Using Virtual Folders

Go Up to How To Manage Files and Folders

For C++ only, the IDE provides the ability to organize your project files with virtual folders in the Project Manager tree. Virtual folders only affect the display of the folder structure in the IDE. Moving files into virtual folders does not change their actual location on disc.

Note: Virtual folders can only contain file system entries or other virtual folders.

Note: Changing the order of entries in a virtual folder changes the build order of the contained buildable entries.

To add a root-level virtual folder

1. Choose View > Project Manager to display the Project Manager if it is not already visible in the IDE.
2. Create a new project or open an existing one.
3. Right-click the project node in the Project Manager tree and choose Add New > Virtual Folder. This opens the Add new folder dialog box and displays the default folder name Virtual folder 1.
4. Type a new name for the virtual folder if you do not want to use the default.
5. Click OK to add the folder. Click Cancel to not add the folder. The virtual folder appears as a dimmed folder under the project node.
6. Drag files from the project structure into the virtual folder, or use the context menu commands to add items to the virtual folder.

To add a virtual sub-folder to an existing virtual folder

1. Right-click an existing virtual folder in the Project Manager tree.
2. Choose Add New > Virtual Folder.

To change the order of files in a virtual folder

1. Click or right-click a file in a virtual folder and drag the file. The cursor changes to an arrow with a rectangle at the end to indicate you are moving the file.
2. Drag the file to the right until a horizontal blue line appears. This line shows the new location of the file in the virtual folder and only appears between files. If the cursor changes to a slashed circle for some location, you can't move the file there.
3. Drag the file to the desired location in the virtual folder and release the mouse button.

To delete a virtual folder

1. Select a virtual folder in the Project Manager tree.
2. Right-click and choose Delete.
3. Click Yes in the Confirm dialog box to delete the folder. Click No or press the Esc key to cancel the delete.

Note: Deleting a virtual folder does not delete any of its files on the disk. It simply removes the folder from the Project Manager tree and leaves the files in their original locations.

See Also

• Overview of Virtual Folders
• Adding and Removing Files