be done with an extension? Why does it need to be in the core product? It is already the most popular code editor, indicating most of its users are perfectly happy with the lack of a toolbar. This is a 100% perfect scenario for an extension. Get coding guys!

I'd prefer not to make any assumptions that people are perfectly happy, but I do agree that if there was an API and didn't force the toolbars on everyone, that would be acceptable to me personally as well.

VS Code is efficient, beautiful and a great code editor... I feel like somehow UX has taken a back seat completely.

[zaphod4254]

Toolbar needed. I'm starting to learn more about PowerShell, being very experienced with VBScript. I used Notepad++ for most of my vbscript editing, and starting to learn the PowerShell ISE. PowerShell ISE at least has a toolbar, though it's not customizable as far as I can tell. I heard about and installed VSCode in the hopes of it having a better toolbar than the PowerShell ISE. Upon not being able to find a toolbar in VSCode myself, I searched and found this thread. With this feature request confirming that VSCode doesn't even have a toolbar at all, I've already uninstalled it.

[wittend]

Toolbar essential! I cannot use this editor without it. I cannot believe the resistance to at least providing the necessary hooks. Clearly come ideological peeve of the team. Astonishing!

[ronnyek]

61336

[ronnyek]

Can we just finally admit this is something you guys need to do?! This is just one thread of MANY MANY MANY MANY threads of people asking this very same thing.

Just build a toolbar framework so people that want toolbars can opt in to having toolbars.

Hell give us a sign of faith that a PR would be actually be considered for acceptance, and I bet you'd get loads of people volunteering that functionality

[rhclayto]

@isidorn You wrote: 'currently this feature request (as many others) is open so we can gather more feedback from users. . . .'

It seems like the feedback keeps coming in, but none is flowing in the other direction. Could someone on the VSCodeteam explain the seeming lack of excitement to support this feature, the reasoning behind it?

'VSCode is a minimalstic code editor and due to that we would be reluctant to accept a PR which adds a custom toolbar.'

To my way of thinking, VSCode is an IDE--or an IDE building platform--not just a minimalistic code editor. A minimalistic code editor is another Microsoft product, Notepad.

'As with all feature requests the best first step is to usualy start a discussion and not start coding right away.'

So my question, in this feedback issue, is, Where is the discussion?

@ronnyek has the right idea: expose a framework for extension developers to build on, just like all the other ways of building on top of VSCode. Nobody's idea of minimalism need be impinged upon.

Great product altogether, but this issue is rather mystifying.

[GongT]

This feature is common everywhere in the world, what is need to discussion...

The requirements? Just like the name Visual Studio code said, duplicate one from there.
The implement? It really need some reasearch, but this issue already 1.5 years old.

I think there is only a tiny step between the new status bar and a "menu bar".

[ronnyek]

A tiny step that vscode team is unwilling to take... that's the key point. Here we are more than a year after this issue was created, loads of people commenting and loads of other issues for same functionality opened up... and still... same conspiracy level opposition to this functionality.

More than happy to continue to use webstorm. Way to go vscode team!

[sBrecht]

I will add another voice to this. The lack of a toolbar in VS Code is a complete mystery to me. I come back to it every once in awhile to see if it has been added but always end up back in my old editors. There is a lot in VS Code to like but this lacking item amazes me.

[latcomsystems]

Seriously, Microsoft! An otherwise neat code editor / IDE rendered useless for those of us who appreciate good GUI design. It's 2019, why exactly are we still puttering around with command lines?

[kanlukasz]

It's 2019, why exactly are we still puttering around with command lines?

Because it's a thousand times faster?

[JasonJShuler]

Another vote for either adding this functionality or making it possible for Extensions to add this functionality.

Some people's brains don't handle keyboard shortcuts. This omission is plain silly.

[darm10]

It's a good editor but, nah can't be bothered to learn a hundred shortcuts or dig through menus. I cannot think of one IDE without toolbars. The decision to exclude them is just plain silly, just like Windows Phone!

I've relegated VS Code and use it as a simple log viewer.

[munael]

Still sorely needed. Possibly my biggest customization point pain at the moment. The more extensions and commands I have, the more I need a place to put a couple of them on the chrome.

[ronnyek]

almost 2yr on, and still no comments, confirmation, stated intention, simply added to the backlog once again. S-S-S-SUUUUUPER duper. (I guess at least it wasn't just deleted or closed)

Amazing how something so simple, and been done countless times before just gets neglected. I've said it before that it just pushes me towards webstorm which I already own licenses for.

I'm just really amazed at what a cluster this whole situation has become. way to go vscode team!

[VTGroupGitHub]

Maybe if there are enough complaints, this will change. It seems to be another case of "we know better than you do", which I've found that a lot with MSFT products. I just removed VSC and downloaded Notepad++.

[sph3rex]

Maybe if there are enough complaints, this will change. It seems to be another case of "we know better than you do", which I've found that a lot with MSFT products. I just removed VSC and downloaded Notepad++.

Did the same. VsCode went on a parallel path to my needs, so back to notepad++(thank you wine)/sublime also. Funny how smaller teams of people with no msft interaction do stuff totally different and most of the times, better. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.

[xgdgsc]

Let' s see how the status bar could be insanely long across monitors without a toolbar.

[latcomsystems]

Gave it an honest try, but ditched VS code and went back to Notepad++. Just can't remember all the commands that I need to use and this thing is a resource hog to boot. In my opinion, something that takes up over 700MB RAM to load up just one text file should definitely have a toolbar.

[nickcoad]

Let' s see how the status bar could be insanely long across monitors without a toolbar.

Moving those things to the top of the screen won't magically make them take up less horizontal space...

[munael]

Moving those things to the top of the screen won't magically make them take up less horizontal space...

A dedicated toolbar can make use of:

1. Bigger icons
2. Less text
3. Stacking/list-hiding
4. Multiple rows
5. Easy management of groups of controls (show/hide according to some flag or status)
6. And probably other subtle UX stuff that are useful or needed.

