Format All Files

A Visual Studio extension that formats all code files in a solution, project, or folder with a single click — and executes arbitrary Visual Studio commands against them.

Overview

Right-click any solution, project, or folder in Solution Explorer and choose Format All Files. The extension walks every matching file, opens it, runs your configured commands, saves, and closes it — all automatically. A dedicated output pane logs every file processed, so you can see exactly what happened.

This project is a ground-up reimplementation of the now-unmaintained FormatAllFiles by Munyabe. In practice, CodeMaid has since grown to fully cover (and exceed) what the original extension offered. I rebuilt this extension from scratch for two reasons: to get hands-on experience with vibe coding and to learn the ins and outs of VSIX extension development. Every line of code here was produced through vibe coding.

Features

• Bulk formatting — format every eligible file in a solution, project, or folder from the context menu.
• Configurable file extensions — specify exactly which file types to process (e.g., .cs, .tsx, .py). Defaults to a broad set covering C#, C++, web, scripting, and configuration files.
• Multiple format commands — run more than one Visual Studio command per file. The default is Edit.FormatDocument, but you can chain anything: Edit.FormatDocument; Edit.RemoveAndSort to format and sort usings, for example.
• Output window logging — each run writes a timestamped log to a dedicated Format All Files pane in the Visual Studio Output window, including per-file success/failure status and exception details.
• Handles unopened files — files that aren't already open in the editor are opened silently, formatted, saved, and closed without you needing to touch them.
• Visual Studio 2022 and later — targets VS 17.0+ across Community, Professional, and Enterprise editions.

Configuration

Open Tools → Options → Format All Files → General to customize:

Installation

Install directly from the Visual Studio Marketplace:

Format All Files on Marketplace

Or build from source — open the solution in Visual Studio and compile to produce a .vsix package, then double-click it to install. The extension will appear under Tools → Extensions and Updates as Format All Files.

# Build from the command line
msbuild FormatAllFiles2.csproj /p:Configuration=Release

Usage

1. Open a solution in Visual Studio.
2. In Solution Explorer, right-click a solution, project, or folder.
3. Select Format All Files from the context menu.
4. Watch the Format All Files output pane for progress and results.

How It Works

The command traverses the selected item's hierarchy:

• Solution — iterates every project.
• Project — iterates every project item recursively, descending into sub-projects and nested folders.
• Folder / individual file — processes only the items under that node.

For each physical file whose extension matches the configured list, the extension opens it in a hidden code window, executes each configured command in sequence, saves if modified, and closes the window. Already-open documents are formatted in-place and saved only if changed.

Why Another Fork?

The original FormatAllFiles is no longer maintained. While CodeMaid is the de facto solution for this workflow today, I wanted to understand what goes into a VSIX extension firsthand — package loading, command routing, the DTE automation model, options pages, and the VSIX manifest. Vibe coding the entire thing turned out to be a great way to learn.

License

This project is released under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for the full text.