Sara Ford's Weblog

If you ever noticed the IDE Navigator get stuck , we now have a workaround. Thanks to Eric Carr for emailing me last week about my long forgotten blog post that never contained the answer and most importantly for sharing the workaround . The only thing...

To my Windows-users readers, I’m trying super-hard (yes, “super-“ in honor of being back at MSFT) to include Windows PowerPoint-applicable features, but at the same time catering to Mac PowerPoint 2011 features. In addition, I’ve thrown in some public...

They pull me back in . But in all fairness, I was the one who asked to be pulled back in. My game plan for my post-Microsoft/Seattle life was to attend graduate school full-time for a Masters in Human Factors (User Experience) at San Jose State while...

Today is my last day at Microsoft. It’s been an incredible 9 years . I’ve been extremely fortunate in my career at Microsoft to work with such smart, passionate folks. As a college hire from Mississippi State, I feel it is important to...

For the majority of you reading my blog that don’t live in NorCal, you can watch the events live on Oct 12 . But, if you are in NorCal, here’s a reminder that we have seats available for our upcoming launch events in Mountain View and San Francisco this...

People at the various user groups I go to seem to enjoy my triathlon training stories. Since sports training is a hobby for me, I thought I’d share what it’s been like training for my first “tri”. I’m terrified of swimming, hence why i’ve never done one...

Seems that whenever I bring my Windows Phone with me on a bike ride, something unusual happens. I’m doing a well-known bike loop in the area, when I realize I’ve made a wrong turn. I stop and check where I am on the “Maps” app. Sure enough, I’m at the...

Today’s post comes from Guest Blogger Erik Ejlskov Jensen , SQL Server Compact MVP, @ErikEJ Toolbox for SQL Server Compact developers If you use SQL Server Compact, Microsoft’s embedded database for devices, desktops and soon ASP.NET, this extension is...

Today marks my 9th year at Microsoft. Next year, I’ll collect my second Final Fantasy crystal. I thought it would be fun to share a few blogging statistics: This is my 980th post on blogs.msdn.com/saraford As of this writing, ya’ll have left 5504 comments...

Control when Solution Explorer syncs to the current file I’ve given many talks on Visual Studio, and one of the most popular questions is about controlling when Solution Explorer syncs to the current item. This extension is the best one I’ve seen in providing...

For those outside of Northern California or can’t make these dates, you can watch our launch event live on Oct 12 from Mountain View. Attend either day or both days!  Note that Day 2 is all Hands-on Labs, and no presentations. More information about...

Use your Emacs commands once again! If you have opened the Tools – Options – Keyboard page, looking for the “Emacs” keybindings, but only found disappointment instead. This extension is for you! To Install http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com...

Get a Windows Explorer experience within the IDE! My series continues with the VS File Explorer . I call this extension out because of its tag line: The Visual Studio File Explorer Add-in (sexy name we know, but hey, it’s self documenting) Gotta love...

I’m way behind in my extension series . Relocation + New Job + Work Travel, it’s been a crazy year! The Power Commands for Visual Studio are back! The Power Commands were an extremely popular add-in for Visual Studio 2008, giving you even more options...

Earlier this week, I decided to rematch the clock to demo 101 VS Tips in 55 minutes with O’Reilly Media hosting and recording the webcast. In an earlier attempt, I missed by 15 seconds. And like the earlier attempt, if I make it, all attendees receive...

I wanted to pause for a brief second to remember the 53 people in my hometown who lost their lives 5 years ago yesterday, when Hurricane Katrina took my hometown off the map. If a town doesn’t have any buildings, is it still a town? Waveland answered...

I had an interesting bike ride on Saturday, where I unexpectedly got to do some serious bonding with my Windows Phone. And since we have a big Windows Phone event coming up next month , where I’ve been heads-down learning the developer tools, I had to...

For you all in the North California area, we’re hosting an all-day event in Silicon Valley on everything you need to know to develop for Windows Phone 7. All developer skill levels are invited to attend. There will be Windows Phone 7 handsets at the event...

I got my vibrams about a month ago, and have slowly been trying to break my feet in. I can now drive in them and wear them almost 3/4 of a day. I haven’t tried running yet, although i did try a small baby hike (slight elevation, 1.5 miles roundtrip at...

Wow! What a week! I remember the first time I saw a TechEd backpack was back in 2003, where the words “New Orleans” caught my eye. And after 7 years of waiting, my career-long dream came true of attending a Microsoft conference back home. Earlier this...

Last week I blogged about my challenge to do 101 Visual Studio Tips in just 55 minutes, and if I succeed, everyone in the audience gets a signed copy of my Visual Studio Tips book. Let’s just say I couldn’t have planned for better drama at the end. Thanks...

I’ve been known to talk fast when I’m excited in my Visual Studio presentations, and maybe even a little too fast. But what if I didn’t try to slow down? What if I actually tried to talk as fast as possible? In a race against time, I will attempt to demo...

Recursively Collapse Nodes in the Solution Explorer! The Visual Studio IDE team has heard a lot of feedback asking for a way to recursively collapse nodes in the solution explorer. For example, right out of the box, when you collapse a node in Solution...

Increase the Readability of your Find in Files results! One of the first tips I always demo in my talks is how to edit the registry to make the Find Results Window more readable. Many thanks to Robert MacLean who has put together this extension that provides...

Get your new IntelliSense features in the XAML Editor! If you’ve grown accustomed to the new Pascal Casing and List filtering features in IntelliSense, the Visual Studio 2010 XAML Editor IntelliSense extension will give you these features plus more in...