Custom File Order

Take control of your file explorer! This lightweight VS Code extension allows you to manually reorder files and folders to suit your workflow.

Make your important files stand out by moving them to the top, regardless of their alphabetical order.

Features

• Manual Ordering: Right-click any file or folder in the "Custom File Order" view and move it Up or Down.
• Smart Sorting: Keeps your projects organized exactly how you want them.
• Reset & Restore:
  • Restore Item Position: Reset a single file to its default alphabetical position within your custom list.
  • Reset to Default Order: Clear all custom ordering for a folder to revert to standard VS Code sorting.
• Folder Rules: Global "Folders First" support to match your VS Code settings.
• Familiar Context Menu: New File, New Folder, Open to the Side, Reveal in File Explorer, Open in Integrated Terminal, Cut/Copy/Paste, Copy Path, Copy Relative Path, Rename, Duplicate and Delete — on both files and folders, like the built-in Explorer.

Usage

1. Open the View: Look for the "Custom File Order" view in the Explorer sidebar.
2. Reorder:
   • Press Shift+Alt+Up / Shift+Alt+Down, or right-click any item and select "Move Up" or "Move Down".
   • Select several items first and they move together as a block, keeping their relative order. Only items in the same folder move against each other.
   • The folder will automatically switch to "Custom Order" mode.
3. Resetting:
   • To fix a single item: Right-click -> "Restore Item Position".
   • To clear a whole folder: Right-click -> "Reset to Default Order".

Acting on the workspace root

VS Code does not let extensions add a menu to the blank area below a view's items (microsoft/vscode#188259), so right-clicking empty space cannot work the way it does in the built-in Explorer. The same actions live in the view's toolbar instead: New File and New Folder are icons in the view header, and Open in Integrated Terminal and Paste are in its ... menu. All four act on the workspace root.

Configuration

Ordering is stored in your workspace settings under customFileOrder.rules. Each key is a folder path relative to the workspace root (using /), or . for the root itself. Entries can be exact names or globs, and anything you do not list is appended in the default order.

{
  "customFileOrder.rules": {
    ".": { "order": ["package.json", "README.md", "src"] },
    "src/components": { "order": ["index.ts", "*.tsx", "*.css"] }
  }
}

License

This project is open source and available under the MIT License.