[awittaker]

Just dropping by to see if any traction with this?
Is there seriously still not an API for extensions to add a toolbar?

This made me laugh...
The Visual Studio Code Roadmap 2020

• Become the best editor for anyone who relies on accessibility features
  ...

:runner: Make VS Code an outstandingly accessible developer tool. We'll engage and work with our community to get input and guidance, and we need you to keep us honest.

Who is this "community"? Whoever it is, I feel excluded... I need to rest my arms & hands as much as possible to minimize pain. The lack of toolbar is literally hurting me.

Since there is no feedback from devs on this toolbar issue, I'm not sure how to interpret the following...

Investigate how to safely provide richer customizability in the workbench
...
Broaden support to customize the UI, e.g. context menus.

Both sound positive, but I am suspicious - the context menus customization has been around since 2016 hasn't it?
Updates June 2016 (version 1.3)
Am I misunderstanding it? Or is the 2020 roadmap copy/pasted from 2015!?

[minig0d]

• Become the best editor for anyone who relies on accessibility features
  ...

🏃 Make VS Code an outstandingly accessible developer tool. We'll engage and work with our community to get input and guidance, and we need you to keep us honest.

LOL... for sure... I'm sure they have more blind coders than people wanting useful stuff like toolbars (sorry not to knock on any disabilities) it's just par for the course... All the useful stuff get turned down as out of scope and the releases contain 18 pages of release notes of stuff no one cares about .

I mean... I'm all about free, but hey if they need some more developers to pull this stuff off, I'd pay for a "Pro" version if they'd stop ignoring these useful feature requests... I have no need for Visual Studio, but a reasonably priced VSC that wasn't neglected by the devs... I'm game...

Meanwhile maybe they'll put a toolbar in Accessibility mode and :/

[sketchbuch]

@minig0d
ever used a keyboard shortcut? Or increased font size on editors for a presentation? Well you are using accessabillity features whether you knew it or not:

https://vscode.readthedocs.io/en/latest/editor/accessibility/

If you can't wait for your issue to get enough upvotes you could always submit a PR.

[minig0d]

@sketchbuch yes I'm quite aware of what it is... it was sarcasm... the only keyboard shortcuts that would be nice if they were built into core are multiple commands ("macros") but they have plugins for those already and we can already increase the font size last I checked... yep i'm coding right now and it works quite well... now can we have some real features?

[minig0d]

If you can't wait for your issue to get enough upvotes you could always submit a PR.

Have you looked at the upvote count on these "features" being released? B/C last time I spot checked a few, they were way lower than many of ^^^ type of request and had been open much longer. I kinda think the whole upvote thing is more like the buttons to cross the street... purely to amuse people til the light changes.

[latcomsystems]

With all the pros and cons being presented in this thread, why not just have it as an option? Those who like toolbars can turn it on, those who don't can leave it disabled. This is not rocket science.

[JasonJShuler]

Microsoft is not going to do it. We must do it. Has somebody already done it?

[rei-vilo]

There is a limited tool-bar I'm using, Shortcut Menu Bar by Jerrygoyal.

However, the main question remains:

• Are the APIs for a tool-bar on VSC available and fully documented?

[MikeRosoft]

There is a limited tool-bar I'm using, Shortcut Menu Bar by Jerrygoyal.

Sure, but with such an extension 1) it doesn't look at all like a toolbar that one is used to from every other application; and 2) it's not configurable - we're stuck with what the extension author has added.

[rei-vilo]

Hence the need for an official toolbar API / extension from the Microsoft Visual Studio Code team.

[XeonG]

Hence the need for an official toolbar API / extension from the Microsoft Visual Studio Code team.

any year now

[NevillePHolistics]

Come on MS?! How hard can it be to keep your developer customers happy? We are not asking that much. Remember we are your customers AND your profits...think about that...

[ronnyek]

Can we just get this done... or any useful input from vscode team about why this isn't there, or wont be there? Maybe I'll just go see if its something theia devs are willing to take as a PR and implement there... problem solved.

[thariqnu-ifm]

Initially, I felt the same confusion when I can't find any toolbar on vscode, I went "what the heck with the new technology".

But it's different now, I love the Command Palette better than any toolbar or menu.

1. Hit F1 on the keyboard to display the Command Palette (or hit Ctrl+Shift+P for the same effect, but require more effort :p).
2. Type any command that you want to search for. This command search feature is quite smart, so go ahead and type anything that you want to search.
3. Pick the command using the keyboard (directional button then press enter), or click on it.

Finding a menu or toolbar can be frustrating. Too much menu or toolbar makes life difficult. Hence ability to search any command by typing it is very helpful.

[minig0d]

Initially, I felt the same confusion when I can't find any toolbar on vscode, I went "what the heck with the new technology".

But it's different now, I love the Command Palette better than any toolbar or menu.

Finding a menu or toolbar can be frustrating. Too much menu or toolbar makes life difficult. Hence ability to search any command by typing it is very helpful.

But this is talking about more like the quick access toolbar in windows (i.e. to put a handful of favorite/frequently used commands) not exactly a full office-type ribbon.

I.e. we're talking 1 click vs. at minimum 2 keystrokes (assuming it was the absolute last command you used) (and likely more like 3-4 to either hit the down arrow a few times and select or to type a few letters and select...

The palette is great for certain things, but there are other tasks where you have the mouse in hand and going back to the keyboard is a distraction...

[moon6969]

@thariqnu-ifm
How precisely do I use the command palette without the keyboard?
Why can't we have both command palette AND optional toolbar (or least an API for it)?

[minig0d]

One point that should be strongly made is that the VSCode team has repeatedly stated that they don't want to add features that can be done with an extension... Well in keeping with that viewpoint, since this cannot be done with an extension without an API, this should be implemented accordingly :)

[MikeRosoft]

@thariqnu-ifm
How precisely do I use the command palette without the keyboard?
Why can't we have both command palette AND optional toolbar (or least an API for it)?

Another problem with the palette is that it is unstructered - it's just a list of all commands dumped into a single combobox. (Yes, you can search it by typing and hoping that you have guessed the correct command name.)

