Visual Studio Tooltips unplugged: How to use multiple monitors with Visual Studio efficiently

It is no urban legend that having more monitors results in greater productivity, and most of all tremendous increase in developer’s comfort. Even the Myth Busters (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythBusters) dudes know that.

So imagine that your group’s budget allows installing a brand new (say 22 inches) TFT display as your second, or even better you already have the setup.

What are your options with VS 2005/2008 for efficient management of the screen estate to bust productivity?

Better code access

You can vertically split the Visual Studio screen estate in two, and position the divider down the center of the two monitors. This can be done using the command Window (main menu)> New Vertical Tab Group. You can position the properties window in the second screen also.

Debugging on the second monitor

On the primary monitor you can have your application running, while on the second you can position (docked or undocked) the debugging windows like the Watch windows, Output, Breakpoints windows, etc.

Using effectively help and documentation

You can put the help viewer or the MSDN on your second monitor and use it in parallel with your main activity.

*You can save the layout of the windows by using the wizard: Tools (main menu) > Import / Export Settings.

*remember that there are two layout to setup: in debugging and in standard mode