Using CTRL+W to close tabs in Visual Studio

gistfile1.md

In Tools | Options | Keyboard...

1. Add CTRL+W as a Global shortcut for Window.CloseDocumentWindow
2. Remove the CTRL+W shortcut for Edit.SelectCurrentWord

The caveat to this is if you are used to using CTRL+W to select the current word. If you do, find another shortcut that works for that.

Here are the steps I used to configure Visual Studio 2022 to use the Ctrl+W keyboard shortcut to close an active text editor tab:

1. Using the Visual Studio top menu bar, navigate to "Tools > Options > Environment > Keyboard".

2. Delete any existing keyboard shortcuts that are already bound to Ctrl+W.

   1. In the “Show commands containing” textbox, type “Edit.NextKeyTyped”.
   2. In the "Shortcuts for selected command" dropdown, verify that "Ctrl + W (VC Accelerator Editor)" is selected.
   3. Click the "Remove" button.
   4. In the “Show commands containing” textbox, type “Edit.SelectCurrentWord”.
   5. In the "Shortcuts for selected command" dropdown, verify that "Ctrl + W (Text Editor)" is selected.
   6. Click the "Remove" button.

3. Create a new Ctrl+W keyboard shortcut that binds to the Window.CloseDocumentWindow command.

   1. In the “Show commands containing” textbox, type “Window.CloseDocumentWindow”.
   2. In the "Shortcuts for selected command" dropdown, verify that "Ctrl + F4 (Global)" is selected.
   3. In the “Use new shortcut in” dropdown, set the value to “Text Editor”.
   4. Click the “Press shortcut keys” textbox, press the Ctrl+W keys on your keyboard simultaneously.
   5. Click the “Assign” button.

4. Click the “OK” button to save your changes & close the modal.