[XeonG]

They've only just added mousewheel support for the tabbar... at somepoint they might make it possible to have a multiline tabbar and i'll finally be able to see more than less than 10~ tab documents on the tabbar... it's not like they bother to provide a dropmenu button that shows all the tab documents either... instead you have to have the explorer sidebar opened and in view to see more documents than what is visually shown on the single row tabbar.

How it got to 2020 for MS to throw out all good GUI and UX to the point developers are asking for things that were in a lot of cases added as core basics to software 20 years ago.. like a Toolbar...

I'll be glad anyway when I can toggle certain extensions/features, on/off and visually see a button that represents said extension/feature being on or off ...right there on my screen! And that can also just be clicked on in a fraction of the time, instead of doing a key combos and hammering keys to get the same thing done... sucks when you forget the extension name feature command you need to type. Toolbar buttons/icons amazing.

Really surprised this feature isn't on priority because it should be.

[Avtopic]

VSCode is a minimalstic code editor and due to that we would be reluctant to accept a PR which adds a custom toolbar.

Hah! :))
What it means minimalistic?

Tab buttons, which height can not be customized, and are like subway windows, mean minimalistic?

The huge button paddings in the menu, action bar, etc., which take up more space on the screen than the editor area, mean minimalistic?

I wasted three months on the vscode editor customization, thinking - yes, I found it, my editor!

And where do you think I'm coding,
Yes, you're right - in notepad ++

[minig0d]

hi, currently this feature request (as many others) is open so we can gather more feedback from users, not because we want to tackle it right away.
VSCode is a minimalstic code editor and due to that we would be reluctant to accept a PR which adds a custom toolbar.

@isidorn are the 20 thumbs down on your reply enough to show you how out of touch that reply was?

You say minimalistic but I would consider something like Notepad++ to be pretty minimalist... Meanwhile, we have git / version control built in (which to my knowledge none of the "minimalist" editors include... got debugging... which I thought was more of an IDE function than a minimalist code editor one? got it's own process monitor? Don't think I've ever seen a code editor with one of those...

But you know what it don't got? a TOOLBAR... know what does have a toolbar? Most code editors, post VIM (pretty much)... Which one's don't? Sublime maybe the only remotely major one I can think of that may not (not sure never used it), so is the goal minimalist, or a Sublime knockoff to try to lure sublime users into the MS ecosystem?

Oh... ya I almost forgot... Isn't Microsoft the one developing those 3 Remote editing EXTENSIONS (Remote - SSH, Remote - Containers, Remote - WSL, etc.)? I can't recall any minimalistic editors that have those functions built in either... and thought the philosophy was MS is developing the editor and extensibility handled by 3rd party extensions? shrug...

[latcomsystems]

Come on Microsoft - do the right thing for once and listen to your customer base. I'm sure you already have the toolbar ready, just need to include it in the build and make an additional 50% of your audience happy. It's all about choices. Those who want the toolbar, turn it on. Those who don't, leave it off. WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?????

[morozovsk]

VSCode is a minimalstic code editor and due to that we would be reluctant to accept a PR which adds a custom toolbar.

Maybe only isidorn thinks so and maybe when he will change his job, we will get a toolbar within a month. Maybe the problem isn't only in him.

[minig0d]

Come on Microsoft - do the right thing for once and listen to your customer base. I'm sure you already have the toolbar ready, just need to include it in the build and make an additional 50% of your audience happy. It's all about choices. Those who want the toolbar, turn it on. Those who don't, leave it off. WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?????

They are trying to "prioritize" based on customer demand... in other words, they are working on their next rockstar feature release... probably something like an API for Raspberry Pi's embedded into their Coffee Makers... just in case anyone wants to program some Java with their Java? You know the super high demand stuff... they may be trying to translate VSCode into the Code of Hammurabi language... I hear that one is pretty popular in some parts...

I kid... But on a serious note... I would just love an official response from MS one way or the other... because the information provided about how they are going to be developing moving forward and the future vision doesn't seem congruent with current actions...

If they can't manage the 30 minutes it would take to build out an OPTIONAL toolbar/api... then a lot of us probably do need to go back to another editor...

[sketchbuch]

One man's idea of useless padding is anothers idea of a well defined interface... notepad++ is not well designed or great to use. I used to use notepad++ and editpad pro, the later was great but both look dated with cramped up buttons. I'm glad VSC doesn't have any, when I first tried atom I didn't like the command palette either - or vsc - but after using it for several years I don't miss buttons or find the command palette hard to use. Maybe just give it some time instead of falling back on notepadd++.

[sketchbuch]

... make an additional 50% of your audience happy...

About 240 people added a positive emoticon to the OP... what makes you think VSC is only used by about 480 people???

[morozovsk]

We do not force you to use the toolbar. It can be disabled.
You force us don't use the toolbar.
Do you feel the difference?
The era of "The only one right way" was in the Soviet Union.

Do not tell me what to do and I will not tell you where to go.

[kryptus36]

One man's idea of useless padding is anothers idea of a well defined interface... notepad++ is not well designed or great to use. I used to use notepad++ and editpad pro, the later was great but both look dated with cramped up buttons. I'm glad VSC doesn't have any, when I first tried atom I didn't like the command palette either - or vsc - but after using it for several years I don't miss buttons or find the command palette hard to use. Maybe just give it some time instead of falling back on notepadd++.

Exactly why the issue title says "optional". I never use the tabs at the top to access files - they are all on the left. Why are they there? Just because one workflow works for you doesn't mean it's great for everyone. Configurable UI can make it better for a wider range of users - for me it's an accessibility function. I use sticky keys, so hitting certain key combinations (mostly undo/redo) can be tedious if needed to be repeated several times. It would make my life easier and not affect yours, so why are you here telling me I don't need it? Why do you care?

It can even be a plugin, no one who doesn't want it even needs to know it exists.

[sketchbuch]

@morozovsk There is no toolbar - no one can force you not to use something that
doesn't exist.

