Exclude Manager

📦 Install from Marketplace  ·  🐛 Report a Bug  ·  💡 Request a Feature

What is Exclude Manager?

Exclude Manager is a VS Code extension that transforms the way you control your workspace visibility. Instead of manually editing the files.exclude map in settings.json, you get a fully interactive sidebar panel that lets you:

• Toggle any exclusion on/off with a single checkbox click
• Organize patterns into virtual groups (folders)
• Pin your most-used patterns to the top
• Search through all exclusions in real time
• Smart-generate exclusion patterns right from the Explorer context menu
• Switch between Global and Workspace scopes on the fly

Feature Showcase

🗃️ Interactive Checkboxes

Toggle any files.exclude pattern on or off instantly from the sidebar tree view — no JSON editing required. Every change syncs directly with your VS Code settings.

📁 Virtual Groups

Organize your exclusion patterns into named, expandable virtual folders. Toggle all patterns inside a group with a single click, rename groups on the fly, or delete them entirely.

Group actions context menu	Create a new group
When deleting a group, choose to keep or remove its patterns

📌 Pin / Unpin Patterns

Right-click any pattern to pin it — pinned items jump to the top of the list, making your most critical exclusions always visible and easy to toggle.

_{Right-click context menu for individual patterns}

🔍 Live Search

Click the search icon in the sidebar header and start typing. The tree filters in real time as you type. Hit the × button to clear the search instantly.

Type to filter — press Enter or Esc to close

Active clear button

🌐 Global & Workspace Scopes

Use the header icons to instantly switch between your User (Global) settings and your Workspace settings. Each scope is managed independently.

Switch to Workspace scope

Switch to Global (User) scope

💡 Empty State Hints

When a scope has no exclusions configured, the panel shows contextual shortcuts to add patterns or switch scope — so you're never left staring at a blank panel.

_{Helpful actions always visible when a scope is empty}

🗂️ Collapse All

Click the Collapse All button to collapse every expanded group at once and get a clean overview of your exclusion tree.

🧭 How to Use

⚙️ Configuration

This extension directly reads and writes VS Code's native configuration — no custom database or sync service required.

Note: Changes made through Exclude Manager are identical to editing settings.json manually. Your settings file is always the source of truth.

🔄 Auto-Sync

If you manually edit your settings.json while the sidebar is open, Exclude Manager automatically detects the change and refreshes the tree — no restart or manual refresh needed.

🌎 Bilingual Support (EN / ES)

Exclude Manager automatically adapts to your VS Code display language:

📋 Requirements

• VS Code ^1.125.0 or newer
• No additional dependencies or external services required

📄 Changelog

See CHANGELOG for a full list of changes across versions.