why is same file opened multiple times?

Question

I just created a new project.  Closed it and opened it a few times.  Now, for the 2nd time, when I CTRL-TAB to switch to a different file in the project I see a large list of opened  files, with the same files opened multiple times.  There is a ":xx" appended to the file name, where xx is a sequence number.

I have no idea how to open the same file multiple times. How did this happen? How to close all the opens except for the first one?

thanks,

Answer 1

Hi Steve Richter,

Thanks for your post.

I cannot reproduce this issue on my Visual Studio. If you tried to open one file the 2nd time on VS, it won't open it for you.

What's your VS version? Can you share a screenshot of your error with us?

Would repair VS help on your issue?

Regards,

---

Barry Wang [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 2

I cannot reproduce this issue on my Visual Studio. If you tried to open one file the 2nd time on VS, it won't open it for you.

What's your VS version? Can you share a screenshot of your error with us?

Would repair VS help on your issue?

been using VS2012 for a few months now.  Never have seen this issue.

Screen shot of CTRL-Tab showing the mulltiple opens of multiple files.   Then my help/about info.

here is my help/about info:

Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2012
Version 11.0.50727.1 RTMREL
Microsoft .NET Framework
Version 4.5.50709

Installed Version: Professional

LightSwitch for Visual Studio 2012   04938-004-0033001-02548
Microsoft LightSwitch for Visual Studio 2012

Office Developer Tools   04938-004-0033001-02548
Microsoft Office Developer Tools

Team Explorer for Visual Studio 2012   04938-004-0033001-02548
Microsoft Team Explorer for Visual Studio 2012

Visual Basic 2012   04938-004-0033001-02548
Microsoft Visual Basic 2012

Visual C# 2012   04938-004-0033001-02548
Microsoft Visual C# 2012

Visual C++ 2012   04938-004-0033001-02548
Microsoft Visual C++ 2012

Visual F# 2012   04938-004-0033001-02548
Microsoft Visual F# 2012

Visual Studio 2012 Code Analysis Spell Checker   04938-004-0033001-02548
Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2012 Code Analysis Spell Checker

Portions of International CorrectSpell™ spelling correction system © 1993 by Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products N.V. All rights reserved.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition Copyright © 1992 Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed from Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products N.V. All rights reserved.

Visual Studio 2012 SharePoint Developer Tools   04938-004-0033001-02548
Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 SharePoint Developer Tools

NuGet Package Manager   2.0.30625.9003
NuGet Package Manager in Visual Studio. For more information about NuGet, visit http://docs.nuget.org/.

PreEmptive Analytics Visualizer   1.0
Microsoft Visual Studio extension to visualize aggregated summaries from the PreEmptive Analytics product.

SQL Server Data Tools   11.1.20627.00
Microsoft SQL Server Data Tools

Web Developer Tools   1.0.30710.0
Microsoft Web Developer Tools contains the following components:
Page Inspector: Tool that offers an efficient way to decompose Web Applications and diagnose front-end issues.
Web Publishing: Extensions required for Web Publishing for both hosted servers as well as on premises.
Web Form Templates: Includes the default templates for Web Form Applications.
Editor Extensions: Includes HTML, CSS, and JS editor extensions that greatly enhance the development experience.

Answer 3

Hi Steve,

Actually, open an instance mutiple times can be done with this step:

Windows->New Window

Have you ever did this yourself?

If you haven't, we may have to do something to troubleshoot or fix this issue:

1. Switch your OS to safe-mode, will the same issue occurs?

2. Here are common steps to troubleshoot VS issues, I recommend you give them a try:

1) Win 7: Open Visual Studio Command Prompt (2012) under Start menu -> All Programs -> Microsoft Visual Studio 2012  -> Visual Studio Tools (run it with Administrator privilege: right-click the program -> Run as administrator);

2) Try some devenv switches in command prompt:

    a. Run devenv /Resetsettings to eliminate the cause of corrupted settings.
    b. Run devenv /ResetSkipPkgs in Command Prompt.
    c. Run devenv /Safemode to see if you can apply it correctly. This can eliminate the possibility that third party Add-ins or packages are causing problems.                                   3. Switch and try a new user account. This can rule out the possibility of corrupted user profile

4. Will repair VS fix this issue?

If you have any updates, please feel free to let me know.

Regards,

---

Barry Wang [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us