[sketchbuch]

I don't mind if they add one, I just don't want it prioritised... there seem to be a lot of devs who want it so why don't you form a team and submit a PR?

[kryptus36]

I don't mind if they add one, I just don't want it prioritised... there seem to be a lot of devs who want it so why don't you form a team and submit a PR?

People have offered, go look at the many other bug reports made on the same issue. MS has said they would likely reject it. They don't even want to add hooks to make a plugin possible. So it's not a resource issue, it's an ideological one.

It's obviously not being prioritized. MS hasn't even commented on it in months. Again, I don't know why you'd care.

[minig0d]

One man's idea of useless padding is anothers idea of a well defined interface... notepad++ is not well designed or great to use. I used to use notepad++ and editpad pro, the later was great but both look dated with cramped up buttons. I'm glad VSC doesn't have any, when I first tried atom I didn't like the command palette either - or vsc - but after using it for several years I don't miss buttons or find the command palette hard to use. Maybe just give it some time instead of falling back on notepadd++.

Uhhh... know what notepad++ has? config files... know what you can do with those files? remove items you don't want to look at... you could literally make it have just a file menu with one menu option and no toolbar if you want... Why is it that way? because it allows people to customize it for what works most efficiently for them without locking people into workflows that are not efficient for them. So to say that YOU find it cluttered so an OPTIONAL feature that you would not be forced to use should not be implemented because YOU find it that way, sounds extremely egotistical.

I like dark themes... maybe VSCode should remove all options to customize color choices and force everyone to use the one I like? Why don't they? Hmmm because just like the toolbar, it's easy to build out code to let the user customize to what works best for them and in no way negatively impacts other users...

[minig0d]

I don't mind if they add one, I just don't want it prioritised... there seem to be a lot of devs who want it so why don't you form a team and submit a PR?

What do you want prioritized? an API for your toaster?

Short of the filesystem issue where actual data is being destroyed because of similar stubborness from the coding team, I haven't seen a request that seems that it should be of higher priority... but I guess we should all hail King Sketchbuch?

[morozovsk]

Added FAQ to the ticket.
This is tiring to answer the same questions to people who have not figured out the topic but already against it.

[nickcoad]

@thariqnu-ifm
How precisely do I use the command palette without the keyboard?
Why can't we have both command palette AND optional toolbar (or least an API for it)?

How are you writing code without a keyboard?

[nickcoad]

Added FAQ to the ticket.
This is tiring to answer the same questions to people who have not figured out the topic but already against it.

That trend screenshot in the OP is not showing what you think it's showing...

[ronnyek]

I don't mind if they add one, I just don't want it prioritised... there seem to be a lot of devs who want it so why don't you form a team and submit a PR?

Apparently there have been several attempts... Some got further along than others. The problem is the vscode team had blocked these efforts in the past and eluded to the fact that they had no intentions of allowing it.

There is a vision... That vision does not include a tool bar. Why boggles my mind... But all this time waiting around... Webstorm has just gotten better and better widening the gap.

To someone else's point... They got no problem bending way over backwards for a some super obscure support 2% of code users will use... But then simple OPTIONAL toolbar... Nooooooope.

It's been years and years and countless issues wasting away into oblivion. I think it's probably time to just call it.

[moon6969]

How are you writing code without a keyboard?

Did someone say they were writing code without a keyboard?
Developing is more than typing code in my experience - from spending time figuring out legacy systems at the start to debugging at the end.

I get pain in my arms that makes keyboard time a valuable commodity. It's also an effort to switch between mouse & keyboard use. So to rest my hands I use the mouse whenever possible. With a little bit of support (a _toolbar_ for example), I can sit back and peruse code and reference documentation, debug etc. without going near the keyboard for hours.

[rei-vilo]

Added FAQ to the ticket.
This is tiring to answer the same questions to people who have not figured out the topic but already against it.

Edit: To the Microsoft Visual Studio Code team:

Wouldn't delivering the feature be a more productive action?

[morozovsk]

@rei-vilo

Wouldn't delivering the feature be a more productive action?

You are probably confused :)
I'm topic starter. I'm not working for MS. I couldn't deliver the feature.

[rei-vilo]

@rei-vilo

Wouldn't delivering the feature be a more productive action?

You must be confused :)
I'm topic starter. I'm not working for MS. I couldn't deliver the feature.

I'm sorry, the message was intended at the Microsoft Visual Studio Code team.

On my side, I tried to play with extensions, but documentation is hard to dig in.

[jjssoftware]

I'm topic starter. I'm not working for MS. I couldn't deliver the feature.

You literally said this in your FAQ update to your post 1 above 🤣

Some people are not going to read it or attempt to understand what this issue is about before wading in with an irrelevant nonsense comment.

[kryptus36]

OP is a bit tl;dr, maybe the FAQ should be moved to the very top.

[msimic]

Stop being Apple. Removing something useful from something does not make that thing better.

[Lingyis]

Personally I never noticed that it doesn't have a toolbar until this thread. I like it the current way. It kinda has a toolbar in the form of an activity bar to the left anyway. But I suppose vscode developers could have better explained the decision not to include a toolbar, like, perhaps a toolbar would the window look cluttered (which I think it would). Of course, in their implementation they could just include the toolbar as an option, but then it's probably lower on the list of priorities. But still, some helpful comment would have been nice.

[minig0d]

Personally I never noticed that it doesn't have a toolbar until this thread. I like it the current way. It kinda has a toolbar in the form of an activity bar to the left anyway. But I suppose vscode developers could have better explained the decision not to include a toolbar, like, perhaps a toolbar would the window look cluttered (which I think it would). Of course, in their implementation they could just include the toolbar as an option, but then it's probably lower on the list of priorities. But still, some helpful comment would have been nice.

You could also argue that the giant bar on the left (whatever you decide to call it) that is what? 100px+ wide, is way more cluttering than a 20px toolbar...

Also... just realized... know what else has a toolbar that Microsoft owns...? Github... right in this box I'm typing in... wonder why that is... I mean if everyone is a keyboard expert shouldn't we all know markdown? lol

[munael]

At a minimum, I'd want a "tools panel" that I can move (and duplicate?) around in different panel containers.

