Simple Navigation History

A simple file navigation history that tracks visited files and provides back and forward navigation without cursor location history. The history is maintained per editor group and duplicate files are eliminated with the last files accessed set at the currently tracked position.

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Demo

In the following demonstration I access 3 files in sequence and then I click the pre-assigned back button to navigate backwards and then again forward.

Simple Navigation History Demo

The same operation is repeated for the 2nd group.

Functionality

File order tracking

The extension keeps the navigation chain based on the order of visited files. For example visiting FileA → FileB → FileC then open FileD, the chain becomes FileA → FileB → FileD → FileC

The previous forward entries are preserved. Opening a new file inserts it after the current position rather than discarding the remaining history.

Duplicate filtering

A file can only appear once in the history chain for an editor group.

For example if the current chain is: FileA → FileB → FileC → FileB accessing FileB again will become FileA → FileC → FileB

The existing entry is moved to the current navigation position instead of creating a duplicate.

Closed files

When a tracked file is closed, it is automatically removed from the navigation history.

For example assume the current chain is: FileA → FileB → FileC

After closing FileB the chain becomes FileA → FileC

The history only contains files that are still available in the editor group.

Editor Group Support

Navigation history is maintained separately for each VS Code editor group. Each editor group has its own independent navigation chain.

Example:

Group 1: FileA → FileB → FileC

Group 2: FileX → FileY → FileZ

Using Back or Forward in Group 1 only navigates through Group 1 history. Group 2 keeps its own separate history and is not affected. This allows multiple editor layouts to maintain independent navigation paths.

⌨️ Keybindings

The extension provides Back and Forward navigation commands that can be customized.

Open:

File → Preferences → Keyboard Shortcuts

Search for: Simple Navigation History

You can assign your preferred keyboard shortcuts to:

Simple Navigation History: Back
Simple Navigation History: Forward

The extension does not require specific default shortcuts and can be configured to match your existing keyboard or mouse navigation setup.

🖱️ AutoHotKey Mouse Connecting (Optional)

VS Code does not provide direct keybinding support for mouse Back and Forward buttons (XButton1 / XButton2) in extensions.

If you want to use your mouse buttons for navigation, you can map them to the extension keyboard shortcuts using a tool such as AutoHotkey.

Example AutoHotkey v2 configuration:

#Requires AutoHotkey v2.0

global appList
appList.Push({ procName: "code.exe", lockKeys: ["CapsLock", "NumLock"] })

#HotIf WinActive("ahk_exe code.exe")
; Plain mouse buttons → VS Code shortcuts
XButton1:: Send("^{NumpadDiv}")
XButton2:: Send("^{NumpadMult}")

; Ctrl + mouse → keep original behavior
~^XButton1:: return
~^XButton2:: return
#HotIf

🧾 License

GNU General Public License (GPL) v3

Mark Samios