Repository navigation
Navigation Bar
The Navigation Bar lets you move around your project from the keyboard. It is the path above the code: every folder in it opens a small list of what that folder holds, and you can type to search that list.
- Press Cmd+Up on the Mac (Alt+Home on Windows and Linux), or choose Edit > Jump to Navigation Bar. It works from the editor, the Files panel and, on the Mac, the terminal.
- Or click any part of the path in the path bar.
With the keyboard, the list of the current file's folder opens right away, with the file selected. So Cmd+Up, Down, Enter opens the file next to this one.
With nothing open, the bar sits at the top of the welcome screen, starting at the active repository, and Cmd+Up opens it there. On the Log or a diff, it shows up floating over the editor instead.
The file toolbar: top, bottom or hidden
The Navigation Bar is part of each file's toolbar, the slim bar with the path, the badges and the buttons. Settings > Appearance > File toolbar decides where that toolbar goes:
- Top (the default): above the code. The welcome screen shows the bar at its top.
- Bottom: the whole toolbar moves under the code: the path, the badges and the buttons. On the welcome screen the bar moves to the foot. The lists open upward.
- Hidden: no toolbar. Cmd+Up (or the menu) shows the bar floating at the top left of the editor you are in, with the list already open. It goes away again when you open a file, press Esc or click elsewhere.
Under it, a switch for each part, all on at first:
| Switch | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Breadcrumbs | The Navigation Bar (the path). Off, Cmd+Up shows the floating bar, as with Hidden. |
| Badges | Unsaved, Modified, New file and the number of conflicts |
| Change arrows | Previous and next change with the counter. F7 and Shift+F7 still work. |
| Blame | The Blame button. Git > Current File > Annotate with Git Blame still works. |
| Copy relative path | The copy button |
| Markdown view switch | Editor, Editor and Preview, Rich Editor. View > Markdown still works. |
| Markdown formatting row | The row of formatting buttons above a Markdown file. It has its own row, so this switch works even with the toolbar hidden. |
With every part off, the toolbar goes away. The conflict buttons are not part of it: they show whenever a file has conflicts.
[TODO:navigation-bar-bottom.png]
[TODO:navigation-bar-hidden.png]
In the code editor, Cmd+Up now opens the Navigation Bar. To go to the start of the file, press Cmd+Home (Fn+Cmd+Left on a laptop keyboard). In a plain text field, such as the commit message, Cmd+Up still moves the caret.
The list shows folders first, then files, with the same icons and git colors as the Files Panel. A folder has a small arrow at its end. Files that git ignores are dimmed.
| Keys | What they do |
|---|---|
| Up and Down (or Ctrl+P and Ctrl+N) | Pick an entry. They wrap around at the ends. |
| Page Up and Page Down | Jump ten entries |
| Right | Go into the selected folder: it becomes the last part of the path and its list opens |
| Left | Go up to the folder above, with the folder you came from selected |
| Enter | Open the selected file, or go into the selected folder |
| Cmd+Enter (Ctrl+Enter) | Open the file in another editor group, when the split editor is on |
| Esc | Clear what you typed; press again to close |
A click on an entry does the same as Enter. A click on another part of the path opens that folder's list instead. A click anywhere else closes the bar.
While you move into other folders, the path changes to show where you are. Nothing opens until you choose a file, and closing the bar brings back the path of the file on screen.
Just start typing while a list is open. The list keeps only the names that contain your letters in order, best match first, and the matching letters are highlighted. They do not need to be next to each other: crt finds cart.ts.
If nothing in the folder matches, the list offers Search everywhere for "...". Press Enter (or click it) to look for that name in the whole workspace with Search Everywhere.
When your workspace has more than one folder, the path starts with the workspace name. Its list shows every workspace folder, so you can jump from one folder to another.
- The lists are read from disk each time they open, so new files show up right away.
- A folder with more than 5000 entries shows the first 5000, like the Files panel.
- You can change the key in Settings > Keyboard Shortcuts (search for "Navigation Bar"). See Keyboard Shortcuts.