So it can have a dedicated icon in the activity bar, or be a panel in an existing pane, and so on.

Making use of the recent addition of movable panels.

[rhclayto]

Personally I never noticed that it doesn't have a toolbar until this thread. I like it the current way. It kinda has a toolbar in the form of an activity bar to the left anyway. But I suppose vscode developers could have better explained the decision not to include a toolbar, like, perhaps a toolbar would the window look cluttered (which I think it would). Of course, in their implementation they could just include the toolbar as an option, but then it's probably lower on the list of priorities. But still, some helpful comment would have been nice.

In other closed threads developers have said they are reluctant or unwilling even to include hooks for plug-in developers to make a toolbar plug-in. So rather than just being a low priority, it appears these developers actively oppose even making it possible to have a completely optional toolbar, even as a plug-in. As the OP said, this seems ideological.

[Tharkis]

Just adding to the pile...

This issue is the number one reason I don't use VS Code for anything. In fact, I check in about once a month or so to see if they have come to their senses and added a button bar. But alas, it sounds as if even allowing addon developers to integrate a bar is out of scope.

I'll just continue using Notepad++ and other editors which provide this basic functionality. However, I'm going to actually uninstall VS Code this time and I don't think I'll be reinstalling anytime soon.

[libTorrentUser]

I just wanted to add my +1 to this feature request.

It is funny how something so useful seems to be rejected by the dev team while something completely useless like that "OPEN EDITORS" thing keeps cluttering our screen. That thing was not needed not even during the VC++ 6 days, a dark time in the coding era when we did not have tabs showing which files are open.

And before some crazy dev gets my rambling full of grammar mistakes wrong, let me try to make it clear:

• Configurable toolbar -> extremely useful. Need it!
• Tabs showing which files are open -> extremely useful. Keep it!
• Open editors -> totally useless. Throw it!

TLDR
A configurable toolbar would be extremely useful and much more essential than a bunch of stuff I am currently seeing being implemented.

[sketchbuch]

Just right click on the open editors view and uncheck it if you don't want to see it

[minig0d]

Just right click on the open editors view and uncheck it if you don't want to see it

What do you know... that's the exact same line word for word that you could say if someone complained that they didn't like the toolbar? How versatile!

[sketchbuch]

No it isn't. The option to hide views has been in since the first release.

Toolbars haven't been. Not having a toolbar was core design goal. Adding it now would suck up resources, development time and require mutiple teams to collaborate to add this "feature". Then once it is there lazy extension devs will write just for the toolbar and not provide a way to use their extensions wthout a toolbar. Most probably won't even hook the click events up to a real command, they will just execute something on click giving no one the chance to use the command palette. I think adding this "feature" now would be a mistake which is why I don't want it done. It will also bloat the API. All the MS studies into the ribbon showed how useless endless menu options are and how toolbar hell doesn't help anyone use an app more effectively.

[sBrecht]

If MS Studies deem that the toolbar is useless cruft, then why is the design still a basic paradigm for applications? Do you have a toolbar / ribbon turned on in your browser? Word? Excel? Explorer? Visual Studio? Photoshop? Heck pinned applications in Windows are a form of toolbar. If you personally never use these in any of the above situations do you feel users that do are using software incorrectly? That for example a command palette structure would best replace the ribbon in Word? Honest questions.

As for engineering concerns, you don't have to enable code to be run inside the click events. The framework could easily be limited to only a function trigger from the outset which to me would seem to be the only logical way to impliment it anyhow. Any application I've ever built a toolbar / menu only calls a function. Why would it allow code to be embedded in the button's click event? Why would devs even have access to the events behind the toolbar? Adding a framework to support buttons with command hooks would be pretty trivial, you already have the command palette doing the same thing so it seems like an extension of that structure alone.

I've stayed on this thread for curiousity but to me the real tell is that most of my team choose not to use Code citing the interface shortcomings. It is disappointing as it is a great product otherwise.

[VTGroupGitHub]

If you're reading this thread, and lack of a toolbar is essentially a show-stopper for you like it was for me, then I recommend Notepad++. I uninstalled VSC, installed NPP and haven't looked back. The NPP toolbar is fully extensible via a plugin, and I've added buttons to do nearly 20 repetitive tasks via Python, bash scripts, and the internal editor language. Plus, it has lots of other plugins for language-specific tasks, etc. I'm sure there are other good alternatives too, but I've not found anything with NPP that I can't do either by default or coding it myself.

[minig0d]

HAHAHAHA... I just found out the REALLLL reason sketchbuch doesn't want a toolbar... He's busy using the statusbar as a toolbar (and for whatever reason feels that it's more acceptable to "hack" the status bar for an unintended purpose than to have a legitimate status bar...

c'mon man... if you are worried about lightweight... lets cut some of the REAL bloat... again a lot lighter editors than VSC have toolbars...

[sketchbuch]

... Honest questions.

No, it's just ignoring what I said. I never said toolbars are usless, I said toolbar hell is useless... which is what I worry about this will become. The ribbon has buttons but they are researched with UX behind them, there will be no research done improving the UX for users who want buttons. Will just go back to having hundreds of buttons and toolbars below toolbars. it will become a bloated mess - I think.

If MS provide a toolbar how long before people want mutiple toolbars, or toolbars below toolbars with the ability to arrange the bars via drag and drop, and then people will want a way of customizing the buttons and changing the order. They will want button folders that group commands.. This simple API for buttons that you want has the potential to morph into a monster that bloats the API and the UI and drains developer time.

I like the small api, at first I found it quite restrictive. After making a few extensions I can see why all custom displays for extensions are in editors it's the only place that the API lets you create custom content.

By the way as we are banding around useless anicdotal evidence... every team that I work with all use VS Code

[sketchbuch]

Yes, those are my extensions, but they add buttons to where there is already a button system in place. It's not a hack, these extensions don't do anything that the API doesn't expose to a developer. Look if they add the button api and it is fully worked out and tested I don't mind. I just don't want them to fuck up the editor doing it.

