Recently Focused Files

Focus Files

The Focus Files extension helps you quickly access your most important files and locations, letting you stay organized and productive. Instead of relying on VSCode’s default Open Editors, you can mark files or specific locations as focused and navigate them easily through a dedicated view.

Demo

Focus Files Demo

Support This Project

If you find this extension useful, you can support development via PayPal: Thank you for helping keep this extension maintained and improving!

✨ What's new

This version incorporates:

Pinned positions with labels
Preview text size configuration
Remove Position command
Placeholder instructions updated to match current behavior

✨ Features

📌 Mark the current file as focused – Pin the file you are working on for easy access, re-pin the same file will move it at the top.
📁 Add files directly from the Explorer – Select one or multiple files, right-click, and choose Pin to Focused Files.
🔖 Pin specific text locations – Highlight text and pin it; the location will appear under the main file with a label, line, and column.
🔁 Re-marking a file moves it to the top – Priority is given to recently pinned files.
❌ Remove individual files or positions – Delete pins without affecting other focused files.
🧹 Clear all focused files – Remove everything at once (with confirmation).
💾 Persistent state – Your focused files and positions are saved and restored after reload.
🧠 Automatically skips deleted files – Focused files that no longer exist are ignored on reload.
🔢 Configurable maximums – Set limits for the number of focused files and positions per file.
🖱️ Supports multi-select in Explorer – Pin multiple files at once for efficiency.

Stay focused, reduce clutter, and navigate your key files faster than ever.

📂 Focus Files View

Located in the Explorer sidebar
Displays a list of your focused files
Shows file name + relative path, and any pinned positions with labels
Click a file to open it or a position to jump to the exact location

When empty, a placeholder message is shown:

Use the default ctrl+alt+f to add files or set your own shortcut

🚀 Commands

Command	Description
`Focus Files: Mark File`	Add current file or selection(s) to the focused list
`Focus Files: Remove File`	Remove a file from the list
`Focus Files: Remove Position`	Remove a pinned position within a file
`Focus Files: Clear Files`	Remove all focused files

🖱️ Usage

From Editor

Open a file
Select text (optional) to pin a specific location
Run command: "Mark File"
(Optional) Use your keybinding

From Explorer

Right-click a file (or multiple files)
Click "Pin to Focused Files"

⚙️ Configuration

Available in VS Code Settings:

{
  "focusFiles.maxItems": 30,
  "focusFiles.maxPositionsPerFile": 5,
  "focusFiles.minPreviewSize": 10,
  "focusFiles.maxPreviewSize": 50
}

Setting	Description
`focusFiles.maxItems`	Maximum number of focused files
`focusFiles.maxPositionsPerFile`	Maximum number of pinned positions per file
`focusFiles.minPreviewSize`	Minimum preview text length for position labels
`focusFiles.maxPreviewSize`	Maximum preview text length for position labels

⌨️ Keybindings

You can assign a shortcut via:

File → Preferences → Keyboard Shortcuts

Search for: Focus Files: Mark File

🧾 License

GNU General Public License (GPL) v3

Mark Samios