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Stop losing your place in large codebases. Bookmark Studio lets you mark, organize, and instantly jump to important locations in your code - across your entire solution.
Instant navigation - Press Alt+Shift+1 through Alt+Shift+9 to jump directly to your most important bookmarks. No searching, no scrolling.
Visual organization - Color-code bookmarks by purpose (red for bugs, green for features, blue for TODOs) and group them into folders. See exactly what each bookmark represents at a glance.
Zero learning curve - Uses the same keyboard shortcuts you already know (Ctrl+K, Ctrl+K to toggle, Ctrl+K, Ctrl+N for next). Your muscle memory works from day one.
Team sharing - Commit your bookmarks file to source control so the whole team can navigate to key code locations - perfect for onboarding or code reviews.
Press Ctrl+K, Ctrl+K or Alt+Shift+Space on any line to create a bookmark. A colored glyph appears in the margin, and the bookmark is automatically assigned the next available shortcut (1-9).
Already using Visual Studio's built-in bookmarks? No migration needed. When you toggle a bookmark on a line that has a native VS bookmark, Bookmark Studio automatically converts it - the native bookmark is removed and a Bookmark Studio bookmark takes its place. Just keep working and your bookmarks will migrate naturally.
- Alt+Shift+1 through Alt+Shift+9 - Jump directly to numbered bookmarks
- Ctrl+K, Ctrl+N / Shift+Alt+N - Go to next bookmark
- Ctrl+K, Ctrl+P / Shift+Alt+H - Go to previous bookmark
Open View > Bookmark Manager to see all your bookmarks in one place:
- Search - Filter by name, file, color, or any text
- Folders - Group related bookmarks (drag and drop to organize)
- Labels - Give bookmarks meaningful names
- Colors - Right-click to assign Blue, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Purple, Pink, or Teal
Your numbered bookmarks appear in a dropdown on the Standard toolbar - click to jump instantly.
- Bookmark the crash site (red)
- Bookmark related code paths (orange)
- Use Alt+Shift+1-9 to jump between them as you investigate
- Create a folder for the feature
- Bookmark the files you are touching
- Color-code by status: green (done), yellow (in progress), red (blocked)
- Bookmark areas that need discussion
- Share
.bookmarks.jsonwith reviewers - Everyone can navigate to the same locations
- Bookmark architectural entry points and key classes
- Add descriptive labels explaining what each location does
- Commit to source control - new devs get instant navigation
Right-click any bookmark glyph in the margin or use the Bookmark Manager context menu to change colors.
Drag the bookmark glyph in the margin to move it to a different line.
From the Bookmark Manager, right-click a bookmark to assign it to a different shortcut slot (1-9), or clear its shortcut entirely.
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Toggle bookmark | Alt+Shift+Space |
| Next bookmark | Alt+Shift+N |
| Previous bookmark | Alt+Shift+H |
| Jump to bookmark 1-9 | Alt+Shift+1 through Alt+Shift+9 |
| Open Bookmark Manager | Alt+Shift+B |
These shortcuts work when you opt in to intercept built-in bookmark commands (you'll be prompted on first use).
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Toggle bookmark | Ctrl+K, Ctrl+K |
| Next bookmark | Ctrl+K, Ctrl+N |
| Previous bookmark | Ctrl+K, Ctrl+P |
| Next bookmark in document | Ctrl+Shift+K, Ctrl+Shift+N |
| Previous bookmark in document | Ctrl+Shift+K, Ctrl+Shift+P |
| Clear bookmarks in document | Ctrl+Shift+K, Ctrl+Shift+L |
Access settings via Tools > Options > Bookmark Studio > General.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Prompt for bookmark name | When enabled, a dialog prompts for a name when creating a new bookmark. |
| Default storage location | Choose where new bookmarks are stored: Personal (.vs folder) or Workspace (solution root for sharing). |
| Intercept built-in bookmark commands | Controls whether Visual Studio's built-in bookmark commands use Bookmark Studio. Ask (default) prompts you on first use, Yes always uses Bookmark Studio, No lets native bookmarks work normally. Use the direct shortcuts (Alt+Shift+Space, Alt+Shift+N) to always use Bookmark Studio regardless of this setting. |
When Prompt for bookmark name is enabled, Bookmark Studio suggests a name using this fallback order:
- Selected text when there is exactly one non-empty selection span
- Classified identifier at the caret location (for example method or type name)
- Word under the caret
- File name without extension
- Current line text (trimmed, up to 50 characters)
Bookmark
If the suggested name already exists, Bookmark Studio appends a numeric suffix (1, 2, 3, and so on).
Bookmark Studio stores bookmarks in .bookmarks.json. By default, this file lives in the .vs folder (which is typically gitignored).
To share bookmarks with your team:
- Copy
.vs/.bookmarks.jsonto your solution root or repository root - Commit
.bookmarks.jsonto source control - Team members automatically use the shared file
Bookmark Studio looks for the file in this order:
- Solution root
- Repository root
.vsfolder (default)
New Workspace bookmark files save document paths relative to the .bookmarks.json file location. This makes shared bookmark files portable across machines, even when the solution is nested below the repository root or bookmarked files live outside the solution directory.
For example, if .bookmarks.json is stored at the repository root, bookmarks for files elsewhere in that repository are saved as repository-relative paths such as src/App/Program.cs or shared/Shared.cs. Files outside the bookmarks file directory can use ../ path segments when needed.
Bookmark Studio writes "documentPathRoot": "bookmarksFile" to new bookmark files to indicate this behavior. Existing bookmark files without that property keep the previous behavior, where relative paths are interpreted relative to the current solution directory. This keeps older shared bookmark files working unchanged.
Personal bookmarks in .vs/.bookmarks.json continue to save paths relative to the solution directory. The .vs folder is user-specific and usually ignored by source control, so Personal bookmarks do not use bookmarks-file-relative paths.
Global bookmarks are different: they remain machine-specific and keep absolute document paths because they are stored in %USERPROFILE%\.bookmarks.json and are not intended for team sharing.
Global bookmarks persist across all solutions and are stored in %USERPROFILE%\.bookmarks.json. They appear under the Global node in the Bookmark Manager and are always available, regardless of which solution is open.
Right-click the Global node and select Add File... to bookmark any file on disk - even files outside your current solution. This is useful for:
- Quick access to frequently edited config files (hosts file, global gitconfig, etc.)
- Reference documentation or specs stored anywhere on your machine
- Files in other projects you frequently need to consult
The file name becomes the bookmark label, and the full path is shown in the tooltip. Global file bookmarks don't have shortcut numbers assigned by default.
Issues, ideas, and pull requests are welcome.