Zen terminal button btw uses the editor title bar for it's button location - not the status bar ;). You can always create a private extension for yourself adding buttons there.

[sketchbuch]

As for engineering concerns,

Yes the buttons could be hooked up to a command but it is also possible in the package.json to stop a command being called via the palette. This is the kind of thing I don't want to happen, that devs start making things only work with buttons - for whatever reason.

[morozovsk]

@sketchbuch:

I don't want to happen, that devs start making things only work with buttons - for whatever reason.

We are not your slaves to ask your permission when we can use the buttons, and when not. Get out of the ticket.

[sketchbuch]

Screw you, I don't need your permission to comment on an open issue. If you don't like it grow up and leave yourself

[sBrecht]

No, it's just ignoring what I said. I never said toolbars are usless, I said toolbar hell is useless... which is what I worry about this will become.

Thanks for the reply. I agree toolbar hell can be a problem (I'm looking at you Office) but I also place that in the category of "decision of the user" when the toolbar is editable. (if the toolbar isn't editable then that's a whole other issue) When I have the option to customize the toolbar in applications they don't come "out of the box" with every item enabled by default, they come with a sane selection of common items and I can add / remove what makes my workflow more efficient. To me it's the same as editors allowing me to set preferred indent options, spacing, font sizes, etc.

Even if VSCode shipped with a blank toolbar that was hidden by default that would be fine. To me it's about user choice and not forcing them into a methodology they aren't comfortable with. I'll admit I've never built an extension for VS Code however I would envision it being limited to an added bitmap resource and an entry into the extension manifest enabling the option. That wouldn't allow devs to abuse it. Offload the work of making default bitmaps for the palette to the community as long as the basic framework exists. Then ship VS Code as clean as it is today and if I choose to optimize my workflow my way I have the option.

Didn't mean to throw out anecdotal evidence.

[morozovsk]

@sketchbuch

Screw you, I don't need your permission to comment on an open issue.

But actually you should, because this is my open issue :)
PS: now you are banned. thanks for the constructive dialogue :)

[minig0d]

Yes, those are my extensions, but they add buttons to where there is already a button system in place. It's not a hack, these extensions don't do anything that the API doesn't expose to a developer. Look if they add the button api and it is fully worked out and tested I don't mind. I just don't want them to fuck up the editor doing it.

Zen terminal button btw uses the editor title bar for it's button location - not the status bar ;). You can always create a private extension for yourself adding buttons there.

Just because you CAN add a button there doesn't mean VSC allows you to because they want you to turn it into a toolbar... I actually recall seeing some comment from a developer who explicitly stated that was not he case. (I know shocking they may actually reply...)

[sBrecht]

PS: now you are banned. thanks for the constructive dialogue :)

That was a useless act just when a proper discussion was being had. You don't get to just turn off people you disagree with. Lesson #1 in how to not convince people your point of view is valid.

[morozovsk]

He repeated the same thing in every message: "I do not want to", "I am against", "I do not like this." He did absolutely nothing for a constructive dialogue.

I don't want to happen, that devs start making things only work with buttons - for whatever reason.

Before that, I thought he is just a troll. After these words, it became clear that she does not want to make vscode better or worse. She just wants to limit other people and it doesn’t matter whether they want that or not.
Well, what I did to him the same thing, now he can probably understand what it is when you are limited against your will.

[minig0d]

He repeated the same thing in every message: "I do not want to", "I am against", "I do not like this." He did absolutely nothing for a constructive dialogue.

I don't want to happen, that devs start making things only work with buttons - for whatever reason.

Before that, I thought he is just a troll. After these words, it became clear that she does not want to make vscode better or worse. She just wants to limit other people and it doesn’t matter whether they want that or not.
Well, what I did to him the same thing, now he can probably understand what it is when you are limited against your will.

Sorry sBrecht, I completely agree with morozovsk. He hadn't added a single constructive critique. Honestly, based on the way he was talking (as if he had some kind of authority in the matter) thats why I looked at his profile... I thought he may be an under cover Microsoft employee... but nope... he was just a troll...

The only benefit he brought to the conversation was getting the post count up... which may hopefully get MS to pay more attention to the issue shrug

[minig0d]

lol look... the troll is STILL trolling... thumbs downing my post... keep it up troll... I love how you just proved my point!!!

[morozovsk]

Yes, before sketchbuch we were on second page, now we are on first one.
So thanks @sketchbuch for your help :)

lol look... the troll is STILL trolling... thumbs downing my post... keep it up troll... I love how you just proved my point!!!

yes. you also can ban him and and forget about his existence :)

[morozovsk]

Laugh when MS close this issue due to your childish behaviour

Account was created 4 minutes ago

@krytenjrobot, @sketchbuch

Rather you will be banned because registering new accounts for spam.
If I see you here again with a new account, I will write a complaint to github and your main account will be banned.

Old man but acting like a teenager.

[kryptus36]

PS: now you are banned. thanks for the constructive dialogue :)

That was a useless act just when a proper discussion was being had. You don't get to just turn off people you disagree with. Lesson #1 in how to not convince people your point of view is valid.

"Screw you" is not a proper discussion. The guy was clearly trolling, when it was pointed out his arguments were flawed he moved the goal posts. He's just wasting everyone's time.

