Double-Click to Open Files in VS Code | Generated by AI
Question: In GitHub Desktop, when viewing a history commit, in the middle panel’s changed files list, does double-clicking a file open it in VS Code?
Answer:
Yes, this is a supported feature in recent versions of GitHub Desktop.
When you:
- Go to the History tab
- Select a past commit
- See the list of changed files in the middle panel (the “changed files” list for that commit)
Double-clicking a file in that list will open the file in your configured external editor (such as Visual Studio Code), if you have one set up.
This behavior was added as a highly requested community-contributed feature around 2023. It works both:
- In the History view (for files changed in a past commit — note that it opens the current/working copy version of the file, not the historical version from the commit)
- In the Changes view (for uncommitted/local changes)
To make this work with VS Code specifically:
- Go to File → Options → Integrations (or GitHub Desktop → Preferences on macOS)
- Under External editor, select Visual Studio Code (it should auto-detect if installed; if not, point to the executable)
- Once set, double-clicking files in either the Changes list or a commit’s changed files list will launch/open the file directly in VS Code.
Before this feature was added (in older versions), double-clicking typically just showed the diff inside GitHub Desktop itself, and you’d have to right-click → “Open in Visual Studio Code” (or use the menu/keyboard shortcut) to open the full file in the editor. Some users reported accidental opens due to fast clicking being interpreted as double-clicks in certain updates.
If double-click doesn’t open VS Code for you:
- Confirm VS Code is correctly set as the external editor.
- Ensure you’re double-clicking the file name/entry in the list (not the diff area).
- Update GitHub Desktop to the latest version, as this is a relatively modern addition.
This makes reviewing commit history and quickly jumping to edit files in VS Code much smoother — a nice quality-of-life improvement!
References:
- GitHub Changelog: Community adds “Double click to Open External Editor”
- GitHub Desktop issue discussions on double-click behavior