[HPCDupre]

Hi, My name is Claude Dupré and I am an electronic engeneer and analyst programmer since 40 years. I have used a multitude of development product in my carreer having to develop even printer driver that were inexistant in Dos environment. Windows did not even exist at that time. Even though I did know how to program in object oriented, machine were not powerfull enough (8088, 8k memory 64k disk space etc) to support that kind of technology so we had to use shortcut key for often use function and every program were compiled using a batch file, the same with the linker with a link file. Since a few years I have been working with Atmel studio because I knew the product very well since in my carreer I programmed in Assembler, C, C++, .Net and other language you probably never heard of like dbase, PLM, Clipper etc. Now because Atmel studio did not support STM product, I had to find another product to work on to develop my product Cortex based on STM. I found Visual Studio Code. So I said to my self , Hourra, I found the holy grail. I had to work over a week to set it up et find out that I was pulled back in the 80's as far as the ideology of the product is concern. I am very disapointed to see that a product that is so popular is not though as an efficient tools. No contextual menu. No configurable menu. Plugin's do not generate their own menus and tool bar, they do not configure themselve to the environment. There is no basic toolbar. So light weight product is good when it applies to TIGHT environment ( I know what I am talking about) wich is clearly not the case with these days technologies. So if somebody wants to use a new product, he expect to be able to install it and use it with a minimal turnaround time. If I compare Visual Studio Code with Atmel Studio, vscode is light years behind. It seems , by what I have read here that the vscode team do not aggree with upgrades that seems to me to be essential. To conclude this. I think that a coding standard should be adopt to define more stable and efficient plugins as far as usage, efficiency and documentation is concern to render the end product more integrated and user FRIENDLY (which is not the case, sorrrry) I hope that the vscode team will have a more visionnary sight. Regards Claude

[MikeRosoft]

If MS provide a toolbar how long before people want multiple toolbars, or toolbars below toolbars with the ability to arrange the bars via drag and drop, and then people will want a way of customizing the buttons and changing the order. They will want button folders that group commands.. This simple API for buttons that you want has the potential to morph into a monster that bloats the API and the UI and drains developer time.

Well, big news to you: people already want all of the above. That's the whole purpose of this proposal - to allow the users to add commands that they want, and how they want, and where they want. Not to depend on extension authors to prepare the commands for them, in a component that wasn't intended for them, and with no customization.

[kryptus36]

Insofar as the argument around "UI and API bloat" the top requested feature right now #10121 is the ability to drag panes outside the main window. Clearly people have many different ideas about their preferred workflow. VSCode has many features I don't use. That doesn't mean I think they should be removed. It means they should be there if I need/want them.

[minig0d]

Insofar as the argument around "UI and API bloat" the top requested feature right now #10121 is the ability to drag panes outside the main window. Clearly people have many different ideas about their preferred workflow. VSCode has many features I don't use. That doesn't mean I think they should be removed. It means they should be there if I need/want them.

This... OR at least be ABLE to extend the program to address needed capabilities... if people want floating windows why not just open a second copy of VSC or expand the window across two monitors and select a different layout... (View > Editor Layout) they already have a ton of different ones... But honestly, that sounds like something that shouldn't take more than a couple days to knock out...

But if you look at the release notes from the latest version (Help > Release Notes if you want to pull them up to see for yourself) look at how many of those changes are "advanced features" or cater to only a small subset of users, etc..

[ronnyek]

Should have had a party for the 2yr anniversary of this issue, to commemorate all those OTHER issues that were just closed for out of scope etc etc etc

[grndkntrl]

Just adding my voice to get a proper customisable toolbar option added as a matter of priority.

FFS it's long overdue MS!!

[onolox]

MS is draconius at best...

Some issues are simply toss away, this IDE is like if just one guy is making it, and not dozens...

Like the problem with poor rendering, or "No toolbar here!".
I really think that the devs of this IDE don't use it!

[hoopdy]

I was not aware of this thread and submitted a request for a customizable toolbar. It was rejected/closed because it is not a feature that they intend to consider within the next two years. I was also referred to this thread.

This is really my only issue with VS Code and it is an odd departure from all other MS programs that I have used since windows became a thing.

On the other had, VS Code is free for personal and business use and is presented as a "lightweight" editor as opposed to a full-fledged IDE. MS Visual Studio is not free for business. I imagine that they would like to avoid the possibility that VS Code could supplant MS Visual Studio entirely. I am not a professional developer and have not used a lot of different IDEs. Other than the toolbar, I am not familiar enough with MSVS 2019 to see any other benefits to using it, and it seems to fall short in some other areas.

I imagine there is someway for a user to code a compatible extension that might add this feature (beyond what already exists, which are great but not very robust). However, as I said, I am not very knowledgeable, so maybe there isn't.

I hope that they reopen this issue eventually, which they may if VSCode continues to expand its user base quickly. In the meantime, it is pretty good software given that it is entirely free.

[minig0d]

I imagine there is someway for a user to code a compatible extension that might add this feature (beyond what already exists, which are great but not very robust). However, as I said, I am not very knowledgeable, so maybe there isn't.

There is not... (I believe the answer was somewhere above but I think the issue was something like the api only allows access to like 10 hard-coded functions rather than exposing the full spectrum of commands like all other parts of the IDE have access to.

And it baffles me that despite the search traffic length of time this has been open, amount of support, ease it should be to implement for them, etc. still not a single comment from the dev team on here...

Free or not, numerous other features that are of benefit to way fewer users have been released (which clearly took significantly more time than this one would to implement) so it's really a shame.

[jjssoftware]

There is not... (I believe the answer was somewhere above but I think the issue was something like the api only allows access to like 10 hard-coded functions rather than exposing the full spectrum of commands like all other parts of the IDE have access to.

There is a somewhat mediocre way to create an extension that extends the toolbar (called "menu" for reasons only known to vscode microsoft people) and the right click context menu with any commands that are needed. I call this mediocre because there are a number of problems with what is currently doable.

1. There is no vscode API for adding commands, toolbar buttons, context menu items etc. The pattern to get things to appear in the toolbar and context menu is driven by declarative contributes entries in the extension package.json file and this file has to be compiled into an extension. This hole means that there's no way to programmatically build a toolbar or menu from configuration at runtime and anything like this has to be hard wired into extension code.
2. The toolbar in the top right area that can be extended to some degree is not really a fully featured application toolbar area in the normal sense. Although buttons with commands can be added to this area, I find the positioning of this area strange with it being inline and to the right of editor tabs rather than being placed above the editors.
3. The lack of API mentioned in (1) and there being no extensible toolbar container area(s) (other than the top right thing) are the blockers preventing anyone developing a flexible and configurable general purpose toolbar extension that might be used by anyone.

I created a hacked together extension for my own purposes and although it does remove some of the pain of having to deal with vscode's command pallete bucket of everything approach for some of my most used commands, it is still far from an ideal solution.

For context, the hacked together extension results in something that looks like the following. To be clear I am not advocating this workaround as the acceptable solution to this issue.

[tobimensch]

This feature request is related, as a toolbar will be needed in order to make it happen:
Feature Request: Simplified Text Editor

Please give it an upvote, then it might get put on the backlog.

[heartacker]

To be honest, every time I recommend Vscode to my colleagues, Vscode is too special (rigid) to let them know how to get start .
nobody wanna(hard) to remember so many key combinations.

[DigoFuerte]

I don't understand the apparent resistance to add this obviously necessary feature

• please add an optional/configurable toolbar.
  I started looking for a VS toolbar when I got frustrated doing Save All from the top menu - Ctrl K + S throws up a screen showing information about configuring shortcuts - I don't want to waste time configuring shortcuts when a simple toolbar click has been omitted for no good reason.
  Stop wasting time and just get it done - Microsoft has a wealth of code from Visual Studio that could be repurposed to speed this task along.

[XeonG]

Vscode with a toolbar would finally replace notepad++ ..if they ever actually bothered adding a proper toolbar support that extensions could support (with user customising to chuck out things per workspace)

[ronnyek]

Every new VSCODE update I get, I'm sitting here hoping MS and team will just slip that feature in and we can watch some fancy little animated gif about toolbars.... but nope... still just endless amounts of features that probably benefit <1% of the user base... then something like this, that apparently at least some amount of the user base feels passionately about, still just getting thrown under the rug, in the trash, routed to /dev/null, whatever.

Oh well... I guess team speaks with their actions, and their actions have been a blatant "NO", I think we all just hoped we'd at least show there was interest for this feature. Apparently decisions have been made.

[DigoFuerte]

The funny thing is that more than likely some other dev team are paying attention and will eventually release an editor with the features we have been asking for - and probably more.

At that point, MS will probably pull their thumb from their proverbial - but it would be too late. Why too late? They are clearly not paying attention to their customers - this more than likely means that they are missing loads of other simple stuff they could improve that a rival company could capitalise on.

Until then, we await the next great text manipulator.

---

From: Weston [e-mail]
Sent: 24 August 2020 23:35
To: microsoft/vscode [e-mail]
Cc: DigoFuerte [e-mail]; Comment [e-mail]
Subject: Re: [microsoft/vscode] Add an optional configurable toolbar below the menu (#41309)

Every new VSCODE update I get, I'm sitting here hoping MS and team will just slip that feature in and we can watch some fancy little animated gif about toolbars.... but nope... still just endless amounts of features that probably benefit <1% of the user base... then something like this, that apparently at least some amount of the user base feels passionately about, still just getting thrown under the rug, in the trash, routed to /dev/null, whatever.

Oh well... I guess team speaks with their actions, and their actions have been a blatant "NO", I think we all just hoped we'd at least show there was interest for this feature. Apparently decisions have been made.

—
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[GorvGoyl]

It seems like it won't be the high priority feature in foreseeable future so I made this extension which adds handy buttons like beautify, list files, undo, redo, save all etc to the editor menu bar in the VSCode. Shortcut Menu Bar

[kryptus36]

@GorvGoyl given the constraints you had to work in I'll call that extension a win. All I really wanted was undo/redo, so thank you! 5 stars from me.

[morozovsk]

@GorvGoyl very nice! 5 stars!

[heartacker]

@GorvGoyl very nice! 5 stars!

no,it is Fearsome that taking too much space of tab-group

[GorvGoyl]

@GorvGoyl very nice! 5 stars!

no,it is Fearsome that taking too much space of tab-group

lol. you can actually disable/enable those icons as per your need.

[XeonG]

It seems like it won't be the high priority feature in foreseeable future so I made this extension which adds handy buttons like beautify, list files, undo, redo, save all etc to the editor menu bar in the VSCode. Shortcut Menu Bar

Nice one, thanks for doing what the entire ms vscode team can't be bothered to do.

I'm guessing having it on a separate toolbar is not possible at this stage?

[kryptus36]

@GorvGoyl very nice! 5 stars!

no,it is Fearsome that taking too much space of tab-group

This is why we need to have an API exposed to allow a "separate configurable toolbar"

But for now, this is likely the best it can be. Given it has 10k+ users, I'd say the need for a toolbar definitely exists. It is "good enough" for me.

[alka79]

@GorvGoyl : many thanks for your extension. It is to me the best toolbar available. Too bad it does not come up when you search for "toolbar" in the extensions panel.

I am new to VSCode and I initially though that I missed the setting during the install to show the toolbar ! Searched for a long time until I found this thread.

However, I found easily the "printer friendly" keyboard-shortcuts pdf. (sarcastic) LOL.

So.... in the view of the dev team, a typical VSCode user has a keyboard, a mouse and a pile of cheat sheets on his desk. Not me. more sarcastic LOL.

[ronnyek]

Literally every time I see a vscode update... I read through the 10s of things I'd literally never use (admittedly that doesnt mean no one will) and think... yeah but... still no toolbars.

I appreciate the efforts put forth by people attempting to develop extensions that help as best they can.... but I feel like the fact that this issue is still here and has had little to no input or attention from ms devs (nevermind the dozens of issues that were blatantly just closed with no reasoning).

Way to go team!

[svoop]

Use Atom instead. It's pretty easy to add a toolbar to Atom. However, now that GitHub/Atom has been swallowed, updates have become rare and serious bugs (i.e. syntax coloring) just live on and on and on. Sad to see that they let one editor die and don't care much about what users of the other editor need.

[ronnyek]

Oh I use webstorm for most things I'd be using vscode for... I still got it installed... I just wouldn't dream of replacing a competent IDE with it (yet anyway).

[marcio0]

I'd also love a toolbar where I can add actions for extensions. Keyboard shortcuts are cool and all but I can't memorize everything every extension does.